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Differentiation of spatial morphology of rural settlements from an ethnic cultural perspective on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau, China
Habitat International 79 (2018) 1–9
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Differentiation of spatial morphology of rural settlements from an ethnic cultural perspective on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau, China
T
Guangyong Lia,b, Guanghui Jianga,∗, Cuihong Jiangc, Ju Baib a
State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Process and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, XinJieKouWai St., HaiDian District, Beijing 100875, China b National Geomatics Center of China, 28 Lianhuachi West Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100830, China c Institute of Agricultural Information and Economics, Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
A R T I C LE I N FO
A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Rural settlements Morphology structure Ethnic culture Minority nationality Qinghai-Tibet plateau
Rural settlements are carriers of ethnic culture, and their spatial morphology is restricted by the natural environment and ethnic culture, especially in areas where ethnic consciousness is strong. In this study, we selected multi-ethic communities in northwest China to analyze spatial morphology of rural settlements, and we described the relationship between ethnic culture and spatial morphology from the perspective of different ethnicities, leading industries, religious beliefs, and modern education. There were obvious geographical clustering characteristics and gradient variations in morphological structure of rural settlements in Qinghai Province, China. Spatial morphology of rural settlements in different multi-ethnic communities highlighted the ethnic characteristics of this unique nation, and it had an obvious relationship with their leading industries, modern education, and religious beliefs. The relationship between the spatial morphology of rural settlements and the leading economic activity revealed regular change in characteristics, from farming towns (F) to farming and animal husbandry towns (F-AH) to animal husbandry and farming towns (AH-F), and finally to animal husbandry towns (AH). The spatial morphology of other industrial towns (OI) did not show the coordinated regulation as did the other four categories, which showed the particularity of spatial morphology. All ethnic rural settlements had a significantly higher dependence on primary education than on religious beliefs. We concluded that educational resources will become an important factor in the future for optimizing the spatial pattern of rural settlements of multi-ethnic settlements in Northwest China.
1. Introduction Rural settlements are the places where rural residents live and engage in agricultural production, which is the main morphology of human habitation formed by the interaction of local residents with the natural, economic, social, and cultural environments (Yang, Liu, Long, Qiao, & Yang, 2015). The formation and evolution of landscape morphological characteristics of rural settlements are not only influenced by natural factors, economic factors, and policy, but also by various factors such as ideology, ethics, religious beliefs, agricultural production, and cultural customs (Gude, Hansen, Rasker, & Maxwell, 2006; Polat & Olgun, 2004; Sanjay, 2007; Shmueli, 1980). Because they are the main carrier of ethnic culture (i.e., religion, beliefs, customs and traditions, languages, food, arts, and values), the itemized function of rural settlements has been integrated into the culture of their ethnicity and is reflected in the spatial morphological characteristics of rural
settlements (Segun, 2012). However, there are still few studies on the spatial morphological structure of rural settlements from the perspective of cultural differences in multi-ethnic communities. Ethnic groups are communities with a common cultural background that live in a specific geographical environment with unique production systems, religious beliefs, and cultural education. After a long history, the production and life processes developed gradually to form cultures with ethnic characteristics, which are the “genetic code” that differentiates ethnic groups (Wu, 2012; Yang, 2014). Early geographers attempted to simply link the morphological structure of the settlements in different countries in Europe with the distribution of ethnic groups (Cheyney, 1897). However, some scholars believe that the link between ethnic groups and their settlements is obscure and that this link cannot be attributed to the historical trajectory based on simple national logic (Sorre, 1952; Toffin & Champs, 1994). In multi-ethnic communities, the natural environment determines the “regional” aspect of the
∗ Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Process and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, XinJieKouWai St., HaiDian District, Beijing 100875, China. E-mail address: [email protected] (G. Jiang).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2018.06.002 Received 27 November 2017; Received in revised form 11 June 2018; Accepted 13 June 2018 Available online 23 July 2018 0197-3975/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Fig. 1. The study area and spatial distribution pattern of different ethnic groups over Tibetan Plateau, China.
these settlements. Large-scale research, which is sparse, has focused on natural conditions (i.e., topography, climate factors) and size patterns of rural settlements (Tian, Qiao, & Zhang, 2012). However, the northwest region has complex natural geographical conditions and many diversified ethnic cultures and, therefore, it is necessary to carry out indepth research on whether the leading industries, modern education, and religious beliefs play a role in shaping the spatial patterns of rural settlements. Our main objective was to use methods of landscape ecology and univariate Local Moran's I to reflect the spatial morphology of rural settlements in multi-ethnic settlement areas. On this basis, we analyzed the relationships among different ethnic groups, leading industries, religious beliefs, modern education, and the characteristics of ethnic cultures of rural settlements to distinguish the dependence of rural settlements on modern education and religious beliefs. Our research would provide theoretical support for the spatial reconstruction of rural settlements on a large scale in the process of rapid urbanization form the perspective of ethnic cultural protection in China.
settlements; however, their ethnic culture is the concentrated expression of the “ethnic character” of the settlements. Hence, ethnic cultural characteristics inherent in ethnic groups should be considered in addition to the focus on “regional” characteristics when studying rural settlements of multi-ethnic communities (Wu, 2012). Ethnic distribution, industrial space, and religious space are key factors that control the spatial characteristics of rural settlements in multi-ethnic areas, and cultural education is the driving factor that promotes the evolution of spatial characteristics of rural settlements (Yang, 2014). Even in the same geographical space or under the same natural environmental conditions, different ethnic groups inherit different traditional cultures, which include their mode of economic activity and religious beliefs. This inheritance determines the cultural psychology and cultural traditions of homoplasy among a group of people, which is transmitted directly through the morphological characteristics of rural settlements (Guan, 2001; Wu, 1992). The pursuit of modern education results from urbanization, and then the uneven supply of basic education in urban compared to rural areas, the imbalance of resource allocation, and other issues emerge gradually (Tang, Xiang, Luo, & Chen, 2017). Many scholars have applied space accessibility technology to understand the dependence of rural settlements on educational facilities (Chin & Foong, 2006; Singleton, Longley, Allen, & O'Brien, 2011). However, due to the limitation of multi-source data, there has been little research on the complex ethnic environmental backgrounds of multi-ethnic settlements, and quantitative research with large scale spatial data is still insufficient. There are 56 ethnic groups in China. The basic pattern of ethnic geographical distribution reveals that the Han are the major component of the “big mixed, small settlements” that have an interlaced distribution on the national scale. Northwest China is noteworthy for its concentration of ethnic minorities that live in compact communities. Since 2000, the Chinese government has implemented the “western development” policy in the vast land in western China, and the rural economy has developed rapidly. The settled ethnic residents have been affected by traditional concepts, and additional funds have been allocated for the construction of residential housing to update old houses. On the other hand, the Qinghai provincial government implemented the “Nomadic settlement project” in pastoral areas at the beginning of 2009, where a large number of nomadic pastoralists had built houses in their winter pasture. Driven by these two factors, the unique landscape pattern of the rural settlements in the northwest has been transformed gradually. However, due to the lack of spatial geographical data for rural settlements, especially in the sparsely populated northwest region of China, it is difficult to obtain large-scale, accurate data on rural settlements, which is the main reason there has been less research on
2. Study area Qinghai Province is located in the northeastern part of the QinghaiTibetan Plateau (QTP) (E 89°35′-103°04′, N 31°9′-39°19′), which covers about 30% of the total area of the QTP (Fig. 1), and this province is in the continental and the eastern monsoon, marginal climate zones. The average elevation of the area is 4100 m, and the terrain is high in the west and low in the east. Qinghai Lake, which is China's largest inland lake, is located in the northeastern region of the plateau. The South Qinghai Plateau (SQP) covers the entire western and southern areas, and it accounts for half of the total area of the province. In the west, at elevations of > 5000 m, snow cover and glaciers are distributed widely. South and northeast at about 2500–3000 m above sea level, there is a low-lying, multi-basin valley with a multi-level terrace system that is suitable for grazing and farming. The Qaidam Basin (QB) in the northwest, which is 2600–3100 m above sea level, has an annual precipitation that varies from 200 mm in the southeast to 15 mm in the northwest. Northeast of the Qilian Mountains (QM), there is a region with diverse landforms. The northern part of the area that is more than 4200 m in elevation is an important natural pasture. The southeastern part of the valley and the valley on both sides of the broad terraces have an average elevation of 2500 m, and this is an area of major food production. The valleys around the mountain at 4000 m above sea level, with the exception of a few hills with perennial snow, contain excellent pastures with abundant grass. Since ancient times, the region of the east adjacent to the Gansu 2
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Table 1 The definition of landscape metrics used in the study of morphology of rural settlements. Landscape metrics (abbreviation) Mean patch size (MPS)
Description The average size of the rural settlements in a given area is
MPS =
Patch size standard deviation (PSSD)
Ai ni
where MPS is mean patch size of rural settlements in a region, MPS > 0 (ha), Ai represents the total area of rural settlements in i region, and ni represents the total number of rural settlements. The relative size of rural settlements in a region is
PSSD =
2 A ∑im= 1 ∑nj = 1 ⎡aij − ⎛ ⎞ ⎤ ⎢ ⎥ ⎝ N ⎠⎦ ⎣ N
where PSSD is the standard deviation of rural settlements in a region, PSSD≥0 (ha), aij is the area of rural settlement, A is the total area
Mean patch fractal dimension (MPFD)
(ha) of the rural settlement, and N is the total number of rural settlements. When all rural settlement patches are consistent or when there is only one, PSSD = 0. The shape complexity of rural settlements in a region is
MPFD =
Mean nearest neighbor distance (MNN)
2ln (0.25Pi) ⎤ ∑in= 1 ⎡ ⎥ ⎢ lnai ⎦ ⎣ N
where MPFD is the mean patch fractal dimension of rural settlements in a region, 1 ≤ MPFD≤2. Pi is the perimeter of the rural settlements i (m), 0.25 is the correction constant, ai is the area of the settlements i (ha), and N is the total number of settlements. MPFD = 1 represents the simplest square or round shape, MPFD = 2 represents the most complex patch type of the perimeter, and the usual upper limit of its value is 1.5. The average distance between the centroid of each rural settlement and the nearest neighbor is n
MNN = ∑i = 1 di/ n where MNN represents the mean actual distance of the nearest neighbor, MNN > 0 (m). di is the distance between each element and its nearest element.
Corridor has been known as the “Silk Road” and the “Tang Fan Trail”, which has always been an important conduit for communication among Chinese and Western European countries about economics, politics, and culture. Its special geographical position and historical deposition have resulted in a region with multi-ethnic communities that have been influenced by different cultures. According to the sixth nationwide population census for China in 2010, the province's resident population was 5.63 million: the Han population, who lived mainly in urban areas and the economically developed towns, accounted for 53.02%. Ethnic minorities were mainly Tibetan, Hui, Du, Salar, and Mongolian, which accounted for 46.57% of the total population, whereas the other ethnic minorities accounted for only 0.41% of the total population. The area occupied by ethnic minorities was 98% of the province's total area. Tibetan and Mongolian residents were the two most widely distributed ethnic groups. Other ethnic groups, such as the Hui, Salar, and Du, were concentrated in the eastern region, which is the intersection and focal point of the ethnic cultural transmission belt between central and western China (Fig. 1). Confucianism and Taoism of the Han spread from here to the West, northwestern Chinese minority and the West cultures spread to the east, and this region eventually became a gathering place for multi-ethnic cultures. Different ethnic groups are rooted in different natural environments; these environments strongly influenced their different production methods and life styles, which result in a diversity of industrial cultures. This difference in environmental types determined the diversity of the economic morphology in the region (Qin, 2013), which include animal husbandry-based deserts, grassland pastoral areas, dry farming, and the existence of mixed economic forms.
artificial digging piles, desert and bare land, and waters of the 10 classes. The data are a vector set that can be interpreted artificially by using remote sensing images with resolution < 2 m that follows the principle of “what you see is what you get”, and this vector set reflects the current situation of the land surface accurately (Cheng, Liu, & Dong, 2017). In 2015, China completed its first national geographical state census of this area and formed a database of geographical conditions. Rural settlements, schools, temples, and mosques were included in the results from the census, and the data were provided by Qinghai provincial administration of surveying, mapping, and geo information. Ethnic distribution was demarcated by town units, and the data for all of the ethnic groups in the towns were from the statistical yearbook of the counties in Qinghai Province. Based on the leading economic activities of rural residents in every town in the statistical yearbook of various counties, all of the towns were divided into five categories: farming towns (F), farming and animal husbandry towns (F-AH), animal husbandry towns (AH), animal husbandry and farming towns (AHF), and other industrial towns (OI). F is the town economy dominated by the planting industry, F-AH refers to the economic activities associated primarily with the planting industry that was supplemented by animal husbandry, and AH-F is a town with animal husbandry as the main component of the economy and planting as an auxiliary economic activity. AH is the town economy with animal husbandry as its main component. Other towns with industrial, service, or other non-farming and non-livestock production as the leading economic activity were classified as OI.
3.2. Landscape metrics 3. Materials and methods Landscape metrics are simple quantitative indices that concentrate the information on landscape patterns and reflects its structural composition and spatial configuration (Wu, 2001). It can achieve an objective description of features at the three levels of patch, class, and landscape. Many landscape metrics have been used widely in the expression of the spatial morphology of rural settlements (Neel, McGarigal, & Cushman, 2004; Shaker, 2018). In this study, we described landscapes of rural settlements using mean patch size (MPS), patch size standard deviation (PSSD), mean patch fractal dimension (MPFD), and mean nearest neighbor distance (MNN) (Table 1). MPS is employed to express the average state and landscape fragmentation of
3.1. Data sources The national geographical state census is a reflection of a country's natural, economic, and cultural information, which includes geographical features, topography, land cover, road traffic networks, and the expansion of urbanization to explain the spatiotemporal variation in economic and social development, natural resources, and the ecological environment (Shi, Qin, et al., 2012). The classification index for the national geographical state for land cover data included farmland, gardens, woodlands, grasslands, building areas, structures, roads, 3
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Fig. 2. MPS, PSSD, MPFD, and MNN and LISA cluster maps of rural settlements in Qinghai Province, China.
MPFD is the weighted average value based on the area of the fractal dimension of a single patch of landscape, which determines the complexity and variability of the boundary shape of the patch. MNN is used to measure the spatial pattern of rural settlements to reflect the state of their spatial aggregation. All landscape metrics use the town as a
rural settlements in a region. Rural settlements in a region with a smaller MPS value are more fragmented than other regions with a larger MPS value at the patch level. PSSD was used to indicate the uniformity of the patch sizes of rural settlements, where a greater PSSD represents greater size differences among settlements within a region. 4
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fragmentation than other areas in Qinghai province. MPS values > 0.4 ha were distributed mainly in the southeastern part of the QB, south-central SQP, and the central area of QM, which formed a HighHigh region; the areas encompassed by rural settlements in this region were relatively large and fragmentation was low. The towns with rural settlements with MPS of 0.2–0.4 ha accounted for 41.5% and were concentrated in the middle of the QM, south of the SQP, and northwest of QB. The LISA cluster diagram showed that these areas were distributed between the MPS high and low valleys, and the 11 towns were Low-High or High-Low. There was a spatial gradient of MPS between the high and low valleys; that is, sizes and fragmentation of rural settlements and fragmentation between high and low values showed a gradual trend. The number of towns in Qinghai Province with a rural settlement PSSD < 0.4 ha accounted for 31.0%, 0.4–0.8 ha accounted for 38.5% (Fig. 2c) and, combined with the LISA map (Fig. 2d), the MPS and PSSD spatial aggregation morphologies of rural settlements in each town were consistent with each other. This indicated that the rural settlement areas with larger patches and higher fragmentation had poor homogeneity of rural settlements; in rural settlements with smaller patch sizes and lower fragmentation, the homogeneity was relatively higher than other areas in Qinghai Province. Similarly, in the spatial region with high and low PSSD values, the gradient characteristics of land heterogeneity and homogeneity were exhibited. The average MPFD of each town in Qinghai Province was 1.478 and approximated the usual upper limit of 1.5, which indicated that the rural settlements in the study area were more complicated. MPFD of rural settlements in Qinghai Province showed obvious regional clustering (Fig. 2e and f). MPFD values of the rural settlements in southeastern SQP and QB, and northwest QM were lower than 1.46, which formed the Low-Low region; this indicated that rural settlements in this area were more regular. The areas with MPFD > 1.50 in the central part and southeast of the SQP and northeast of QM formed a High-High region, which indicated that the area and surrounding rural settlements were complex in shape. There were 156 towns in south QM with rural settlement MNN values < 100 m, which accounted for 42.5% of the total number of towns in Qinghai Province (Fig. 2g and h). There were 81 towns with MNN values > 400 m, and they accounted for 21.83% of the total, 78 of which were concentrated in northwest Qinghai Province, which formed the MNN High-High area. Especially in the 20 towns in northwest of SQP and northwest of QM, the rural settlement MNN values were > 1000 m. On the LISA cluster map between the High-High and the Low-Low values of the towns, there was no significant spatial aggregation, but the MNN values showed a hierarchical change (Fig. 2g). Of the rural settlements in 60 towns where the MNN values were 100–200 m, 46 of them were located near the towns with MNN values of 0–100 m. MNN values of rural settlements in Qinghai Province exhibited a significant change from the southeast to the northwest, and these areas had clustering of significant high and low values.
statistical unit. Patch Analyst is an extension to the ArcGIS software system that facilitates the spatial analysis of landscape patches and the modeling of attributes that are associated with patches. This extension is used for spatial pattern analysis, which is often in support of habitat modeling. In this study, we used the Patch Analyst 5.0 expansion module with the vector data to calculate landscape metrics. 3.3. Univariate Local Moran's I Spatial cluster analysis mainly examines the correlation between the attributes of the local elements and the same attributes of adjacent elements, and it reveals the regional structure and dependencies of spatial variables. It is usually checked by LISA cluster. The spatial aggregation shown in the LISA cluster diagram is just a gathering center. When a value position and its neighbor are more similar than random space, the space gathered was divided (Shaker & Sirodoev, 2016). To describe the relationships of spatial structure among rural settlements, we used Univariate Local Moran's I in GeoDa software. In comparison with other methods for spatial cluster analysis, the Moran's I index examines individual locations, which enables hotspots to be identified based on comparison with neighboring samples (Sun, 2015).
Ii =
Xi − X S2
m
∑ Wij (Xj − X ) j=1
(1)
In the formula, Ii is the local spatial autocorrelation index, Xi and Xj are the attribute values of spatial unit i and spatial unit j, respectively, X is the average of Xi , m is the number of samples, and Wij is the spatial weight matrix. The local Moran's I spatial correlation model can be divided into five categories, where High-High and Low-Low positions represent positive, local spatial autocorrelation, which is a typical spatial aggregation, but the High-Low and Low-High positions represent negative, local spatial autocorrelation and become spatial outliers. The fifth category, “No significance”, means that there is no significant correlation between a representative and the surrounding value. 3.4. Power law distribution Spatial dependencies can be estimated by comparing the number of points between a certain point and a certain distance (spatial distance or distance interval). In this study, we chose the core objects (i.e., local religious or primary school site) as the central point, using 0.5 km for the step size of the five buffer iterations, and the number of rural settlements covered was counted one by one. Then, the power law distribution model was used to fit the data (Virkar & Clauset, 2014). Mathematically, if a quantity variable obeys a power law, then the variable represents a change in density gradient. The expression of the power law distribution is
f (x ) = ax −b
(2)
Where a represents the constant of the fitting curve, x is the rural settlement numbers in the pinned buffer zone at the center of the central point, and b is the exponent or scaling parameter. The greater the b value is in the fitting equation, the higher is the degree of aggregation, and the higher is the dependence on the core object.
4.2. Morphology of rural settlements of different ethnic groups The spatial morphology of rural settlements in different ethnic communities was not consistent (Fig. 3). The rural settlements in the Salar area, and to a lesser extent the Mongolian areas, had lower fragmentation and poor uniformity. The rural settlements of the Tibetan and Han areas occupied less land, had higher fragmentation, and better uniformity. The shape of rural settlements in all ethnic groups was more complex, and the Han area was the most complex, followed by the Tibetan area, whereas the shapes of rural settlements in the Salar agglomeration were the most regular. There was a significant difference in the degree of aggregation of rural settlements among various ethnic groups. Aggregation of rural settlements in the Du, Salar, and Hui areas was the largest among all ethnics, with MNN values of about 80 m. The density of rural settlements in the Mongolian, Tibetan, and Han areas
4. Results 4.1. Spatial morphology of rural settlements MPS values < 0.2 ha accounted for 38.8% of the rural settlements in towns, and these were concentrated in the northeastern part of the QM and in the southeast and northwest of the SQP, which formed the Low-Low region with their neighboring towns (Fig. 2a and b). The area of rural settlements was smaller and had a higher degree of 5
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Fig. 3. Rural settlement morphological characteristics (MPS, PSSD, MPFD and MNN) of different ethnic communities in Qinghai Province, China.
was lower, and the MNN values were > 300 m, which indicated that the spatial distribution of rural settlements in these three ethnic groups was sparse. This was especially true in Tibetan settlements, where the average MNN was > 400 m. There were also differences in the MNN values of rural settlements of the same ethnic groups in towns in the same region (Fig. 4 a, b). The MNN values for the rural settlements of Hui, Salar, and Du were almost entirely lower than 200 m, which indicated that the layout of rural residential areas in these three ethnic groups was more unified and more concentrated. The MNN values for rural settlements of the Han, Tibetans, and Mongolians were scattered throughout the range of the MNN values; that is, the variation in agglomeration in these three ethnic groups was larger, which indirectly reflected the diversity of their ethnic cultures.
Fig. 4. Number of towns per grid-cell (defined by mean nearest neighbor distance) and ethic in Qinghai Province, China.
regular change of rural settlements in the other four industrial regions. Rural settlements in OI showed the lowest size uniformity, and the shape tended to be simple and showed a large difference from rural settlements in agricultural regions.
4.4. The relationship between the locations of rural settlements relative to religious sites and primary schools The number of rural settlements in all ethnic communities that were centered on primary schools attenuated exponentially with the increase in distance from those schools (Fig. 6a). In addition to the Han, rural settlements of other ethnic groups were centered on local religious sites (Fig. 6b). Tibetan and Mongolian rural settlements were the most obvious in this regard, with Buddhist temples as the center (b = 0.845, r2 = 0.999 and b = 0.751, r2 = 0.973, respectively). The rural settlements of the Han did not show spatial dependence on Taoist temples (b = 0.083, r2 = 0.509). The attenuation rate of rural settlements with respect to primary schools was significantly higher than that for religious sites. Except for Salar, the number of rural settlements within 0.5 km of religious sites was higher than the number of rural settlements at the center of those sites. Therefore, the dependency of rural settlements on access to modern education in Qinghai Province was stronger than to that of religious sites.
4.3. Morphology of rural settlements in regions with different leading industries The MPS of rural settlements decreased from F to AH, whereas the MNN values showed an increasing trend. This indicated that land area and aggregation of rural settlements that had farming as the leading industry were higher than that of animal husbandry areas, and they showed a transition from F to F-AH to AH-F to AH (Fig. 5a and b). The size uniformity of rural settlements in F, F-AH, AH-F, and AH did not show obvious changes, but the shapes of animal husbandry settlements (AH and AH-F) were more complex than farming settlements (F and FAH). The MPS of OI rural settlements was the highest among all industries, but the MNN values were between F and AH. Land sizes and aggregation of OI rural settlements were not in harmony with the 6
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Fig. 5. Rural settlement morphological characteristics of different leading industry regions in Qinghai Province, China.
5. Discussion
Fig. 6. The distance relationship between ethnic rural settlements and religious sites and primary schools.
Rural settlements are a comprehensive product of the natural environment and human factors. Natural environmental conditions play a key role in the initial stage of pattern formation (Sevenant & Antrop, 2007). In the early stage when farming is the dominant economic form of the region, topography, geomorphology, and climatic conditions are the dominant factors that determine the spatial distribution of settlements at large scales (Unvin & Nash, 1992; Bański & Wesołowska, 2010). However, spatial morphology of rural settlements in Qinghai Province was not controlled by natural conditions, such as altitude, dust activity, annual mean temperature, and precipitation (Tian et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2014). The northeastern part of the QM belongs to the Hehuang Valley, and many alluvial plains, river terraces, and distributed terraces are there with its warm and humid climate and fertile soil. This area is close to the Gansu Corridor, and the transportation network is convenient. From ancient times to the present, it has been the preferred area for settlement of all ethnic groups that are engaged in farming and animal husbandry (Dong, Wang, Cui, Elsto, & Chen, 2013). “Multiethnic mixed” is one of the characteristics of the distribution of people in this region; all ethnic groups in the same natural environment and common living areas developed many of the same production systems and living customs. The rural resident population density in those towns was large, so the distribution of rural residential areas was denser and the average distance among them was smaller. The courtyards of Hui, Salar, and Du minorities were square or rectangular “zhuangke” yards that showed several adjacent households, but some Tibetan and Mongolian residents practiced some animal husbandry and, therefore,
the shapes of rural settlements were irregular and less adjacent to each other to meet the needs of livestock breeding. In the periphery of the Hehuang Valley and southern SQP is a Tibetan and Han mixed region, and the Tibetan population was dominant. The cultural integration between these ethnic groups resulted in different rural settlements that did not show obvious regularity in morphology, and it was also the main reason for the change in the spatial morphology gradient of rural settlements among different ethnic communities. There were Mongolian residential regions in northeastern QB and southeastern SQP. There, a single ethnic community has developed a different morphology of rural settlement than the surrounding area, and it exhibited a MPS and PSSD Low-Low area and a MPFD High-High area. The spatial patterns of rural settlements showed ethnic differences in the region, but the relationship between the spatial morphology of rural settlements and ethnic groups, industries, religions, and education showed a complex gradient among the local micro-differences in multiethnic areas (Yang, 2014). The different types of leading industries at national and regional scales determined the different land use types and structure. Rural settlements transformed their spatial morphology to meet the needs of the local production technology and management modes under different land use patterns, and this process was related closely to the livelihood of farmers (Ruda, 1998; Long, Tang, Li, & Heilig, 2007; Liu, Liu, Chen, & Long, 2010; Zhu, Zhang, Li, & Zhu, 2014). Farming communities were attentive to areas of fine tillage, and 7
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recommended that the most appropriate distance from a school was < 1 km or that the time it should take to walk to school should be < 0.5 h (Lehman, 2003). SMR increased the cost of children's accommodations, transportation, and food consumption. Because of students' life consumption pressure and issues with traffic safety, rural residents who felt “left-behind” were more likely to live close to schools (Zhao & Parolin, 2014). On the other hand, the implementation of “family planning” and the “fewer and better birth” concept have been accepted by the majority of rural residents for > 30 years in China, and most families only raise one or two children. Rural residents do not want their next generation to continue to be trapped in rural poverty, and they hope that their children can receive the best education. Farmers believe that emigration and education are the most direct and effective ways to escape their poor rural situation (Zhang, 2017). Children's education has become an important factor in decisionmaking by Chinese parents with respect to where they live (Zang, Lv, & Warren, 2015). As a result, rural settlements now exhibit significant spatial dependency on primary schools, and the degree of dependence on education has surpassed religious beliefs.
they were limited as to how far they could travel from their settlements to cultivate their fields. On the other hand, the economic yield of cultivated land is higher than that of animal husbandry, which resulted in a greater population carrying capacity. All these factors resulted eventually in intensive rural settlements with higher aggregation and more complex shapes (Carrion-Flores & Irwin, 2004; Tan & Li, 2013; Yang, Liu, Long, & Qiao, 2015). In the high altitude areas where Tibetan and Mongolian herdsmen lived, the family of every herdsman has a long-term right to use pastures based on a contract system. Many households have pastures of > 10 ha because of the low productivity of these pastoral areas under extensive management, and they built residential and ancillary buildings on their captive livestock ranches to facilitate their animal husbandry. Therefore, the density of rural settlements was low (Li et al., 2015). There were no longer regular courtyards between the buildings, and there were different uses of the overall layout, which has led to sparse rural settlements with small size and complex shapes. In the transition areas between farming and animal husbandry, rural settlements have integrated their morphological characteristics to meet the needs of the two industries simultaneously. The QB is rich in salt, oil, coal, and a variety of metallic mineral deposits. The location and scale of rural settlements was limited by the distribution of mineral resources and the scale of mining. However, the relationship between the leading industry and settlements was verified especially in mountainous areas; variables that related to industry did not explain all of the spatial morphology of rural settlements that existed in the same area (Toffin & Champs, 1994). Religious beliefs are an extremely complex set of ideologies that control behavior, values, and life norms of religious believers. Religious beliefs require some ritualized activities to sustain and strengthen themselves. Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, or churches are different religious centers that help to maintain the faith of believers and to contribute to public service and commercial services. When religious beliefs become a central part of people's lives, religious space establishes its position to influence the spatial structure of the settlements to include spatial layout, structure, form, and architectural style (Rapoport, 1969; Xiang, Gao, & Hu, 2011). As Muslims, the Salar and Hui people believe in Islam. Islamists worship in the mosque every Friday, and the mosque is regarded as the cultural center to solve major problems. The entire village is centered on the mosque, which shows a high degree of dependence on religion. Tibetan, Mongolian, and Du people believe in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan people are particularly devout, and almost all of them believe in Tibetan Buddhism. Religion profoundly affects their ideas, cultural psychology, and economic life. The development of rural settlements, spatial organization, and constituent elements are aimed at highlighting religious beliefs. The cultural attributes of the Tibetan rural settlements require that the monastery be located in the center of the settlement or on high ground; this forms an urban settlement amid rural settlements that are nearby, and it demonstrates a vertical distribution of the spatial pattern that plays a role in controlling the village. Taoism and Confucianism are fundamental in Qinghai Han traditional agricultural areas. Each county generally builds temples and prays for a good harvest and a happy and healthy life. In recent years, with the development of modern society and Chinese efforts to improve the agricultural and rural medical security systems, the dependence on religion weakened gradually for the Han, which reduced the importance and existence of religious structures in their residential layouts. With the rapid development of China's economy and the acceleration of the urbanization process, the gap between urban and rural areas has widened. A large number of rural populations have moved to the cities, and the number of rural students has declined. To deal with the reduction of students and to improve teaching quality, the Chinese government has implemented the school mapping restructure program (SMR). The SMR determined that the distance that some students traveled to school was greater than international standards; they
6. Conclusions An analysis of the spatial morphology of rural settlements in Qinghai Province showed obvious regional differentiation among rural settlements, and rural settlements included strong ethnic culture into their daily living, which influenced the spatial morphology of these settlements. The morphological characteristics of rural settlements were different among diverse ethnic groups. There were transition zones in different rural settlements, especially with regard to rural settlement MNN, which showed obvious gradients in spatial distribution. The dominant industry in multi-ethnic areas exhibited unique spatial morphologies that demonstrated the process of transformation from F to AH towns. Rural settlements in OI areas were different from the other four industrial types in meeting their needs for production and management systems. The modern primary school played an important role in controlling the aggregation of rural settlements in Qinghai Province, and this proved that modern education was much more important to rural residents than religious beliefs. However, the dependence of rural settlements of different ethnic groups on their religious beliefs was quite different among those groups, and the Han rural settlements, in particular, did not show any dependence on religious sites. Because China is still at the stage of rapid urbanization, the rural population has generally been reduced, and the land circulation intensity is increasing. The spatial optimization and reconstruction of rural settlements are important elements in the design of the new countryside. On the other hand, China launched “The Belt and Road”, which is a Eurasian strategic cooperation project, to increase political, economic, and cultural exchanges between China's northwest region and the outside world. Although the special natural conditions and multi-ethnic cultures in northwest China have an important influence on the spatial morphology of rural settlements, this morphology also may be affected by the influence of cities and national policies that affect multiple factors that still need further study.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for reading the manuscript and providing valuable recommendations during their busy schedule. The authors also would like to thank all involved staff who produced accurate national census geography data in the Qinghai Surveying and Mapping Institute. This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41401057 and 41671519) and National Basic Surveying and Mapping Science and Technology Plan of China (2017KJ0202). 8
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Differentiation of spatial morphology of rural settlements from an ethnic cultural perspective on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau, China
T
Guangyong Lia,b, Guanghui Jianga,∗, Cuihong Jiangc, Ju Baib a
State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Process and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, XinJieKouWai St., HaiDian District, Beijing 100875, China b National Geomatics Center of China, 28 Lianhuachi West Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100830, China c Institute of Agricultural Information and Economics, Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
A R T I C LE I N FO
A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Rural settlements Morphology structure Ethnic culture Minority nationality Qinghai-Tibet plateau
Rural settlements are carriers of ethnic culture, and their spatial morphology is restricted by the natural environment and ethnic culture, especially in areas where ethnic consciousness is strong. In this study, we selected multi-ethic communities in northwest China to analyze spatial morphology of rural settlements, and we described the relationship between ethnic culture and spatial morphology from the perspective of different ethnicities, leading industries, religious beliefs, and modern education. There were obvious geographical clustering characteristics and gradient variations in morphological structure of rural settlements in Qinghai Province, China. Spatial morphology of rural settlements in different multi-ethnic communities highlighted the ethnic characteristics of this unique nation, and it had an obvious relationship with their leading industries, modern education, and religious beliefs. The relationship between the spatial morphology of rural settlements and the leading economic activity revealed regular change in characteristics, from farming towns (F) to farming and animal husbandry towns (F-AH) to animal husbandry and farming towns (AH-F), and finally to animal husbandry towns (AH). The spatial morphology of other industrial towns (OI) did not show the coordinated regulation as did the other four categories, which showed the particularity of spatial morphology. All ethnic rural settlements had a significantly higher dependence on primary education than on religious beliefs. We concluded that educational resources will become an important factor in the future for optimizing the spatial pattern of rural settlements of multi-ethnic settlements in Northwest China.
1. Introduction Rural settlements are the places where rural residents live and engage in agricultural production, which is the main morphology of human habitation formed by the interaction of local residents with the natural, economic, social, and cultural environments (Yang, Liu, Long, Qiao, & Yang, 2015). The formation and evolution of landscape morphological characteristics of rural settlements are not only influenced by natural factors, economic factors, and policy, but also by various factors such as ideology, ethics, religious beliefs, agricultural production, and cultural customs (Gude, Hansen, Rasker, & Maxwell, 2006; Polat & Olgun, 2004; Sanjay, 2007; Shmueli, 1980). Because they are the main carrier of ethnic culture (i.e., religion, beliefs, customs and traditions, languages, food, arts, and values), the itemized function of rural settlements has been integrated into the culture of their ethnicity and is reflected in the spatial morphological characteristics of rural
settlements (Segun, 2012). However, there are still few studies on the spatial morphological structure of rural settlements from the perspective of cultural differences in multi-ethnic communities. Ethnic groups are communities with a common cultural background that live in a specific geographical environment with unique production systems, religious beliefs, and cultural education. After a long history, the production and life processes developed gradually to form cultures with ethnic characteristics, which are the “genetic code” that differentiates ethnic groups (Wu, 2012; Yang, 2014). Early geographers attempted to simply link the morphological structure of the settlements in different countries in Europe with the distribution of ethnic groups (Cheyney, 1897). However, some scholars believe that the link between ethnic groups and their settlements is obscure and that this link cannot be attributed to the historical trajectory based on simple national logic (Sorre, 1952; Toffin & Champs, 1994). In multi-ethnic communities, the natural environment determines the “regional” aspect of the
∗ Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Process and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, XinJieKouWai St., HaiDian District, Beijing 100875, China. E-mail address: [email protected] (G. Jiang).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2018.06.002 Received 27 November 2017; Received in revised form 11 June 2018; Accepted 13 June 2018 Available online 23 July 2018 0197-3975/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Fig. 1. The study area and spatial distribution pattern of different ethnic groups over Tibetan Plateau, China.
these settlements. Large-scale research, which is sparse, has focused on natural conditions (i.e., topography, climate factors) and size patterns of rural settlements (Tian, Qiao, & Zhang, 2012). However, the northwest region has complex natural geographical conditions and many diversified ethnic cultures and, therefore, it is necessary to carry out indepth research on whether the leading industries, modern education, and religious beliefs play a role in shaping the spatial patterns of rural settlements. Our main objective was to use methods of landscape ecology and univariate Local Moran's I to reflect the spatial morphology of rural settlements in multi-ethnic settlement areas. On this basis, we analyzed the relationships among different ethnic groups, leading industries, religious beliefs, modern education, and the characteristics of ethnic cultures of rural settlements to distinguish the dependence of rural settlements on modern education and religious beliefs. Our research would provide theoretical support for the spatial reconstruction of rural settlements on a large scale in the process of rapid urbanization form the perspective of ethnic cultural protection in China.
settlements; however, their ethnic culture is the concentrated expression of the “ethnic character” of the settlements. Hence, ethnic cultural characteristics inherent in ethnic groups should be considered in addition to the focus on “regional” characteristics when studying rural settlements of multi-ethnic communities (Wu, 2012). Ethnic distribution, industrial space, and religious space are key factors that control the spatial characteristics of rural settlements in multi-ethnic areas, and cultural education is the driving factor that promotes the evolution of spatial characteristics of rural settlements (Yang, 2014). Even in the same geographical space or under the same natural environmental conditions, different ethnic groups inherit different traditional cultures, which include their mode of economic activity and religious beliefs. This inheritance determines the cultural psychology and cultural traditions of homoplasy among a group of people, which is transmitted directly through the morphological characteristics of rural settlements (Guan, 2001; Wu, 1992). The pursuit of modern education results from urbanization, and then the uneven supply of basic education in urban compared to rural areas, the imbalance of resource allocation, and other issues emerge gradually (Tang, Xiang, Luo, & Chen, 2017). Many scholars have applied space accessibility technology to understand the dependence of rural settlements on educational facilities (Chin & Foong, 2006; Singleton, Longley, Allen, & O'Brien, 2011). However, due to the limitation of multi-source data, there has been little research on the complex ethnic environmental backgrounds of multi-ethnic settlements, and quantitative research with large scale spatial data is still insufficient. There are 56 ethnic groups in China. The basic pattern of ethnic geographical distribution reveals that the Han are the major component of the “big mixed, small settlements” that have an interlaced distribution on the national scale. Northwest China is noteworthy for its concentration of ethnic minorities that live in compact communities. Since 2000, the Chinese government has implemented the “western development” policy in the vast land in western China, and the rural economy has developed rapidly. The settled ethnic residents have been affected by traditional concepts, and additional funds have been allocated for the construction of residential housing to update old houses. On the other hand, the Qinghai provincial government implemented the “Nomadic settlement project” in pastoral areas at the beginning of 2009, where a large number of nomadic pastoralists had built houses in their winter pasture. Driven by these two factors, the unique landscape pattern of the rural settlements in the northwest has been transformed gradually. However, due to the lack of spatial geographical data for rural settlements, especially in the sparsely populated northwest region of China, it is difficult to obtain large-scale, accurate data on rural settlements, which is the main reason there has been less research on
2. Study area Qinghai Province is located in the northeastern part of the QinghaiTibetan Plateau (QTP) (E 89°35′-103°04′, N 31°9′-39°19′), which covers about 30% of the total area of the QTP (Fig. 1), and this province is in the continental and the eastern monsoon, marginal climate zones. The average elevation of the area is 4100 m, and the terrain is high in the west and low in the east. Qinghai Lake, which is China's largest inland lake, is located in the northeastern region of the plateau. The South Qinghai Plateau (SQP) covers the entire western and southern areas, and it accounts for half of the total area of the province. In the west, at elevations of > 5000 m, snow cover and glaciers are distributed widely. South and northeast at about 2500–3000 m above sea level, there is a low-lying, multi-basin valley with a multi-level terrace system that is suitable for grazing and farming. The Qaidam Basin (QB) in the northwest, which is 2600–3100 m above sea level, has an annual precipitation that varies from 200 mm in the southeast to 15 mm in the northwest. Northeast of the Qilian Mountains (QM), there is a region with diverse landforms. The northern part of the area that is more than 4200 m in elevation is an important natural pasture. The southeastern part of the valley and the valley on both sides of the broad terraces have an average elevation of 2500 m, and this is an area of major food production. The valleys around the mountain at 4000 m above sea level, with the exception of a few hills with perennial snow, contain excellent pastures with abundant grass. Since ancient times, the region of the east adjacent to the Gansu 2
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Table 1 The definition of landscape metrics used in the study of morphology of rural settlements. Landscape metrics (abbreviation) Mean patch size (MPS)
Description The average size of the rural settlements in a given area is
MPS =
Patch size standard deviation (PSSD)
Ai ni
where MPS is mean patch size of rural settlements in a region, MPS > 0 (ha), Ai represents the total area of rural settlements in i region, and ni represents the total number of rural settlements. The relative size of rural settlements in a region is
PSSD =
2 A ∑im= 1 ∑nj = 1 ⎡aij − ⎛ ⎞ ⎤ ⎢ ⎥ ⎝ N ⎠⎦ ⎣ N
where PSSD is the standard deviation of rural settlements in a region, PSSD≥0 (ha), aij is the area of rural settlement, A is the total area
Mean patch fractal dimension (MPFD)
(ha) of the rural settlement, and N is the total number of rural settlements. When all rural settlement patches are consistent or when there is only one, PSSD = 0. The shape complexity of rural settlements in a region is
MPFD =
Mean nearest neighbor distance (MNN)
2ln (0.25Pi) ⎤ ∑in= 1 ⎡ ⎥ ⎢ lnai ⎦ ⎣ N
where MPFD is the mean patch fractal dimension of rural settlements in a region, 1 ≤ MPFD≤2. Pi is the perimeter of the rural settlements i (m), 0.25 is the correction constant, ai is the area of the settlements i (ha), and N is the total number of settlements. MPFD = 1 represents the simplest square or round shape, MPFD = 2 represents the most complex patch type of the perimeter, and the usual upper limit of its value is 1.5. The average distance between the centroid of each rural settlement and the nearest neighbor is n
MNN = ∑i = 1 di/ n where MNN represents the mean actual distance of the nearest neighbor, MNN > 0 (m). di is the distance between each element and its nearest element.
Corridor has been known as the “Silk Road” and the “Tang Fan Trail”, which has always been an important conduit for communication among Chinese and Western European countries about economics, politics, and culture. Its special geographical position and historical deposition have resulted in a region with multi-ethnic communities that have been influenced by different cultures. According to the sixth nationwide population census for China in 2010, the province's resident population was 5.63 million: the Han population, who lived mainly in urban areas and the economically developed towns, accounted for 53.02%. Ethnic minorities were mainly Tibetan, Hui, Du, Salar, and Mongolian, which accounted for 46.57% of the total population, whereas the other ethnic minorities accounted for only 0.41% of the total population. The area occupied by ethnic minorities was 98% of the province's total area. Tibetan and Mongolian residents were the two most widely distributed ethnic groups. Other ethnic groups, such as the Hui, Salar, and Du, were concentrated in the eastern region, which is the intersection and focal point of the ethnic cultural transmission belt between central and western China (Fig. 1). Confucianism and Taoism of the Han spread from here to the West, northwestern Chinese minority and the West cultures spread to the east, and this region eventually became a gathering place for multi-ethnic cultures. Different ethnic groups are rooted in different natural environments; these environments strongly influenced their different production methods and life styles, which result in a diversity of industrial cultures. This difference in environmental types determined the diversity of the economic morphology in the region (Qin, 2013), which include animal husbandry-based deserts, grassland pastoral areas, dry farming, and the existence of mixed economic forms.
artificial digging piles, desert and bare land, and waters of the 10 classes. The data are a vector set that can be interpreted artificially by using remote sensing images with resolution < 2 m that follows the principle of “what you see is what you get”, and this vector set reflects the current situation of the land surface accurately (Cheng, Liu, & Dong, 2017). In 2015, China completed its first national geographical state census of this area and formed a database of geographical conditions. Rural settlements, schools, temples, and mosques were included in the results from the census, and the data were provided by Qinghai provincial administration of surveying, mapping, and geo information. Ethnic distribution was demarcated by town units, and the data for all of the ethnic groups in the towns were from the statistical yearbook of the counties in Qinghai Province. Based on the leading economic activities of rural residents in every town in the statistical yearbook of various counties, all of the towns were divided into five categories: farming towns (F), farming and animal husbandry towns (F-AH), animal husbandry towns (AH), animal husbandry and farming towns (AHF), and other industrial towns (OI). F is the town economy dominated by the planting industry, F-AH refers to the economic activities associated primarily with the planting industry that was supplemented by animal husbandry, and AH-F is a town with animal husbandry as the main component of the economy and planting as an auxiliary economic activity. AH is the town economy with animal husbandry as its main component. Other towns with industrial, service, or other non-farming and non-livestock production as the leading economic activity were classified as OI.
3.2. Landscape metrics 3. Materials and methods Landscape metrics are simple quantitative indices that concentrate the information on landscape patterns and reflects its structural composition and spatial configuration (Wu, 2001). It can achieve an objective description of features at the three levels of patch, class, and landscape. Many landscape metrics have been used widely in the expression of the spatial morphology of rural settlements (Neel, McGarigal, & Cushman, 2004; Shaker, 2018). In this study, we described landscapes of rural settlements using mean patch size (MPS), patch size standard deviation (PSSD), mean patch fractal dimension (MPFD), and mean nearest neighbor distance (MNN) (Table 1). MPS is employed to express the average state and landscape fragmentation of
3.1. Data sources The national geographical state census is a reflection of a country's natural, economic, and cultural information, which includes geographical features, topography, land cover, road traffic networks, and the expansion of urbanization to explain the spatiotemporal variation in economic and social development, natural resources, and the ecological environment (Shi, Qin, et al., 2012). The classification index for the national geographical state for land cover data included farmland, gardens, woodlands, grasslands, building areas, structures, roads, 3
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Fig. 2. MPS, PSSD, MPFD, and MNN and LISA cluster maps of rural settlements in Qinghai Province, China.
MPFD is the weighted average value based on the area of the fractal dimension of a single patch of landscape, which determines the complexity and variability of the boundary shape of the patch. MNN is used to measure the spatial pattern of rural settlements to reflect the state of their spatial aggregation. All landscape metrics use the town as a
rural settlements in a region. Rural settlements in a region with a smaller MPS value are more fragmented than other regions with a larger MPS value at the patch level. PSSD was used to indicate the uniformity of the patch sizes of rural settlements, where a greater PSSD represents greater size differences among settlements within a region. 4
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fragmentation than other areas in Qinghai province. MPS values > 0.4 ha were distributed mainly in the southeastern part of the QB, south-central SQP, and the central area of QM, which formed a HighHigh region; the areas encompassed by rural settlements in this region were relatively large and fragmentation was low. The towns with rural settlements with MPS of 0.2–0.4 ha accounted for 41.5% and were concentrated in the middle of the QM, south of the SQP, and northwest of QB. The LISA cluster diagram showed that these areas were distributed between the MPS high and low valleys, and the 11 towns were Low-High or High-Low. There was a spatial gradient of MPS between the high and low valleys; that is, sizes and fragmentation of rural settlements and fragmentation between high and low values showed a gradual trend. The number of towns in Qinghai Province with a rural settlement PSSD < 0.4 ha accounted for 31.0%, 0.4–0.8 ha accounted for 38.5% (Fig. 2c) and, combined with the LISA map (Fig. 2d), the MPS and PSSD spatial aggregation morphologies of rural settlements in each town were consistent with each other. This indicated that the rural settlement areas with larger patches and higher fragmentation had poor homogeneity of rural settlements; in rural settlements with smaller patch sizes and lower fragmentation, the homogeneity was relatively higher than other areas in Qinghai Province. Similarly, in the spatial region with high and low PSSD values, the gradient characteristics of land heterogeneity and homogeneity were exhibited. The average MPFD of each town in Qinghai Province was 1.478 and approximated the usual upper limit of 1.5, which indicated that the rural settlements in the study area were more complicated. MPFD of rural settlements in Qinghai Province showed obvious regional clustering (Fig. 2e and f). MPFD values of the rural settlements in southeastern SQP and QB, and northwest QM were lower than 1.46, which formed the Low-Low region; this indicated that rural settlements in this area were more regular. The areas with MPFD > 1.50 in the central part and southeast of the SQP and northeast of QM formed a High-High region, which indicated that the area and surrounding rural settlements were complex in shape. There were 156 towns in south QM with rural settlement MNN values < 100 m, which accounted for 42.5% of the total number of towns in Qinghai Province (Fig. 2g and h). There were 81 towns with MNN values > 400 m, and they accounted for 21.83% of the total, 78 of which were concentrated in northwest Qinghai Province, which formed the MNN High-High area. Especially in the 20 towns in northwest of SQP and northwest of QM, the rural settlement MNN values were > 1000 m. On the LISA cluster map between the High-High and the Low-Low values of the towns, there was no significant spatial aggregation, but the MNN values showed a hierarchical change (Fig. 2g). Of the rural settlements in 60 towns where the MNN values were 100–200 m, 46 of them were located near the towns with MNN values of 0–100 m. MNN values of rural settlements in Qinghai Province exhibited a significant change from the southeast to the northwest, and these areas had clustering of significant high and low values.
statistical unit. Patch Analyst is an extension to the ArcGIS software system that facilitates the spatial analysis of landscape patches and the modeling of attributes that are associated with patches. This extension is used for spatial pattern analysis, which is often in support of habitat modeling. In this study, we used the Patch Analyst 5.0 expansion module with the vector data to calculate landscape metrics. 3.3. Univariate Local Moran's I Spatial cluster analysis mainly examines the correlation between the attributes of the local elements and the same attributes of adjacent elements, and it reveals the regional structure and dependencies of spatial variables. It is usually checked by LISA cluster. The spatial aggregation shown in the LISA cluster diagram is just a gathering center. When a value position and its neighbor are more similar than random space, the space gathered was divided (Shaker & Sirodoev, 2016). To describe the relationships of spatial structure among rural settlements, we used Univariate Local Moran's I in GeoDa software. In comparison with other methods for spatial cluster analysis, the Moran's I index examines individual locations, which enables hotspots to be identified based on comparison with neighboring samples (Sun, 2015).
Ii =
Xi − X S2
m
∑ Wij (Xj − X ) j=1
(1)
In the formula, Ii is the local spatial autocorrelation index, Xi and Xj are the attribute values of spatial unit i and spatial unit j, respectively, X is the average of Xi , m is the number of samples, and Wij is the spatial weight matrix. The local Moran's I spatial correlation model can be divided into five categories, where High-High and Low-Low positions represent positive, local spatial autocorrelation, which is a typical spatial aggregation, but the High-Low and Low-High positions represent negative, local spatial autocorrelation and become spatial outliers. The fifth category, “No significance”, means that there is no significant correlation between a representative and the surrounding value. 3.4. Power law distribution Spatial dependencies can be estimated by comparing the number of points between a certain point and a certain distance (spatial distance or distance interval). In this study, we chose the core objects (i.e., local religious or primary school site) as the central point, using 0.5 km for the step size of the five buffer iterations, and the number of rural settlements covered was counted one by one. Then, the power law distribution model was used to fit the data (Virkar & Clauset, 2014). Mathematically, if a quantity variable obeys a power law, then the variable represents a change in density gradient. The expression of the power law distribution is
f (x ) = ax −b
(2)
Where a represents the constant of the fitting curve, x is the rural settlement numbers in the pinned buffer zone at the center of the central point, and b is the exponent or scaling parameter. The greater the b value is in the fitting equation, the higher is the degree of aggregation, and the higher is the dependence on the core object.
4.2. Morphology of rural settlements of different ethnic groups The spatial morphology of rural settlements in different ethnic communities was not consistent (Fig. 3). The rural settlements in the Salar area, and to a lesser extent the Mongolian areas, had lower fragmentation and poor uniformity. The rural settlements of the Tibetan and Han areas occupied less land, had higher fragmentation, and better uniformity. The shape of rural settlements in all ethnic groups was more complex, and the Han area was the most complex, followed by the Tibetan area, whereas the shapes of rural settlements in the Salar agglomeration were the most regular. There was a significant difference in the degree of aggregation of rural settlements among various ethnic groups. Aggregation of rural settlements in the Du, Salar, and Hui areas was the largest among all ethnics, with MNN values of about 80 m. The density of rural settlements in the Mongolian, Tibetan, and Han areas
4. Results 4.1. Spatial morphology of rural settlements MPS values < 0.2 ha accounted for 38.8% of the rural settlements in towns, and these were concentrated in the northeastern part of the QM and in the southeast and northwest of the SQP, which formed the Low-Low region with their neighboring towns (Fig. 2a and b). The area of rural settlements was smaller and had a higher degree of 5
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Fig. 3. Rural settlement morphological characteristics (MPS, PSSD, MPFD and MNN) of different ethnic communities in Qinghai Province, China.
was lower, and the MNN values were > 300 m, which indicated that the spatial distribution of rural settlements in these three ethnic groups was sparse. This was especially true in Tibetan settlements, where the average MNN was > 400 m. There were also differences in the MNN values of rural settlements of the same ethnic groups in towns in the same region (Fig. 4 a, b). The MNN values for the rural settlements of Hui, Salar, and Du were almost entirely lower than 200 m, which indicated that the layout of rural residential areas in these three ethnic groups was more unified and more concentrated. The MNN values for rural settlements of the Han, Tibetans, and Mongolians were scattered throughout the range of the MNN values; that is, the variation in agglomeration in these three ethnic groups was larger, which indirectly reflected the diversity of their ethnic cultures.
Fig. 4. Number of towns per grid-cell (defined by mean nearest neighbor distance) and ethic in Qinghai Province, China.
regular change of rural settlements in the other four industrial regions. Rural settlements in OI showed the lowest size uniformity, and the shape tended to be simple and showed a large difference from rural settlements in agricultural regions.
4.4. The relationship between the locations of rural settlements relative to religious sites and primary schools The number of rural settlements in all ethnic communities that were centered on primary schools attenuated exponentially with the increase in distance from those schools (Fig. 6a). In addition to the Han, rural settlements of other ethnic groups were centered on local religious sites (Fig. 6b). Tibetan and Mongolian rural settlements were the most obvious in this regard, with Buddhist temples as the center (b = 0.845, r2 = 0.999 and b = 0.751, r2 = 0.973, respectively). The rural settlements of the Han did not show spatial dependence on Taoist temples (b = 0.083, r2 = 0.509). The attenuation rate of rural settlements with respect to primary schools was significantly higher than that for religious sites. Except for Salar, the number of rural settlements within 0.5 km of religious sites was higher than the number of rural settlements at the center of those sites. Therefore, the dependency of rural settlements on access to modern education in Qinghai Province was stronger than to that of religious sites.
4.3. Morphology of rural settlements in regions with different leading industries The MPS of rural settlements decreased from F to AH, whereas the MNN values showed an increasing trend. This indicated that land area and aggregation of rural settlements that had farming as the leading industry were higher than that of animal husbandry areas, and they showed a transition from F to F-AH to AH-F to AH (Fig. 5a and b). The size uniformity of rural settlements in F, F-AH, AH-F, and AH did not show obvious changes, but the shapes of animal husbandry settlements (AH and AH-F) were more complex than farming settlements (F and FAH). The MPS of OI rural settlements was the highest among all industries, but the MNN values were between F and AH. Land sizes and aggregation of OI rural settlements were not in harmony with the 6
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Fig. 5. Rural settlement morphological characteristics of different leading industry regions in Qinghai Province, China.
5. Discussion
Fig. 6. The distance relationship between ethnic rural settlements and religious sites and primary schools.
Rural settlements are a comprehensive product of the natural environment and human factors. Natural environmental conditions play a key role in the initial stage of pattern formation (Sevenant & Antrop, 2007). In the early stage when farming is the dominant economic form of the region, topography, geomorphology, and climatic conditions are the dominant factors that determine the spatial distribution of settlements at large scales (Unvin & Nash, 1992; Bański & Wesołowska, 2010). However, spatial morphology of rural settlements in Qinghai Province was not controlled by natural conditions, such as altitude, dust activity, annual mean temperature, and precipitation (Tian et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2014). The northeastern part of the QM belongs to the Hehuang Valley, and many alluvial plains, river terraces, and distributed terraces are there with its warm and humid climate and fertile soil. This area is close to the Gansu Corridor, and the transportation network is convenient. From ancient times to the present, it has been the preferred area for settlement of all ethnic groups that are engaged in farming and animal husbandry (Dong, Wang, Cui, Elsto, & Chen, 2013). “Multiethnic mixed” is one of the characteristics of the distribution of people in this region; all ethnic groups in the same natural environment and common living areas developed many of the same production systems and living customs. The rural resident population density in those towns was large, so the distribution of rural residential areas was denser and the average distance among them was smaller. The courtyards of Hui, Salar, and Du minorities were square or rectangular “zhuangke” yards that showed several adjacent households, but some Tibetan and Mongolian residents practiced some animal husbandry and, therefore,
the shapes of rural settlements were irregular and less adjacent to each other to meet the needs of livestock breeding. In the periphery of the Hehuang Valley and southern SQP is a Tibetan and Han mixed region, and the Tibetan population was dominant. The cultural integration between these ethnic groups resulted in different rural settlements that did not show obvious regularity in morphology, and it was also the main reason for the change in the spatial morphology gradient of rural settlements among different ethnic communities. There were Mongolian residential regions in northeastern QB and southeastern SQP. There, a single ethnic community has developed a different morphology of rural settlement than the surrounding area, and it exhibited a MPS and PSSD Low-Low area and a MPFD High-High area. The spatial patterns of rural settlements showed ethnic differences in the region, but the relationship between the spatial morphology of rural settlements and ethnic groups, industries, religions, and education showed a complex gradient among the local micro-differences in multiethnic areas (Yang, 2014). The different types of leading industries at national and regional scales determined the different land use types and structure. Rural settlements transformed their spatial morphology to meet the needs of the local production technology and management modes under different land use patterns, and this process was related closely to the livelihood of farmers (Ruda, 1998; Long, Tang, Li, & Heilig, 2007; Liu, Liu, Chen, & Long, 2010; Zhu, Zhang, Li, & Zhu, 2014). Farming communities were attentive to areas of fine tillage, and 7
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recommended that the most appropriate distance from a school was < 1 km or that the time it should take to walk to school should be < 0.5 h (Lehman, 2003). SMR increased the cost of children's accommodations, transportation, and food consumption. Because of students' life consumption pressure and issues with traffic safety, rural residents who felt “left-behind” were more likely to live close to schools (Zhao & Parolin, 2014). On the other hand, the implementation of “family planning” and the “fewer and better birth” concept have been accepted by the majority of rural residents for > 30 years in China, and most families only raise one or two children. Rural residents do not want their next generation to continue to be trapped in rural poverty, and they hope that their children can receive the best education. Farmers believe that emigration and education are the most direct and effective ways to escape their poor rural situation (Zhang, 2017). Children's education has become an important factor in decisionmaking by Chinese parents with respect to where they live (Zang, Lv, & Warren, 2015). As a result, rural settlements now exhibit significant spatial dependency on primary schools, and the degree of dependence on education has surpassed religious beliefs.
they were limited as to how far they could travel from their settlements to cultivate their fields. On the other hand, the economic yield of cultivated land is higher than that of animal husbandry, which resulted in a greater population carrying capacity. All these factors resulted eventually in intensive rural settlements with higher aggregation and more complex shapes (Carrion-Flores & Irwin, 2004; Tan & Li, 2013; Yang, Liu, Long, & Qiao, 2015). In the high altitude areas where Tibetan and Mongolian herdsmen lived, the family of every herdsman has a long-term right to use pastures based on a contract system. Many households have pastures of > 10 ha because of the low productivity of these pastoral areas under extensive management, and they built residential and ancillary buildings on their captive livestock ranches to facilitate their animal husbandry. Therefore, the density of rural settlements was low (Li et al., 2015). There were no longer regular courtyards between the buildings, and there were different uses of the overall layout, which has led to sparse rural settlements with small size and complex shapes. In the transition areas between farming and animal husbandry, rural settlements have integrated their morphological characteristics to meet the needs of the two industries simultaneously. The QB is rich in salt, oil, coal, and a variety of metallic mineral deposits. The location and scale of rural settlements was limited by the distribution of mineral resources and the scale of mining. However, the relationship between the leading industry and settlements was verified especially in mountainous areas; variables that related to industry did not explain all of the spatial morphology of rural settlements that existed in the same area (Toffin & Champs, 1994). Religious beliefs are an extremely complex set of ideologies that control behavior, values, and life norms of religious believers. Religious beliefs require some ritualized activities to sustain and strengthen themselves. Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, or churches are different religious centers that help to maintain the faith of believers and to contribute to public service and commercial services. When religious beliefs become a central part of people's lives, religious space establishes its position to influence the spatial structure of the settlements to include spatial layout, structure, form, and architectural style (Rapoport, 1969; Xiang, Gao, & Hu, 2011). As Muslims, the Salar and Hui people believe in Islam. Islamists worship in the mosque every Friday, and the mosque is regarded as the cultural center to solve major problems. The entire village is centered on the mosque, which shows a high degree of dependence on religion. Tibetan, Mongolian, and Du people believe in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan people are particularly devout, and almost all of them believe in Tibetan Buddhism. Religion profoundly affects their ideas, cultural psychology, and economic life. The development of rural settlements, spatial organization, and constituent elements are aimed at highlighting religious beliefs. The cultural attributes of the Tibetan rural settlements require that the monastery be located in the center of the settlement or on high ground; this forms an urban settlement amid rural settlements that are nearby, and it demonstrates a vertical distribution of the spatial pattern that plays a role in controlling the village. Taoism and Confucianism are fundamental in Qinghai Han traditional agricultural areas. Each county generally builds temples and prays for a good harvest and a happy and healthy life. In recent years, with the development of modern society and Chinese efforts to improve the agricultural and rural medical security systems, the dependence on religion weakened gradually for the Han, which reduced the importance and existence of religious structures in their residential layouts. With the rapid development of China's economy and the acceleration of the urbanization process, the gap between urban and rural areas has widened. A large number of rural populations have moved to the cities, and the number of rural students has declined. To deal with the reduction of students and to improve teaching quality, the Chinese government has implemented the school mapping restructure program (SMR). The SMR determined that the distance that some students traveled to school was greater than international standards; they
6. Conclusions An analysis of the spatial morphology of rural settlements in Qinghai Province showed obvious regional differentiation among rural settlements, and rural settlements included strong ethnic culture into their daily living, which influenced the spatial morphology of these settlements. The morphological characteristics of rural settlements were different among diverse ethnic groups. There were transition zones in different rural settlements, especially with regard to rural settlement MNN, which showed obvious gradients in spatial distribution. The dominant industry in multi-ethnic areas exhibited unique spatial morphologies that demonstrated the process of transformation from F to AH towns. Rural settlements in OI areas were different from the other four industrial types in meeting their needs for production and management systems. The modern primary school played an important role in controlling the aggregation of rural settlements in Qinghai Province, and this proved that modern education was much more important to rural residents than religious beliefs. However, the dependence of rural settlements of different ethnic groups on their religious beliefs was quite different among those groups, and the Han rural settlements, in particular, did not show any dependence on religious sites. Because China is still at the stage of rapid urbanization, the rural population has generally been reduced, and the land circulation intensity is increasing. The spatial optimization and reconstruction of rural settlements are important elements in the design of the new countryside. On the other hand, China launched “The Belt and Road”, which is a Eurasian strategic cooperation project, to increase political, economic, and cultural exchanges between China's northwest region and the outside world. Although the special natural conditions and multi-ethnic cultures in northwest China have an important influence on the spatial morphology of rural settlements, this morphology also may be affected by the influence of cities and national policies that affect multiple factors that still need further study.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for reading the manuscript and providing valuable recommendations during their busy schedule. The authors also would like to thank all involved staff who produced accurate national census geography data in the Qinghai Surveying and Mapping Institute. This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41401057 and 41671519) and National Basic Surveying and Mapping Science and Technology Plan of China (2017KJ0202). 8
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