The Changing Dynamics of Land-Use Change in Rural China: A Case Study of Yuhang, Zhejiang Province

There is considerable debate in the literature on the extent and magnitude of Chinese rural land-use change since the onset of reforms in 1978. Moreover, there is little agreement on the factors leading to rural land-use change. Urbanization of the countryside, rural industrialization and housing development, lack of systematic agricultural protection policies and mechanisms for their implementation, and land-development programs are often considered responsible for the conversion of agricultural land to nonagricultural uses. Through a detailed case study of Yuhang in Zhejiang Province, the author attempts to unveil the complexity involved in land-use change in rural China. A variety of data sources, including published and unpublished official documents and statistics, local gazetteers, key informant interviews, and field observations, are employed. The results of the case study indicate a substantial reduction in agricultural land over the last twenty years. However, the path of this decline has not been smooth. The second decade of reform saw much evidence of decline in agricultural land. Spatially, the most severe decrease in agricultural land has been in areas close to urban centers, and with high accessibility. Urban sprawl, rural industrialization, and housing development have all contributed to the loss of agricultural land. But the author concludes that governments at various levels have played contradictory roles in the process of change. Whereas the governments have made a series of policy initiatives to protect agricultural land, they have, however, been the most important players in destabliizing the land base for agricultural production.