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Rural household land arrangements under different household divisions of labor were investigated in Sichuan Province, a typical mountainous area of Western China. Survey data were used to construct multinomial logistic regression models of the relationships between the attributes of land plots, farmers' households, and land arrangement behaviors. In this study, (1) a total of 1839 land plots available to 240 farmers were sampled. Among these, 79.61%, 15.88% and 4.51% were cultivated, transferred or abandoned, respectively. (2) There are significant correlations between farming household structure and migration income, as well as land arrangement behaviors. Specifically, the more laborers (Labor) there are, the higher the ratios of farming laborers (Agriculture) and part-time laborers to laborers (Pluriactivity), greater numbers of elderly individuals aged 64 + engaged in household agricultural production (Old), the greater the possibility that farmers would choose family farming. The higher the ratio of migrant labor income to total household income (Ratio), the greater the possibility that farmers would choose land transfer or land abandonment. The higher the ratio of non-agricultural laborers to the laborers (Non-agriculture), the greater the possibility that farmers would choose land transfer. This study furthers our understanding of rural household land arrangement behaviors in mountainous areas in the context of China's unique land rights system and high rates of labor migration.

Perceptions of risk and attitudes towards natural disasters have been the focus of considerable research. However, only limited academic attention has been given to landslide risk perception. Previous studies mainly focused on the effects of individual- and household-level characteristics on residents' disaster risk perception, and little attention has paid to the influences of community-level mass monitoring and mass prevention systems, especially on the sub-dimensions of risk perception. We selected peasant households from landslide-threatened regions in the Three Gorges Reservoir area and used a multi-dimensional Likert scale to measure peasant households' disaster risk perception. This paper explores influences on risk perception by dividing perception into individual, household, mass monitoring and mass prevention factors. The results indicated that: (1) peasant households' disaster risk perception was composed of 5 dimensions: possibility, dread, unknown, controllability and threat. Among these, dread ranked the highest and possibility ranked the lowest. The total score for peasant households' disaster risk perception was relatively low. (2) When individual and household characteristics were fixed, the presence of mass monitoring and mass prevention systems did not affect peasant households’ overall disaster risk perception, although it did influence its sub-dimensions.

China is transitioning from a traditional agrarian society into a modern industrial urban society. The main objective of this study is to establish a simple index to characterize the integrated transformation in a fixed area during China's process of urbanization and industrialization. This research focuses on key aspects of the urban rural integration that is occurring land usage, production efficiencies, employment, and household registration structures to establish a "Relative Rurality Index" (RRI). It assesses these measures in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of Chongqing (TGRAC). This index is not used to identify absolute urban or rural zones spatially, but to represent the gradients between the min a fixed area. RRI evaluations conducted in 2000 and 2010 indicate that a decade of development has led to an across-the-board decline in rurality in all TGRAC counties. Imbalances in area developments have also increased, with a clear rurality spatial differential, and basic correspondence between the spatial distribution of rurality and the urbanization of strategic deployments. Policy and non-Linear regression analyses show that changes in the rurality of the TGRAC are consistent with the derivative of the central government's strategic programs and policies. In short, the urban rural system in the TGRAC has undergone deep and lasting change. The results of this study show that the rurality characterized by RRI is both more accurate and comprehensive than the urbanization level presented in government statistics. Based on an in-depth analysis of the urban rural systems, this study provides an effective framework for policy-making that will support healthy urbanization and industrialization in China. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.