Table Of ContentPopulation, Regional Development and Transport
Pengjun Zhao · Haoyu Hu
Rural Transition
and Transport
in China
Population, Regional Development
and Transport
Series Editor
Pengjun Zhao, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University,
Beijing, China
This book series chiefly explores population change, regional development and
transport in contemporary China. Its goal is to enhance our current understanding
of population, regional development and sustainable transport in a context of rapid
urbanization and transition – characterized by the shift from a centrally planned
system to a market system, together with growing economic globalization and
political decentralization.
The series will enrich the existing literature on population studies, regional devel-
opment studies and transport studies. In particular, it highlights academic research
on the interactions between population, regional development and transport. It will
also shed new light on government practices with regard to regional development
planning and management and transport investment.
·
Pengjun Zhao Haoyu Hu
Rural Transition
and Transport in China
Pengjun Zhao Haoyu Hu
College of Urban and Environmental College of Urban and Environmental
Sciences Sciences
Peking University Peking University
Beijing, China Beijing, China
School of Urban Planning and Design
Peking University Shenzhen Graduate
School
Shenzhen, China
This study was financially supported by National Social Science Fund of China (41925003;
42130402).
ISSN 2662-4613 ISSN 2662-4621 (electronic)
Population, Regional Development and Transport
ISBN 978-981-19-6497-8 ISBN 978-981-19-6498-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6498-5
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Preface
China has seen great changes in rural areas in recent decades. As a developing country,
China has hundreds of millions of rural people, which is of great significance to the
world’s poverty alleviation work. The booming economy has promoted the all-round
improvement of China’s rural appearance, enabling China to achieve the largest
poverty alleviation in human history. At the same time, China is also facing many
problems of rural development. Rural transportation infrastructure and services are
the most basic guarantee for rural vitalisation and development. How to guide and
adapt transportation to the needs of rural development is not only a question to be
answered, but also an experience that China can provide to the world.
Focusing on China’s rural transportation and the transformation of China’s rural
population, this book mainly has the following innovations. Firstly, it is the first
book to systematically demonstrate China’s rural transportation. For a long time,
the understanding of rural transportation in China is insufficient. This book not
only shows the level of China’s rural transportation infrastructure, but also shows
the travel behaviour characteristics of China’s rural residents. Secondly, this book
explores rural residents’ travel behaviour based on big data of large spatial scale.
The investigation of rural residents has always been a very tough job, which makes
it difficult for us to accurately understand some behavioural characteristics of rural
residents. This book makes full use of mobile phone data and greatly improves the
temporal and spatial accuracy of rural residents’ travel research. Thirdly, this book
combines China’s rural population transformation and rural transportation develop-
ment in recent decades. Different from previous studies focusing on transportation
itself, this book focuses on the coupling relationship between rural population and
transportation.
The book consists of 11 chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction of the whole
book. Chapter 2 includes the conceptual exposition and literature review on rural
transportation. Chapters 3–9 are the analysis part. Specifically, Chap. 3 introduces
the spatial patterns of rural population and settlements in China. Chapter 4 shows
the rural transportation infrastructure and its matching with population. Chapter 5
demonstrates the rural population structure change in China and its impact on trans-
portation expenditure. Chapter 6 analyses the accessibility and spatial equity of rural
v
vi Preface
settlements in China. Chapter 7 resolves China’s rural areal system from the perspec-
tive of residents’ travel behaviour. Chapter 8 analyses travel patterns of rural residents
based on mobile phone data. Chapter 9 selects typical cases of villagers in moun-
tainous and plain areas to analyse their travel behaviour. Chapter 10 summarises and
puts forward some policy thoughts. Chapter 11 is the conclusion of the whole book.
The contribution of this book is mainly reflected in four aspects. Firstly, this book
introduces China’s successful practice in promoting poverty alleviation in rural areas
and can provide experience for other developing countries in the world. Secondly,
this book is of great strategic value to rural vitalisation strategy in China, which is
one of the most important national strategies in the twenty-first century. Thirdly, this
book provides reference for optimising rural transportation planning methods and
improving rural transportation planning technical means. Fourthly, this book has
theoretical value in transport geography and provides new evidence and ideas for
promoting the development of theory in rural transportation.
Beijing/Shenzhen, China Pengjun Zhao
Beijing, China Haoyu Hu
Acknowledgements We acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (No. 42130402 and No. 41925003). The authors are responsible for all errors and
interpretations.
Contents
1 Introduction .................................................. 1
1.1 Research Significance ..................................... 1
1.1.1 Rural Development as an Essential Part
of the Sustainable Development Goals ............... 1
1.1.2 Transport as a Primary Factor in the Quality
of Rural Life ..................................... 3
1.1.3 Transforming Rural Areas .......................... 4
1.1.4 Rural Development and Rural Transport in China ...... 6
1.1.5 Research Needs in Rural Transport Studies ........... 15
1.2 Research Contents and Methodology ........................ 17
1.2.1 Definition of Rural Areas in China .................. 17
1.2.2 Rural Transport System in China .................... 21
1.2.3 Main Contents ................................... 25
1.2.4 Data and Methodology ............................ 26
References .................................................... 31
2 Research on Rural Transport ................................... 35
2.1 Rural Transport and Economic Development ................. 35
2.2 Rural Transport, Social Equity and Poverty Relief ............. 37
2.3 Rural Transport, Land Use and Public Facilities
Accessibility ............................................ 39
2.4 Travel Demand and Behaviour of Rural Residents ............. 41
2.5 The Relationship Between Rural Transport and Population ..... 42
2.5.1 Rural Ageing and Transport ........................ 42
2.5.2 Rural Youth and Transport ......................... 43
2.5.3 Rural Females and Transport ....................... 44
2.5.4 Rural Occupation and Transport .................... 45
2.5.5 Rural Family Situation and Transport ................ 46
2.6 Summary: Gaps and Future Agenda ......................... 46
References .................................................... 49
vii
viii Contents
3 Transition in the Rural Population and Settlements ............... 55
3.1 Population Transition in Rural China ........................ 55
3.1.1 Decrease in the Rural Population .................... 55
3.1.2 Distribution and Movement of the Rural Population .... 59
3.1.3 Growth of Income and Poverty Relief Rural
Population ....................................... 66
3.1.4 Change in Lifestyles of the Rural Population .......... 73
3.2 Changes in Rural Settlements in China ...................... 77
3.2.1 Types of Rural Settlements in China ................. 77
3.2.2 Distribution of Rural Settlements .................... 81
3.2.3 Living Environment of Rural Settlements ............ 88
3.3 Rural Settlements and Population Distribution ................ 90
3.4 Summary ............................................... 96
References .................................................... 97
4 Match Between Rural Transport and Population ................. 101
4.1 Features of Rural Transport Infrastructure and Services ........ 101
4.1.1 Rural Road Network .............................. 101
4.1.2 Rural Transport Investment ......................... 107
4.1.3 Rural Public Transport Services ..................... 110
4.2 General Process of Rural Transport Development ............. 120
4.3 Regional Matching Between Rural Transport
and Population ........................................... 124
4.3.1 Rural Road Network Change and Rural Population .... 124
4.3.2 Rural Transport Investment and Rural Population ...... 126
4.4 Summary ............................................... 128
References .................................................... 129
5 Transport Expenditure of Rural Residents ....................... 131
5.1 Transition of the Rural Population’s Composition ............. 131
5.1.1 Gender Structure ................................. 131
5.1.2 Age Structure .................................... 136
5.1.3 Family Structure .................................. 142
5.1.4 Education Structure ............................... 147
5.1.5 Hukou Structure .................................. 151
5.2 Impact of Population Composition on Transport
Expenditure ............................................. 151
5.2.1 Transport Expenditure in Rural Areas ................ 151
5.2.2 Impact of Population Composition .................. 154
5.2.3 Spatial Differences in the Impacts of Population
Composition ..................................... 157
5.3 Summary ............................................... 166
References .................................................... 168
Contents ix
6 Accessibility and Its Spatial Equity of Rural Settlements .......... 171
6.1 Rural Settlement Accessibility to Highway Network ........... 171
6.1.1 Overall Accessibility .............................. 171
6.1.2 County-Level Variations ........................... 176
6.2 Spatial Equity of Rural Accessibility ........................ 178
6.2.1 Analysis of Intracounty Equity of Accessibility ....... 178
6.2.2 Analysis of Intercounty Equity of Accessibility ....... 183
6.2.3 Relationship Between Accessibility and Transport
Investment ....................................... 184
6.3 Summary ............................................... 187
References .................................................... 188
7 Travel Behaviour of Rural Residents ............................ 189
7.1 Methodology ............................................ 189
7.2 Travel Behaviour and Rural Settlement System ............... 190
7.2.1 Rural Settlement System Defined by Transport
Flow ............................................ 190
7.2.2 Travel Frequency ................................. 192
7.2.3 Travel Purposes .................................. 194
7.2.4 Travel Distance and Time .......................... 199
7.3 Factors in Travel Frequency to Different Levels
of Settlements ........................................... 201
7.3.1 Township Residents’ Travel and Rural Settlement
System .......................................... 201
7.3.2 Villagers’ Travel and Rural Settlement System ........ 205
7.3.3 Discussion ....................................... 207
7.4 Summary ............................................... 209
References .................................................... 209
8 Rural Residents’ Travel Behaviour in Mega-City Regions ......... 211
8.1 Methodology ............................................ 211
8.2 Travel Distance and Frequency of Rural Residents ............ 212
8.2.1 Travel Distance ................................... 213
8.2.2 Travel Frequency ................................. 222
8.2.3 Travel Frequency Differences Between Different
Destinations ..................................... 231
8.3 Factors in Rural Residents’ Travel Distance .................. 236
8.3.1 Impact of Regional Factors ......................... 236
8.3.2 Impact of Spatial Differences on Regional Factors ..... 240
8.4 Summary ............................................... 246
References .................................................... 246
