The Mechanism and Realization Path of Youth In-migration for Sustained Development of Rural Revitalization Demonstration Belts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63808/grs.v2i1.529Keywords:
Youth in-migration, Rural revitalization demonstration belt, Social embeddedness, Regional network, Peri-urban countrysideAbstract
Contiguous rural revitalisation demonstration belts are the core institutional arrangements promoting urban-rural integration in western China. Most of the previous studies have focused on how returning youth integrate into their own villages and have not explored the scaling-up mechanism of youth-led local practices to achieve regional development. Based on the qualitative case study evidence, 42 semi-structured interviews and field observations were conducted in the six villages of the three Lanzhou demonstration belts from April to May 2026 to explore youth-led rural engagement. Based on the above data, the new generation of young people brings digital operational knowledge, external market access and cross-regional social capital to the village level and achieves multi-level embedding. However, in practice, the progress has been limited by talent-industry mismatches, weak industrial carrying capacity, poor inter-village cooperation, and insufficient living facilities. Functions of village-level individual embeddedness are necessary but not sufficient conditions for sustained, widespread prosperity in the belt. Only when the scattered resources of the people in different villages are connected will sustained regional development be possible. Targeted talent governance, inter-village industrial alliance construction and amenity upgrading have been proposed as feasible policy choices in this study, and empirical lessons for peri-urban contiguous rural revitalization in western China have been obtained.
References
[1] Bao, A., Pang, G., & Zeng, G. (2022). Entrepreneurial effect of rural return migrants: Evidence from China. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1078199. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1078199
[2] Chen, Z., & Barcus, H. R. (2024). The rise of homereturning women’s entrepreneurship in China’s rural development: Producing the enterprising self through empowerment, cooperation, and networking. Journal of Rural Studies, 105, 103156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2023.103156
[3] He, L., Wang, F., & Wang, C. (2023). How does digital economy drive China’s rural revitalization? Frontiers of Economics in China, 18(1), 118144. https://doi.org/10.3868/s06001702300074
[4] Hu, B., & Zhang, Q. (2023). Multidimensional embeddedness of returningyouth in rural China. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 9(2), 211234. https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150X231164782
[5] Jia, Y. (2023). Structural constraints for rural youth talent development in Western China. Chinese Rural Economy, (8), 6178.
[6] Lin, Q., & Lu, J. (2024). Resource bricolage, capability building and returnee youth entrepreneurship. Dongyue Tribune, 45(9), 8291. https://doi.org/10.15981/j.cnki.dongyueluncong.2024.09.008
[7] Liu, Y., Li, Y., & Zhou, Y. (2023). Where will the young people go? Qualityoflife drivers of youth inmigration to rural China. Habitat International, 137, 102842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2023.102842
[8] Lu, Y., Meng, Y., Chen, L., & Zhang, Y. (2024). Can the digital economy contribute to rural revitalization? Evidence from China. PLOS ONE, 19(10), e0310313. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310313
[9] Wang, Y., Jiang, Y., Geng, B., Wu, B., & Liao, L. (2022). Determinants of returnees’ entrepreneurship in rural marginal China. Journal of Rural Studies, 94, 429438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.07.014
[10] Yuan, C.H., Wang, D., Hong, L., Zou, Y., & Wen, J. (2022). Coming back home to start up a business? A comparison between youth from rural and urban backgrounds in China. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 962419. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.962419
[11] Zhong, C., & Li, H. (2023). How can young talents contribute to rural revitalization? An analysis based on the “embeddednesspublicness” framework. Journal of Nanjing Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition), 23(1), 5060. https://doi.org/10.19714/j.cnki.16717465.2023.0014
[12] Zhou, L. (2021). Rural revitalization and crossvillage collaborative development in China. Journal of Rural Studies, 87, 348358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.08.008
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Wen Wang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.