Rural transformation in the hilly and mountainous region of southern China: Livelihood trajectory and cross-scale effects

Rural transformation, as a complex and compound process, can be dissected into different scale systems yet has not been systematically explored. This study takes Ruijin city, a hilly and mountainous area, as the example to explore the dynamic process of rural transformation and its cross-scale effects from the perspective of rural livelihood. The results showed that (1) On regional scale, institutional guarantees and policy reform were important factors influencing livelihood trajectory in the long term. The “top-down” process of rural reform needs to be embedded in the bottom-up engagement. (2) On community scale, village function is shifting from the single production to multi-function, and only by steering to the comparative advantages may villages achieve the goal of rural revitalization. (3) On household scale, rural livelihood tends to be pluriactive and is gradually differentiating from traditional smallholding to vocational farming or non-agricultural work according to livelihood assets. Further more, there existed a gap between village development and rural livelihood improvement in that farmers shared limited benefits from village industry development for multiple reasons. Therefore, a positive and inclusive rural transformation requires synergizing the government's top-down guidance with farmers' bottom-up livelihood needs in policy implementation, formulating an appropriate revitalization strategy according to the village category and development stage, and fostering the organic connection between village industry and small farmers through benefit sharing system construction and livelihood capital investment.