摘要
Rural China has experienced a rapid and far-reaching transition in the past three or four decades since Deng Xiaoping launched economic reforms in 1978. As China evolves into a majority urban country, these processes present a number of challenges to the rural areas which have been confronted with significant changes and subsequent restructuring of rural socio-econornic morphology and territorial spatial patterns, including changes in demographic structures, employment opportunities, community organization, lifestyles and standards of living, accessibility, rural culture as well as the restructuring of rural industries and rural production, living and ecological space （Woods, 2005; Long et al., 2012; Long, 2014）.
Rural China has experienced a rapid and far-reaching transition in the past three or four decades since Deng Xiaoping launched economic reforms in 1978. As China evolves into a majority urban country, these processes present a number of challenges to the rural areas which have been confronted with significant changes and subsequent restructuring of rural socio-econornic morphology and territorial spatial patterns, including changes in demographic structures, employment opportunities, community organization, lifestyles and standards of living, accessibility, rural culture as well as the restructuring of rural industries and rural production, living and ecological space （Woods, 2005; Long et al., 2012; Long, 2014）.
