IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cwi/tsocio/v3y2025i2p1-16.html

Rural restructuring in Southwest China: Is change driven by targeted poverty alleviation?

Author

Listed:
  • Guifeng Xu

    (Hubei University of Automotive Technology, Shiyan, Hubei 442000, China)

Abstract

Targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) has effectively addressed the problem of absolute poverty in rural China. However, the rural restructuring resulting from this unconventional model of antipoverty and the sustainability of this restructuring need to be further tested. This study develops an analytical framework for the multidimensional transition of rural areas from the perspective of collaborative governance for poverty with multiple actors. We test our framework with a case study of Danzhai County, China. The results indicate that antipoverty actors created a benefit linkage mechanism for poor villagers through comprehensive land consolidation and the development of featured industries and cooperative societies and finally ended the traditional small-scale peasant economy system; however, the impact of TPA is still controversial because of issues such as elite capture in rural restructuring and the sustainability of industry in the postpoverty era.

Suggested Citation

  • Guifeng Xu, 2025. "Rural restructuring in Southwest China: Is change driven by targeted poverty alleviation?," Trends in Sociology, Berger Science Press, vol. 3(2), pages 1-16, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:cwi:tsocio:v:3:y:2025:i:2:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.61187/ts.v3i2.219
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://bergersci.com/index.php/ts/article/view/219/63
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://bergersci.com/index.php/ts/article/view/219
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.61187/ts.v3i2.219?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. United Nations UN, 2015. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015," Working Papers id:7097, eSocialSciences.
    2. Alan Singer, 2006. "Business Strategy and Poverty Alleviation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 225-231, June.
    3. AbulHasan M. Sadeq, 2002. "Waqf, perpetual charity and poverty alleviation," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(1/2), pages 135-151, January.
    4. Yuyuan Chang & Wen He & Jianling Wang, 2021. "Government Initiated Corporate Social Responsibility Activities: Evidence from a Poverty Alleviation Campaign in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(4), pages 661-685, November.
    5. Yansui Liu & Yuanzhi Guo & Yang Zhou, 2018. "Poverty alleviation in rural China: policy changes, future challenges and policy implications," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(2), pages 241-259, May.
    6. United Nations UN, 2015. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015," Working Papers id:7222, eSocialSciences.
    7. Zhou, Yang & Guo, Liying & Liu, Yansui, 2019. "Land consolidation boosting poverty alleviation in China: Theory and practice," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 339-348.
    8. Yansui Liu & Yuanzhi Guo & Yang Zhou, 2018. "Poverty alleviation in rural China: policy changes, future challenges and policy implications," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(2), pages 241-259, May.
    9. Jean-Philippe Platteau, 2009. "Information Distortion, Elite Capture and Task Complexity in Decentralized Development," Chapters, in: Ehtisham Ahmad & Giorgio Brosio (ed.), Does Decentralization Enhance Service Delivery and Poverty Reduction?, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Li, Yurui & Li, Yi & Karácsonyi, Dávid & Liu, Zhengjia & Wang, Yongsheng & Wang, Jieyong, 2020. "Spatio-temporal pattern and driving forces of construction land change in a poverty-stricken county of China and implications for poverty-alleviation-oriented land use policies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yue-Hui Yu & Man-Man Peng, 2022. "Development and Poverty Dynamics in Severe Mental Illness: A Modified Capability Approach in the Chinese Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Xia, Fangzhou & Huang, Jing & Zhang, Zhengfeng, 2024. "Government concerns, the benefit cliff, and land use: A comparative study of rural impoverished and marginalised impoverished groups," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    3. Zhe Sun & Liang Zhao & Shuyue Wang & Hongyin Zhang & Xinyu Wang & Zherui Wan, 2021. "Targeted Poverty Alleviation and Households’ Livelihood Strategy in a Relation-Based Society: Evidence from Northeast China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-18, February.
    4. Tang, Jianjun & Gong, Jiaowei & Ma, Wanglin & Rahut, Dil Bahadur, 2022. "Narrowing urban–rural income gap in China: The role of the targeted poverty alleviation program," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 74-90.
    5. Wei Li & Zhenbang Ma & Ruisi Luo & Yiying Hong & Sijian Wang & Xing Ma & Qiong Bao, 2025. "Balancing Poverty Alleviation and Ecosystem Vulnerability Reduction: Implication from China’s Targeted Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-29, March.
    6. Guo, Yuanzhi & Liu, Yansui, 2021. "Poverty alleviation through land assetization and its implications for rural revitalization in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    7. José Antonio Rodríguez Martín & Juan Dios Jiménez Aguilera & José Antonio Salinas Fernández & José María Martín Martín, 2016. "Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5: Progress in the Least Developed Countries of Asia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 489-504, November.
    8. Caroline Jennings Saul & Heiko Gebauer, 2018. "Digital Transformation as an Enabler for Advanced Services in the Sanitation Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Subramaniam, Mega & Pang, Natalie & Morehouse, Shandra & Asgarali-Hoffman, S. Nisa, 2020. "Examining vulnerability in youth digital information practices scholarship: What are we missing or exhausting?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    10. Bruno F. Sunguya & Yue Ge & Linda B. Mlunde & Rose Mpembeni & Germana H. Leyna & Krishna C. Poudel & Niyati Parekh & Jiayan Huang, 2022. "Targeted and Population-Wide Interventions Are Needed to Address the Persistent Burden of Anemia among Women of Reproductive Age in Tanzania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-12, July.
    11. Yong‐Shik Lee, 2020. "New general theory of economic development: Innovative growth and distribution," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 402-423, May.
    12. Leena Eklund Karlsson & Anne Leena Ikonen & Kothar Mohammed Alqahtani & Pernille Tanggaard Andersen & Subash Thapa, 2020. "Health Equity Lens Embedded in the Public Health Policies of Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Document Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, October.
    13. Valensisi, Giovanni & Gauci, Adrian, 2013. "Graduated without passing? The employment dimension and LDCs' prospects under the Istanbul Programme of Action," MPRA Paper 86966, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Li, Xiaobo & Huang, Min & Shao, Jinan & Li, Mengyao & Shangguan, Wuyue, 2025. "Are firms with hometown CEOs better citizens? Evidence from the corporate poverty alleviation participation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    15. Lisa F. Clark, 2018. "Policy conflicts in global food assistance strategies: balancing local procurement and harmonization," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(1), pages 211-222, February.
    16. Simon Meunier & Dale T. Manning & Loic Queval & Judith A. Cherni & Philippe Dessante & Daniel Zimmerle, 2019. "Determinants of the marginal willingness to pay for improved domestic water and irrigation in partially electrified Rwandan villages," Post-Print hal-02179229, HAL.
    17. Jussi T. S. Heikkila, 2020. "Classifying economics for the common good: Connecting sustainable development goals to JEL codes," Papers 2004.04384, arXiv.org.
    18. Menon Martina & Perali Federico & Veronesi Marcella, 2017. "“Leaving No Child Behind:” Preferences for Social Inclusion and Altruism," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, July.
    19. Shannon L. Sibbald & Nicole Haggerty, 2019. "Integrating Business and Medical Pedagogy to Accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals," Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, , vol. 13(1), pages 92-101, March.
    20. Dedy Rahman Wijaya & Ni Luh Putu Satyaning Pradnya Paramita & Ana Uluwiyah & Muhammad Rheza & Annisa Zahara & Dwi Rani Puspita, 2022. "Estimating city-level poverty rate based on e-commerce data with machine learning," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 195-221, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cwi:tsocio:v:3:y:2025:i:2:p:1-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Berger Science Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.bergersci.com/index.php/ts .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.