Comprehensive Land Consolidation as a Development Strategy for Rural Revitalization: The Political Ecology Mechanisms and Bene ﬁ ts of the Pastoral Complex

: Rapid urbanization in China has shifted the logic and needs of rural resource allocation, prompting a transformative approach toward rural revitalization and sustainable development through comprehensive land consolidation. This paper o ﬀ ers a theoretical framework for understanding the driven adjustments in rural power, capital, and social structures facilitated by comprehensive land consolidation. It discusses how the construction of pastoral complexes in ﬂ uences the diversi ﬁ cation of rural land use and ecological restoration through dynamic adjustments in power structures. This study illustrates that in Guangzhou, comprehensive land consolidation is indispensable for ensuring food security and fostering diverse rural industries. Furthermore, it facilitates the resource and commercialization of land, balances governmental social responsibilities with rational capital pursuits, and enriches the livelihood structures of social entities to ensure rural social equity. The pastoral complex model achieves a harmonious integration of rural socio-economic and natural systems. Innovations in paths of social participation help eliminate the e ﬀ ects of social inequality within the environment, while the theory of political ecology clearly analyzes the internal reasons for the interaction and strategic plays among diverse actors under this model. The case studies of the pastoral complex present the practice of national–capital–land–social relationships and changes in land bene ﬁ ts, showcasing a Chinese approach to rural development and social justice. This provides a new perspective for political ecology research and enriches its empirical content.


Introduction
The process of urbanization is fundamentally reshaping the urban-rural relationship in China [1].The relationship transformation is driven by the "time-space compression" effect, which facilitates the transfer of production factors such as land, capital, technology, and labor toward urban areas [2].Consequently, rural areas face challenges such as land abandonment, housing vacancies, and an aging population, reflecting the decline of the countryside.Land, as the primary resource for agriculture and the foundation for food production, is critical for reinforcing food security.In response, China's revised Land Administration Law of 1998 implemented a stringent farmland protection system, establishing a protective baseline of 1.8 billion mu (approximately 120 million ha) to ensure a diversified food supply system.This initiative is a crucial component of China's national security system, continually enhancing food source diversification [3] and ensuring food security.
Under the influence of integrated multi-industry development, multi-stakeholder participation, and the overlay of various policies, the urban-rural relationship in China is progressively evolving from a dichotomy toward a mutually beneficial coexistence.This shift is altering the demand and logic for rural resource allocation, transforming rural spaces from monolithic homogeneity to diverse new types.To promote the integration of the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors in rural areas, the Chinese government introduced the concept of the "pastoral complex" as a new industry form in 2017 [4].This emerging comprehensive rural development model boasts multifaceted benefits (e.g., economic, social, ecological, etc.).It centers on modern distinctive agriculture as its core industry, bases itself on rural living, features cultural tourism and leisure activities, and integrates concepts of low-carbon lifestyle, environmentally friendly, and sustainable development.This model injects new vitality into rural industrial revitalization and increases farmers' productivity and income.Land itself, along with the products, services, and values derived from its outputs, is a fundamental vehicle for socio-economic development in rural areas and for enhancing public welfare [5].Land consolidation is recognized as an effective way to enhance land productivity, mitigate land fragmentation, and address rural decline.It is the primary method for rural development worldwide [6].China's land consolidation efforts have evolved from focusing on farmland protection in the 1980s to orderly land development-oriented reclamation in the early 21st century, and most recently, to exploring a new model of comprehensive land consolidation under the concept of a "mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands form a community of shared life".Comprehensive land consolidation in China addresses "people, land, industry, and rights", emphasizing a systematic approach that integrates all elements, functions, scales, and values [7].It enhances the intensive use of land resources, ecological management, scientific industrial distribution, and optimized infrastructure [8].This approach effectively integrates land resources (including the consolidation of agricultural land, construction land, and ecological restoration).Thus, promoting urban-rural population flows, industry agglomeration, and property rights adjustments.Essentially, it adjusts the human-land relationship to foster a balanced development.
During the process of comprehensive land consolidation, central government agencies such as the Ministry of Land and Resources were the first to propose farmland protection systems, including the tiered approval system for agricultural land conversion', the balance system between occupation and compensation of cultivated land', and the basic farmland protection system'.These systems play a guiding and constraining role in the overall implementation, and municipalities nationwide are required to implement related land policies in accordance with these regulations.The Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, as a subordinate functional department, plays a core role in managing changes to rural land-use rights.It is primarily responsible for land management and planning, supervision of the land transaction market, land-use approvals, and supervision of farmland protection in Guangzhou.This department, by interpreting policies on land consolidation from higher authorities, proposed implementing comprehensive land consolidation pilots in the suburban districts of Conghua and Zengcheng in Guangzhou.The Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is mainly responsible for agricultural production, rural industrial upgrading and integration, and rural ecological environment governance.The pastoral complex model has been highly successful in Shanghai and Zhejiang, two of China's most effective rural governance regions.Therefore, this department, with a fundamental focus on agricultural development, introduces various business formats into the villages of Guangzhou, injecting new momentum into rural development.The Guangzhou municipal government and subordinate district and town governments, by establishing a multi-level work pattern and strengthening planning guidance, have created a work pattern of government leadership, multidepartment coordination, town (street) as the main body, and multi-party participation'.This pattern mobilizes funds for the implementation of comprehensive land consolidation under the pastoral complex model and negotiates with farmers to effectively ensure the efficiency and social acceptance of land consolidation projects.With the implementation of local rural development policies such as Guangdong Province's High-Quality Development Project for Hundreds of Counties, Thousands of Towns, and Tens of Thousands of Villages' in 2022, Guangzhou is promoting county-level cooperation and highquality rural development, striving to narrow the urban-rural development gap and further enabling comprehensive land consolidation to play a foundational role in driving rural industrial development.
Therefore, driven by overarching organizational political mandates and a high priority on food security, land consolidation efforts are led by local governments in a top-down approach.These initiatives are organized and comprehensively supervised by the government, often neglecting to adequately consider or reconcile the perspectives and interests of farmers [9], resulting in suboptimal local cooperation.In 2019, China explicitly initiated pilot projects for comprehensive land consolidation nationwide [10], highlighting the shift toward a more integrated approach.Historically, however, land consolidation has pursued the singular goal of increasing grain yield, which has inadvertently led to adverse ecological impacts on rural development [11].Additionally, these efforts have not fully leveraged market conditions to secure funding and professional technical support, leaving the villages involved in land consolidation lacking sustainable developmental vitality.Numerous studies have underscored the importance of strengthening bottom-up channels and mobilizing diverse forces to enhance multi-stakeholder cooperation in land consolidation [12].Despite this, there is a noticeable lack of systematic research from both theoretical and practical perspectives on the collaborative processes among various parties involved in comprehensive land consolidation.A political ecological approach could analyze the underlying logic in the spatial context of the pastoral complex, exploring the cooperative and functional relationships among different stakeholders in comprehensive land consolidation.This perspective aims to fill the research gap concerning the interests of stakeholders in comprehensive land consolidation.
Political ecology stands as a dominant discourse in environmental protection and sustainable development, maintaining a critical perspective to reflect on the relationship between human society, resource utilization, and the natural environment [13].This approach is crucial for land planners and practitioners to comprehend the intricate and evolving relationships among farmers, agricultural operations, rural development, and the natural environment.The focus and the ultimate goal of political ecology are to expose and address social inequalities while seeking improvements and solutions [14].From the perspective of political ecology, one can explore the political fluidity and discursive spaces within the scope of the pastoral complex during the process of comprehensive land consolidation.This viewpoint also allows for an analysis of the internal causes of interactions and strategic plays among diverse actors based on land within the formation of the pastoral complex space.Analyzing the process of comprehensive land consolidation in rural areas through the lens of political ecology enables an examination that transcends the traditional binary opposition of society and nature.It adopts a dialectical view of their dynamic, mutually constitutive, and shaping relationships.Moreover, integrating studies of rural revitalization, the well-being of rural dwellers, and urban-rural integration in China into the concerns of political ecology enriches the discipline by providing a basis of empirical evidence from China.This integration aids in deepening and expanding the theoretical framework of political ecology, highlighting its relevance and applicability to the complexities of contemporary rural challenges in China.
Currently, research on China's rural areas seldom addresses the sociopolitical processes involving land.The primary shortcomings in the development of China's rural industries are limited public participation [15] and insufficient attention to environmental sustainability [16].As a pioneering region in China's reform and opening up, Guangdong Province has extensive experience in the autonomy of local policies, enabling more effective integration of local resources and promoting high-quality development of land consolidation.Therefore, this study aims to examine the roles and business models of stakeholders at various levels under the comprehensive land consolidation implemented by the pastoral complex, from a political ecological perspective.It investigates the development and operational models of the pastoral complex and their impacts on food security and governance of the residential environment.Furthermore, the study analyzes the underlying power dynamics, capital logic structures, and social feedback, providing actionable policy and planning recommendations for comprehensive land consolidation and food security.This study selects Aotou Town and Zhucun Street in Guangzhou as case studies to illustrate the significant impacts of globalization and rapid urbanization on rural transformation in Guangzhou.The structure of the paper is as follows: Section 2 provides a brief review of the current research on political ecology based on land and land consolidation, with a focus on synthesizing content related to rural revitalization.Section 3 analyzes typical cases of comprehensive land consolidation in two pastoral complexes in the suburban rural areas of Guangzhou.Section 4 discusses the political ecological structure of the rural land under the pastoral complex model, including the marketization of land elements, land ecological restoration, and innovative social participation.Finally, the paper summarizes how the linkage model of the pastoral complex and comprehensive land consolidation promotes the diversification of land use, food security, and the diversification of farmers' livelihood structures, thereby advancing rural revitalization in China.

Political Ecology of Land
As global ecological concerns become increasingly pronounced, there is a renewed examination of the relationship between humans and the natural environment.Political ecology has emerged as a response, centering on the political drivers behind environmental issues [14].This discipline extends across various domains such as land, forests, grasslands, and water bodies, focusing on the interactions between society and nature and the intricate power dynamics during the processes of development, utilization, and transformation [17].Political ecology underscores the disproportionate distribution of environmental change costs and benefits resulting from human interventions, while also highlighting the pivotal role of politics in the dialectical interactions between humans and the environment [18].Influenced by Actor Network Theory (ANT), political ecology recognizes the agency of non-human elements like the ecological environment, advocating for the inclusion of both human and non-human actors within the socio-economic and political networks.This approach prioritizes the study of how different social actors wield power and authority in the context of environmental change [19,20].From a social science perspective, political ecology seeks to comprehend how nature is entwined with unequal social processes, giving rise to a myriad of environmental political issues among humans and between humans and non-humans [13].In the West, political ecology has already become a fundamental aspect of human geography that investigates the dialectical relationships between humans and nature [18].Conversely, its development in China has been more recent, with geographical research predominantly focusing on the theoretical importation of political ecology [21], the examination of urban institutions [22], developmental pathways [17], and post-humanist urban networks [23].Consequently, urban areas have become a focal point of political ecology studies in China, often to the exclusion of rural regions.This underscores a significant gap in the exploration of human-environment relations in ecological spaces outside urban contexts.
Today, the advancement of urbanization has led to the continuous appropriation of rural land, creating significant challenges such as environmental pollution, land abandonment, and fragmentation.These issues pose a severe threat to national food security and the ecological environment of rural areas.The land issues in rural regions have thus become a critical focus for scholars discussing the development of rural China.In an effort to promote rural development, land resources have increasingly been commodified, with capital expanding, accumulating, and concentrating in rural spaces.For instance, rural land is transacted to corporations or governments for development purposes.Chung et al. have studied greenway spaces, exploring how different stakeholders negotiate from their own land interests regarding urban land allocations, rural land-use rights, and real estate development [24].The unregulated expansion of cities has led to the non-agricultural use of some arable land, effectively turning rural areas into urban land reserves.In the early 21st century, China lost approximately one-tenth of its arable land [25].Since the implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy in China, significant emphasis has been placed on the management and distribution of land resources, especially in the protection of arable land.The Chinese government has prioritized the strict protection of permanent basic farmland, ensuring the inviolability of the 1.8 billion mu (approximately 120 million ha) arable land "red line" and establishing permanent basic farmland protection areas [26].Undoubtedly, the establishment of permanent basic farmland protection has ensured the quantity and quality of agricultural land, thereby safeguarding national food security to some extent.However, from another perspective, the delineation of these protection zones raises questions about whether it deprives villagers or village collectives of their autonomy in land use.Can it truly promote rural development?This type of topdown construction of protective discourse and geographic spaces by upper-level powers, aimed at controlling resources and safeguarding nature, is referred to by political ecologists as "green governmentality" [27].Political ecology emphasizes that the core of understanding and resolving environmental issues lies in grasping the political-economic and power relationships that shape environmental changes, rather than focusing solely on the environment and resources themselves [28].Consequently, the distribution and management of rural land resources inherently represent a socio-economic ecological process of spatial contestation involving multiple power entities, centered around economic development and environmental protection [29].Thus, rural development should be viewed as a network where social processes, material metabolism, and spatial forms intertwine [30].
This study, conducted from the perspective of political ecology, uses the pastoral complex in Guangzhou as a case study to explore the power dynamics among various stakeholders such as the government, corporations, and villagers.It examines how these entities navigate their interests around economic development and ecological environmental protection.The study specifically aims to reveal how power is exercised over land by these diverse stakeholders and the consequent emergence of social inequalities.

Comprehensive Land Consolidation in Rural Revitalization
As urbanization progresses, the rapid expansion of urban land use has led to a multitude of issues in rural areas, including the conversion of arable land to non-agricultural uses, fragmentation of rural land, disorganized spatial layouts, inefficient utilization of land resources, and degradation of ecological quality [31].These problems have exacerbated already strained human-land relationships [32,33] and raised concerns about food security.Land serves as the spatial carrier for most of humanity's socio-economic activities [34].Faced with increasingly severe land issues, China formally introduced the concept of land consolidation in 2008, positioning it as a crucial means to ensure the quantity of farmland, reduce land fragmentation, and safeguard food security and agricultural production [35].Traditionally, land consolidation has been defined as the planned adjustment and reorganization of land parcels and their ownership, aimed primarily at addressing the issue of land fragmentation [36].This approach has often been limited to engineering and technical aspects, such as field adjustment, wasteland reclamation, and irrigation construction.
Since the introduction of the Rural Revitalization Strategy, it has clearly directed the development of land consolidation efforts.The strategy emphasizes revitalizing industries, talent, culture, ecology, and organizational structures as overarching goals, necessitating the systematic construction of a coupled pattern of population, land, and industrial development elements to achieve comprehensive rural revitalization [37].Specifically, rural revitalization encompasses revitalization from physical entities and improvements in the ecological environment to cultural revitalization and comprehensive advancements in social governance.As land resources are fundamental for human survival and development, traditional land consolidation, primarily focused on agricultural lands, is no longer sufficient to meet the demands of the new era.Consequently, land consolidation must integrate the essence of rural revitalization, centering on the objectives of thriving industries, livable ecologies, civilized rural customs, effective governance, and prosperous living conditions.This approach entails enriching the content of holistic and comprehensive management, thereby becoming a crucial lever for promoting rural revitalization.As a result, the scope, objectives, and tasks of land consolidation have expanded, shifting toward comprehensive land consolidation across the entire region.Under the background of rural revitalization, comprehensive land consolidation is based on territorial space planning [38] and adheres to the holistic management concept of the mountain-waterforest-field-lake-grass system.It targets all relevant elements within a specific area, encompassing spaces for production, living, and ecology, for overall design and planning [12,39].Through this process, developmental forms such as pastoral complexes and ecological farms that revitalize rural elements have emerged, demonstrating significant social, economic, and ecological benefits.Consequently, land consolidation, which has evolved to encompass more depth and breadth, is no longer confined to its engineering aspects.Instead, it has become a complex system integrating engineering, management, and social attributes [40].Its focus has shifted from solely agricultural development to addressing comprehensive socio-economic and ecological needs, placing greater emphasis on the integrated management of industrial development, ecological environments, and rural spaces [41] (Figure 1).In the context of rural revitalization, the relationship between land consolidation and rural revitalization is progressively being explored.Zhu et al., taking several villages in Gansu Province as examples, have confirmed that land consolidation can promote the revitalization of rural industries and clarify the interaction and pathways between them [42].Zuo et al. have proposed that land consolidation can facilitate the influx of urban elements such as talent, technology, and capital into rural areas, integrating urban and rural development elements and playing a significant role in promoting coordinated urban-rural development [43].Land consolidation primarily operates through three models: government-led, enterprise-driven, and villager-initiated.These models integrate and develop rural elements to achieve rural development [44,45].Centered around the goals of rural revitalization, land consolidation plays a critical role in ensuring food security [46,47], intensifying the use of resources [48,49], promoting rural poverty alleviation [50], and achieving common prosperity [51].It is an essential means to realize the objectives of rural revitalization, demonstrating its pivotal role in shaping more sustainable and equitable rural landscapes.
Despite the significant contributions of land consolidation to rural revitalization, it faces challenges such as theoretical lag and outdated concepts.The fundamental logic behind the expanded approach of comprehensive land consolidation requires further exploration.There is an urgent need to deepen theoretical understanding to promote the scientization and standardization of land consolidation, thereby supporting the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.From the perspective of rural revitalization, land consolidation should not only activate key development elements such as rural population, land, and industry but also coordinate the revitalization of physical spaces with the enhancement of cultural and spiritual cores.This approach aims to create a new pattern of integrated and mutually prosperous urban-rural development [52].
As one of the pilot cities in China for comprehensive land consolidation, Guangzhou has adopted the pastoral complex as a distinctive form of development in its consolidation efforts.The pastoral complex integrates ecological concepts with modern specialized agriculture at its core, deeply merging primary, secondary, and tertiary industries.It represents a new type of rural complex where pastoral production, pastoral life, and pastoral ecology are organically unified [53].From the perspective of the socio-natural relationship, the government uses comprehensive land consolidation as a tool to guide corporate participation in land reform and the construction of well-facilitated farmland.While ensuring the normal production of staple food in basic farmland, the creation of pastoral complexes aims to increase the overall land revenue.Under the influence of policies, this initiative promotes the influx of capital, market access, and technology into rural areas, providing external driving forces for rural development.Meanwhile, enterprises actively revitalize rural elements, guiding the flow of rural resources and products into urban areas, stimulating endogenous rural vitality, and providing employment opportunities for villagers.This not only broadens the income avenues for villagers but also significantly contributes to rural revitalization (Figure 2).3), China, respectively, and are part of the Pearl River Delta's agricultural plains.Aotou Town spans an area of 34,990 ha, with 7466.6 ha dedicated to arable land, accounting for 21.3% of the total land area.The town's agriculture is centered on large-scale rice and milk production, supplemented by poultry (eggs), pig farming, and the cultivation of economically significant crops such as tangelo, longan, and lychee.Aotou Town's agricultural branding serves as a benchmark for urban agriculture within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.The town is well-connected by major transportation routes including the G355 and G106 national highways and the G4 expressway, providing a robust infrastructure for its burgeoning secondary industries.Key local economic drivers include fresh milk processing, breeding pig research and development, and smart home industries.In 2022, the secondary industry's annual output reached 210 million yuan (approximately USD 30 million), with future plans focusing on transitioning and upgrading to smart and green industries such as new materials and biomedicine.However, the development of the tertiary sector remains relatively weak, with the main bottlenecks being talent attraction and industrial foundation.
Zhucun Subdistrict covers an area of 9407 ha, of which 5533.1 ha is arable land, accounting for 58.8% of the total land area.The area's agriculture primarily revolves around large-scale contiguous rice cultivation and late-season choy sum planting, supplemented by guava cultivation and pigeon farming.The agricultural modernization industrial park built around rice cultivation in Zhucun is a significant practice in ensuring food security in the suburban areas of large metropolises.Transportation infrastructure such as the Metro Line 21, G324 National Highway, and G94 Expressway play crucial roles in connecting Zhucun to the core urban areas of surrounding metropolises, facilitating the flow of people, technology, and information.The secondary and tertiary industries in the area are in a phase of rapid development.Emerging manufacturing sectors like automobile and electronic equipment production are increasingly establishing operations in Zhucun, alongside unicorn companies [54].However, commercial service land currently constitutes only 2.5% of the total area.Given this, there is substantial potential for future development of agro-tourism industries leveraging formats like pastoral complexes, which could significantly expand the economic landscape of the subdistrict.
Due to economic transformation and rapid development, Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict are experiencing a "dividend period" of labor force return and population growth.From 2010 to 2022, the permanent populations of Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict increased by 13% and 34%, reaching 36,748 and 58,713, respectively.Approximately half of the villagers are part-time workers, primarily employed in factories and shops within the town or nearby areas.Conghua District in Guangzhou is the only national-level county in China designated as a pilot area for comprehensive land consolidation across its entire territory [55].Since 2021, Aotou Town has served as a "test field", incorporating national-level pastoral complex projects (the Y Pastoral Complex) [56] to achieve the large-scale contiguous utilization of about 470 ha of farmland and revitalize at least 1.5 ha of idle construction land.From 2021 to 2023, Aotou Town undertook initiatives in farmland consolidation, river management, and rural housing renovation, increasing the contiguity of arable land by 7%.The Y Pastoral Complex in Aotou boasts the largest modern ecological ranch in Southern China.Zhucun Subdistrict is officially recognized as the origin of Si Miao rice, a prestigious rice variety.The area has developed pastoral complex formats around rice culture, including a Si Miao Rice Museum and a Rice Culture Park (the S Pastoral Complex).From 2021 to 2023, Zhucun Subdistrict advanced projects such as the construction of well-facilitated farmland, water field reclamation, smart agriculture data platforms, and old house renovations.It implemented sustainable crop rotation models like "rice + rice + vegetable" and "vegetable + rice + vegetable", fully mechanizing the entire process of Si Miao rice cultivation from plowing to harvesting.The subdistrict also undertook comprehensive land consolidation of approximately 350 ha through the transfer of land contractual management rights.Both areas have similar economic foundations and dominant industries, and are at comparable stages in the implementation of comprehensive land consolidation.This study conducts research and verification based on the current status of comprehensive land consolidation and the development of pastoral complexes in both locations (Table 1).In summary, the selection of Guangzhou as the focus of this study is based on the following considerations: Firstly, Guangzhou is representative of China's rural revitalization and land consolidation efforts due to the advanced nature of its policies and the scale of their implementation, especially in terms of executing comprehensive land consolidation strategies and promoting rural economic development.Secondly, due to its unique geographical location and level of economic development, this region has been a pilot area for the implementation of related land policies by the Chinese government since the reform and opening up.It has now become a "testing ground" for comprehensive land consolidation and the marketization of land elements, serving as a model for rural land consolidation efforts across China.Additionally, in recent years, Guangzhou's rural areas have undergone numerous innovative experiments under strong governmental support, including but not limited to land-sharing models and ecological agriculture practices, providing a rich basis of empirical data and case studies for this research.

Data Collection
The data sources for this study primarily consist of first-hand information obtained through semi-structured interviews and analysis of textual materials, along with an extensive collection of internal documents and public reports.These include comprehensive plans for land consolidation, overall and regulatory planning documents for pastoral complexes, industry output statements, and local demographic and socio-economic statistics.Conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews is particularly useful for investigating complex behaviors, perspectives, and emotions, and for gathering information on a variety of experiences.This method is widely used in geography research focusing on identity, subjectivity, meaning, and power [57].The research team conducted focused field studies in Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict during April, May, and July of 2023.These visits provided valuable insights into the local contexts, enhancing the depth and validity of the research findings.
Initially, the research team contacted typical pastoral complex projects within the study area, as announced by government departments, to conduct participatory observations.They engaged in land-based agricultural activities such as rice planting and fruit picking, and assessed the land use and landscape patterns of the projects.Observations also included residents' daily living and production spaces, their interactions with external merchants and local government officials, and the diversity of local industries.This included recording transformations such as guesthouse renovations due to land lease agreements, "shared" agricultural lands, and digital farming innovations representing new rural business models.Subsequently, the team conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with leaders and professionals from relevant government departments and large agricultural companies and investment groups (Table 2), considering the impact of local government autonomy on the implementation of land policies.These interviews provided valuable data on and insights into the development planning of pastoral complexes, project implementation progress, land consolidation efforts, promotional activities, and operational processes.Additionally, guided by departmental introductions and employing a "snowballing" method, the team visited typical villages that had undergone comprehensive land consolidation and developed into pastoral complexes, further enriching the study with practical insights and firsthand observations.Following the initial phase, the research team conducted field interviews with a total of 54 individuals across 7 administrative villages.The interviewees included local officials, residents, migrant workers, and traders.These interviews were categorized and coded according to three phases of the land consolidation process (Table 2), gathering data on residents' livelihoods, productivity, benefits from land consolidation, and the extent of land leasing.The interview methodology involved random intercepts, introductions by acquaintances, and the snowball technique.With the consent of the participants, the sessions were either recorded or noted, lasting between 15 min to 1 h.The content was then transcribed according to the questions posed.The research team maintains contact with key interviewees via WeChat, allowing them to follow their updates and visit them periodically to gather continuous information.This method ensured that the data collected were both current and reflective of ongoing changes and developments in the community.
The land-use data employed in the research, spanning from 2012 to 2022, were sourced from the China Land-Cover Dataset (CLCD) [58], which is based on all available Landsat data on Google Earth Engine.It combines a random forest classifier to obtain classification results and proposes a post-processing method that includes spatiotemporal filtering and logical reasoning to further enhance the spatiotemporal consistency of the CLCD.Finally, based on 5463 visually interpreted samples, the CLCD provides a detailed view of long-term changes in China's land cover at a spatial resolution of 30 m, with an overall accuracy exceeding 80%.Using the year 2017, when the concept of the pastoral complex was first introduced, as a reference point, data from three time periods covering five years before and after were selected for analysis.To better suit the land types involved in this study, six land categories were integrated into the analysis: cropland, forest, grassland, water, barren, and impervious surfaces.

C14~C29 Ordinary villager
Main forces of social participation, possessing local household registration or having moved to the area due to marriage.

C30~C41 Retired residents
Retired residents, with their older age and closer emotional ties to the land, have a deeper understanding of land consolidation.

Land Use Transition Benefits of the Pastoral Complex
In the context of Guangzhou city, Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict are typical towns where the pastoral complex project has been implemented.This study uses a landuse transition matrix to analyze the changes in land use before and after the construction of the pastoral complex.The land-use transition matrix quantitatively describes the states and transitions of land-use types within a system over a certain period [59].This paper constructs land transition matrices based on land-cover data from 2012, 2017, and 2022, analyzing the land-use structure of the Pastoral Complex and the directional changes in land-use types.
In the formula above,  represents the area of each land-use type, n represents the number of land-use types, and  represents the area of land-use type  that has transitioned to land-use type j.
Based on this, the study utilizes the China Land-Cover Dataset and conducts preprocessing steps such as masking and raster-to-vector conversion in ArcGIS Pro, to finally calculate the area of each land-use type and construct the land-use transition matrix.
As Figure 4 shows, the main land-use types in Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict are forest and cropland, followed by impervious surfaces; the areas of barren and grassland are relatively small.From 2012 to 2022, the areas of grassland and water gradually decreased, while the area of impervious surfaces gradually increased.The area of cropland initially decreased and then increased.The area of barren gradually decreased from 2012 to 2017, and showed little change from 2017 to 2022.Based on Tables 3 and 4, further analysis of the land-use transition in Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict is conducted.From 2012 to 2017, of the cropland that was converted, 85.6% was transformed into forest and 12.9% into impervious surfaces; barren was mainly converted into forest and cropland, with the converted areas being 2701.5 m 2 and 3602.8 m 2 , respectively.The area of impervious surfaces increased by 2,416,835.4m 2 , primarily due to conversions from cropland and forest.Between 2017 and 2022, the area of cropland increased by 16,365,025.2 m 2 , primarily due to conversions from forest; grassland was mainly converted into cropland and impervious surfaces, with the converted areas being 181,029.6 m 2 and 38,729.6 m 2 , respectively.The area of impervious surfaces increased by 1,122,482.9m 2 , mainly due to conversions from cropland and forest.Based on the analysis of these results, it is evident that the pastoral complex model, when integrated with comprehensive land consolidation, has had a significant positive impact on cropland protection and land reclamation efforts.Combining the land-use time-series images from Figures 5 and 6, before the formal proposal of the pastoral complex model, the land-use changes in Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict were characterized by the conversion of cropland back to forest, the restoration of vegetation on barren, and an increase in constructed land.After the implementation of the pastoral complex model, both Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict intensified their efforts in cropland consolidation, expanded the area of cultivable land, and ensured good protection of basic cropland.The continuous increase in impervious surface areas represents the steady progress in infrastructure and urban development.In summary, within the scope of the pastoral complex in the study area, the area of cultivated land is well protected under strict supervision.Due to rapid socio-economic development and the fast expansion of infrastructure, constructed land has gradually increased, as seen in the pastoral complexes with facilities like homestay guesthouses, visitor centers, research bases, and parking lots.Based on the principle of not encroaching on basic farmland, the pastoral complexes in the "3 + X" 1 model leverage the rice paddy landscapes and the natural scenery of the area's mountains, forests, and lakes, along with artificially created facilities.This approach enables rural land to derive numerous new values beyond its basic function of agricultural production.This demonstrates how pastoral complexes intensively utilize various land types, transforming land-use functions from singular (agricultural production) to multiple purposes, optimizing rural land structure, enhancing land benefits, securing national and local food safety, and contributing to the sustainable improvement in rural living standards.

The Pastoral Complex's Land-Ecological Structure Reorganization
From the content discussed in the previous Sections, it is evident that both pastoral complex projects in the study area encompass large contiguous areas of cultivated land.The local governments have actively engaged in attracting investment at various levels to develop these areas and improve the rural infrastructure.In Guangzhou, innovation in the comprehensive land consolidation model has been implemented.All comprehensive land consolidation projects adopt a "government + enterprise + village collective + farmers" model.This approach involves the government setting directions and overseeing regulations; enterprises providing funding, project planning, and operations; village collectives facilitating negotiations; and farmers participating directly or contributing land as equity.The livelihood structure of the farmers within the pastoral complexes has also transformed.They earn rental income from their land-use rights, with land rents ranging from 5700 to 12,000 yuan (about USD 800 to 1600) per hectare per year.During the busy farming seasons, temporary agricultural workers can earn daily wages of 70 to 100 yuan (about USD 9.6 to 13.8).Additionally, some individuals receive specialized training to become managers of the pastoral complexes, serving in the homestay guesthouse economy and agricultural education sectors, among other roles.
The land consolidation functional departments in Guangzhou innovate in the implementation of central policies, leveraging local technological advancements and cultural identity characteristics.The integration of top-down policy directives with bottom-up grassroots participation constitutes a crucial element in the successful comprehensive land consolidation of pastoral complexes in Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict.On one hand, the authoritative entities prioritize food security and green development, implementing a "field chief system" where government officials manage land use in a grid-like pattern.This includes supervising the fundamental grain-producing attributes of basic farmland through multi-temporal remote sensing imagery, real-time big data monitoring, and multiple rounds of on-site inspections to prevent the non-agricultural use of arable land (Figure 7).On the other hand, grassroots participation evolves innovatively as land regulations and industrial introductions are continuously refined.Comprehensive land consolidation revitalizes formerly loose village collectives, and the return of rural populations creates favorable conditions for grassroots engagement.
In terms of land use, government departments focus on the stable operation of grain production and the tangible benefits to the local communities during the development of pastoral complexes, securing the role of grain as a "ballast stone" of national security.Professional companies operating pastoral complexes are developing industries such as rural guesthouses, agricultural experiences, sightseeing (Figure 8), and "shared" farms (Figure 9) that cater to urban residents' rural sentiments.Within the Y Pastoral Complex, social capital has actively invested in improving the facades of village houses along roads and the construction of village roads in three administrative villages, enhancing the rural living environment and ecological conditions.In the restructuring of land-ecological relationships, the agricultural production space within pastoral complexes has become more intensive.The S Pastoral Complex proposes that on top of planting staple crops on basic farmland, economically valuable crops should be "suspended" for cultivation, effectively increasing the agricultural output per unit of land.

"We have called for each village in the town to undertake industrial transformation based on their actual conditions. Government departments are also continuously introducing a group of 'new farmers' to participate in the cultivation and maintenance of local farmland, ensuring the needs of local food production are met. We have also collaborated with relevant agricultural investment groups and agricultural companies, pooling their funds to centrally lease rural land and implement large-scale mechanized farming, thus securing the nation's food security." (A03) 2
Social capital aids the government in unblocking funding channels and also directly addresses issues related to subsidies for land leasing and other transactions with social entities.This has become a "hub" in the development process of pastoral complexes.In accordance with government planning and design as well as their own development needs, social capital undertakes high-standard transformations of farmland, closely coordinating the upstream and downstream relationships within the land consolidation chain. 3  Additionally, enterprises act as an external window' in the upstream and downstream relationships of land consolidation.By providing openly transparent market dynamics, they introduce research institutions, technology, and financial chains to rural areas.Through digital means, they track the carbon footprint of basic farmland, assess the ecological value of land consolidation, and lay the foundation for achieving the production, living, and ecological functions of comprehensive land consolidation.For grassroots communities, rural land consolidation means improved conditions for farming and enhanced rural infrastructure, including roads and street lighting, which, in turn, improve transportation convenience in rural areas.After land leasing, farmers can receive rental income from their farmland.The development of pastoral complexes also brings certain employment opportunities to the local area, allowing farmers to engage in economically more valuable industrial activities.

"When the government approached us to develop the local rural area, our first thought was to adopt the model of a pastoral complex. This model allows for the development of secondary and tertiary rural industries without compromising basic farmland, and it can also enhance the income levels of farmers. During our land consolidation efforts, the government also provided support by prioritizing personnel, optimizing the business environment, and improving administrative efficiency. When we encountered disputes with villagers' cooperatives and other collectives, the government increased subsidies to agricultural producers." (B01)
"We certainly hope to lease our land to external companies, as this provides us with a stable income and we no longer have to rely solely on the weather for our livelihood.They also find their own channels to sell the crops.Meanwhile, we can work in other regions to earn a higher income.Furthermore, we've only signed a ten-year lease agreement with the company.After the contract expires, the land will still belong to us, and they will have improved the farmland even more."(C19) 4 During the comprehensive land consolidation process across the entire area, the amount of abandoned farmland in rural areas has essentially disappeared, ensuring the normal operation of food production.This approach has also changed the traditional practice of exploiting land at the expense of the ecosystem in rural areas.The government, enterprises, and farmers have achieved a balance of interests within the new ecological structure adjustments, facilitating the diversification of land functions and green development (Figure 10).

Impact Analysis of Comprehensive Land Consolidation on the National-Social Network
The unique relationships among various levels of government departments, social capital, and social entities (village collectives) form a crucial dynamic in the ecological restructuring involved in comprehensive land consolidation.This dynamic is particularly significant in terms of restructuring the work of farmers-from a focus solely on crop cultivation to a balanced approach that encompasses both production and conservation.Such restructuring plays a vital role in local economic development, land ecological restoration, and grassroots social participation.

The Marketization of Land under the Logic of Power and Capital
As China enters a new era of socialist development, significant transformations in the structures of state power and capital have occurred.Centering economic construction and achieving socialist modernization have become the primary objectives.The operational logic of society in the post-pandemic era has accordingly shifted closer to the logic of capital and markets.The core of China's economic system reform lies in handling the relationship between government and market, enhancing the fundamental role of the market in resource allocation, and stimulating the creativity of market entities.By reshaping power relationships, conditions are created for capital accumulation and economic development.The focus of power operation tends toward providing high-quality public services and maintaining social justice and equity.The transformation in power relationships offers new opportunities and spaces for market entities and lays the foundation for the market-oriented allocation of land resources.
Firstly, state power has completed the natural process of resource and commodification, transforming it into a tool that is "useful for production, circulation, exchange, and consumption" [60], thus creating conditions for the development, utilization, transfer, and allocation of land.Under the policy discourse of "linking increases and decreases, and balancing occupation with compensation" [61], land is constructed as a natural resource with economic attributes, and market mechanisms such as the transfer and utilization of land quotas are introduced to promote the development and utilization of land resources.For instance, the Central No. 1 Document of 2017 proposed innovating the use of fiscal funds, advancing government and social capital cooperation, implementing reward substitutions, interest subsidies, and other policies to encourage local leverage of financial and social capital for compensation of agricultural and rural risks, and innovating investment and financing mechanisms.In 2019, China explicitly initiated a pilot project for comprehensive land consolidation nationwide [10], requiring integration of land rearrangement, village mergers, industrial integration, and ecological restoration.The funds required, especially initial funding, are significantly higher than traditional land consolidation.Currently, comprehensive land consolidation lacks dedicated special funds and relies only on policy support and quota inclination.Implementation projects must pass acceptance before obtaining related quotas and profits.As a result, there is a risk of delayed funding for quota profits and of project postponements due to the inability to effectively realize assets in the early stages of project launch.

"Since our group took charge of operating this Y Pastoral Complex, the total investment has reached 2 billion yuan (approximately USD 276 million).
The results of the comprehensive land consolidation will benefit over 10,000 villagers.The funding is primarily provided by the government and our group headquarters, and we have hired professional agricultural companies to manage the agricultural land.The plan for the later stages includes the creation of industries encompassing agriculture, culture, tourism, and education with 23 different small business types, effectively mitigating the risks associated with short-term revenue deficiencies."(B02) 6   These industries and capital guarantees lay the foundation for the sustainable operation of the pastoral complex, making the land a crucial resource to support the rural economic development of Aotou Town.
Secondly, the resource-oriented transformation of land and the marketization of land elements go hand in hand with the advancement of governance concepts and the construction of land quota trading platforms.In the context of the Internet and big data serving economic development, the influence of market logic has expanded further.The marketization of land elements, supported by technology, has become a new strategy for capital accumulation, with power playing a guiding and regulatory role.In comprehensive land consolidation projects, land quota profits are a primary source of income, crucial for input-output balance.As a self-balancing investment project, the pastoral complex introduces the participation of social capital to secure both short-term and medium-to-longterm interests.It also enables the fulfillment of land quota requirements undertaken by the government, achieving a win-win situation for both government and enterprises.Under the approval of provincial-level functional departments, Guangzhou has leveraged its own advantages in attracting investment and local finance to enhance the involvement of capital.Balancing the interests of land consolidation projects around the profit-seeking attributes of capital represents an innovative approach compared to other regions where land consolidation is predominantly driven by government through allocations and commands.Capital participation in comprehensive land consolidation, driven by profit motives, reflects its legitimate profit-seeking demands.Relevant government departments assign land consolidation quota tasks to enterprises, organize agricultural and construction land to create surplus quotas, and supply these to the government, which then hangs the quotas on a public trading platform established by the senior natural resources department.The demand-side government responds according to market rules to trade, acquire funds, and thus provide returns to the capital entities responsible for comprehensive land consolidation.This clarifies the relationship between capital investment returns and the food security issues brought about by non-agricultural and non-cereal land use.Power drives capital through the pastoral complex to maximize the spatial benefits of land (Figure 11).Finally, although for a long period, the impact of capital on rural spaces caused an imbalance between economic activities and the natural environment, the countryside, as a spatial production result of land, inherently possesses the axiom of being further developed and utilized.Under the logic of prioritizing economic development, the efficiency of productivity combined with the rapid flow of market elements between urban and rural areas justifies the need for rural development and construction.Seeking a balance of returns from the perspectives of both power and capital has become a goal in the development of pastoral complexes.In this study, the investment projects by the regional government mainly involve public welfare projects, including agricultural land consolidation, construction land arrangement, and ecological restoration.Future income sources include land transfer fees, surplus land quota fees, various taxes, and administrative charges, of which only the land transfer fees are significant and easily measurable short-term returns.Therefore, the power entities focus more on whether the ecological and other long-term benefits are sufficient to fulfill their political tasks.On the other hand, social capital is more concerned with the operational income obtained from the market.The pastoral complex integrates operational industries such as agricultural experiences, leisure tourism, health bases, and guesthouse economics, and also serves as the spatial carrier for comprehensive land consolidation.In reality, the integration of agricultural and tourism resources [62] has completed the spatial aggregation of power and capital.Thus, the joint model of comprehensive land consolidation and pastoral complexes plays a balancing role in rural governance, farmland protection, and industry integration, enabling land use to be moderately developed as a resource and utilized commercially.

Land Ecological Restoration under the Logic of Sustainable Development
Since the 1980s, land has played a pivotal role as an engine in China's high economic growth [63].With the deepening urbanization process in Guangzhou, market-driven economic construction has led to rural ecological degradation, environmental pollution, resource wastage, and population outflow.These phenomena are also common in other major cities around the world during rapid urbanization phases.However, the Chinese socialist system has swiftly restructured power relations through state intervention in capital, changing the national economy's excessive reliance on land.This restructuring reflects a dynamic symbiosis between the Chinese government and the market in resource utilization and ecological benefit output, effectively curbing the momentum of land ecological degradation.Food security, as a baseline of China's national security, mandates that enterprises do not prioritize capital accumulation and profit in agriculture.Instead, environmental benefits have become a more significant focus.
China's development model is characterized by its uniqueness, reflected in the political-economic logic behind the interaction between the government and the market.On one hand, the government holds the initiative in development; on the other hand, it continually opens up economic rights through reforms.The opening of economic rights attracts numerous professional companies to participate in land consolidation, becoming a critical support for economic growth.The government's control over the leading role in development ensures that land consolidation progresses in parallel with the economy under the logic of sustainable development.Comprehensive land consolidation follows the principle of stock planning, integrating land consolidation, and "linkage of increase and decrease" policies with urban-rural coordination in a systematic way.Capital investment in increasing arable land area not only meets the goals of comprehensive land consolidation but also generates substantial funds through quota trading between authorities, which can be reinvested in consolidation projects and derivative initiatives.This alleviates the financial pressure of comprehensive land consolidation and forms a recyclable governance-development-re-governance restoration logic, ensuring the sustainable operation of land ecological restoration.The construction of pastoral complexes provides a spatial carrier and material foundation for the cyclical process of land ecological restoration.
Under the socialist public land ownership system, land finance has made local governments one of the biggest beneficiaries of economic development, also enabling them to continuously invest in public services such as land pollution control and industrial relocation.Guangzhou has, to some extent, repaired the market's exploitation of land resources through power restructuring, technological guidance, and factory construction.Guided by the political rhetoric that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", grassroots governments have explored the organic integration of land consolidation and ecological construction.Within the spatial scope of pastoral complexes, ecological networks and green infrastructure [64] have been established, marking the constructive role of protective cultivation under the pastoral complex model in land ecological restoration.This reflects the ecological attributes of local policy autonomy and innovation in Guangzhou.In the research area, more than 1400 ha of agricultural land has been comprehensively consolidated, with the quality and productivity of arable land on average increasing by one grade after reorganization, and yield per unit area improving by 8% to 20%.High-standard ecological construction has enhanced farmland output, effectively ensuring food security and regional economic growth.The increased fiscal allocations and industrial income from these developments further fund ecological governance, better promoting the ecological protection of cultivated land.Under the pastoral complex model, agriculture is no longer about single-dimensional, large-scale, and rough development but centers on digital, intelligent, and green organic new agricultural technologies.This pushes agricultural technology from efficiency to effectiveness, from exploitation to intensive and intelligent techniques, ultimately reflecting the restoration of land ecology.

Social Participation Innovation under the Logic of Coordinated Human-Land Coexistence
Political ecology serves as the dominant discourse in conservation and sustainable development, offering a framework that helps rural researchers and power entities understand the complex and evolving relationships between social agents, rural development, and the natural environment.It aids in examining how the attitudes, perspectives, and the diverse political, economic, and social backgrounds of stakeholders in delicate relationships can be integrated to produce sustainable outcomes [65].As mainstream perspectives on societal operation shift from pursuing purely economic benefits toward sustainable development, this change, to some extent, balances capital interests with social benefits, promoting the coordinated development of humans and land in rural societies.However, in many countries, the domination of the natural environment by capital has not changed.Many countries only attempt to remedy environmental damage through improved engineering technologies, trying to alleviate the contradictions between capital accumulation and ecological degradation, but it is often challenging to truly eliminate the unequal effects within their social environments.
As a city in a socialist country, Guangzhou, guided by the "people-centered" political discourse, continually breaks away from the old model where land resources serve the expansion of social capital.The city places high emphasis on the sustainability of coordinated human-land coexistence and the fairness of diverse social entity participation.This is primarily achieved through innovative pathways and the restructuring of power by empowering the environment.On one hand, after rural spaces are integrated through the pastoral complex, the main operating capital, driven by industrial operations and guided by authority, offers employment, training, and subsidies.These measures ensure that farmers marginalized by land circulation, and migrant workers, can enjoy the dividends of rural development.In the 20+ years following the economic reforms and opening up, the market economy's sudden increase in labor demand led farmers to leave their lands to work in cities in productive jobs, creating a dependency pathway for urban-rural labor force movement.The creation of pastoral complexes through comprehensive land consolidation has revitalized key rural development elements such as land, capital, industry, and population, gradually breaking down the separation of urban and rural production, living, and ecological spaces caused by traditional capital logic.Pastoral complexes integrate modern agriculture with leisure tourism, rural guesthouses, health and wellness, and educational travel, creating employment opportunities in rural areas and becoming a significant "pull" factor for the return of rural populations.
"I was originally a supervisor in a university cafeteria in downtown Guangzhou, but when I saw a notice in the group from the village officials about a vacancy for a guesthouse manager in the village, with a salary comparable to that in the city and more flexible hours, I decided to return to the village to work."(C07) 7   The newly constructed land within the pastoral complex, leftover after consolidation, can also be used to attract social capital by valuing land resources as shares, further developing secondary and tertiary industries.
On the other hand, as the national emphasis on food security increasingly intensifies, ensuring the quality and quantity of grain production has become a focus of grassroots government work.Consequently, national power has further transformed the ecological identities of villagers and village collectives.From a micro-political perspective, it has facilitated the integration of social participation pathways for human-land coordination, expanding the channels of connection between power entities and social subjects.The restructuring of power initially operates within the bureaucratic system, where environmental performance becomes the most crucial component of official assessments.For example, the innovative ecological governance system, "Field Chief System", has been integrated into the administrative system.Grassroots party and government officials take on the responsibility of supervising and protecting cultivated land.Through grid-based management and direct contact with farmers in the fields, the connection with farmers is strengthened, providing them with the most direct channel for feedback on public sentiment.The effectiveness of supervision becomes a critical basis for performance assessment and the appointment or removal of relevant officials.The return migration of individual villagers not only provides labor for the integration of the pastoral complex's industrial chain but also serves as spontaneous regulators of comprehensive land consolidation.Power entities enhance supervision through technologies like WeChat mini-programs for sharing farmland information, multi-temporal remote sensing images, observational experiments, and big data.They also open information feedback channels for social entities (e.g., farmers can report clues via related WeChat mini-programs).In the pathway of social participation, each stakeholder in the pastoral complex performs their role, achieving spatial integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries.Therefore, while ensuring that social capital can pursue its legitimate profit motives, it can also focus on agricultural production, thereby ensuring food security and promoting the coordinated development of rural human-land relationships.
It is worth mentioning that while extensive public participation helps enhance policy transparency and increase social acceptance, in some cases, particularly when land consolidation projects need to be executed swiftly to achieve significant social and economic benefits, reducing the extent of public participation may help improve the efficiency of decision making and implementation.In practice, China's grassroots democracy extensively practices the people's democratic centralism, which effectively responds to this view.During the project planning stage of comprehensive land consolidation, the government and implementing enterprises consult with village representatives through local village committees.Village representatives, typically individuals of high moral standing and educational level within the rural community, integrate various demands from the village to participate in tripartite discussions with the government and enterprises.Business entities also fully assume social responsibility, thereby benefiting the community and achieving a balance of interests among all three parties.Therefore, during the implementation phase of comprehensive land consolidation, public participation is mostly reflected in being employed by enterprises, with villagers strongly supporting the execution of the project.Overall, the pastoral complex model, through comprehensive land consolidation projects, considers public opinion and ensures the efficiency of project decision making and implementation through a balance of interests, which is also a full manifestation of China's grassroots people's democratic centralism and corporate social responsibility.

Discussion
In Western developed countries, rural areas have already experienced a decline and are now in a phase of stable development.Trends such as counter-urbanization and suburbanization are driving more social capital and public resources back to rural areas [66], leading to a stabilization in the integration of rural industries.Following China's achievement of comprehensive poverty alleviation and the introduction of the rural revitalization strategy, similar trends are increasingly evident in many rural areas, especially those near large cities.The application of the pastoral complex model has promoted the diversification of rural land use, providing a spatial carrier for the comprehensive consolidation of land throughout the region.
Comprehensive land consolidation integrates spatial resources to ensure land for agricultural industrial development, enriching rural industries and enhancing the agricultural supply chain [49], and providing solid support for increasing agricultural production and income.The construction of the pastoral complex model involves large-scale rural land transactions, where farmers transfer their land contracting rights and usage rights to social capital and its operating companies.The actual management rights of the land become a tool for capital to seek profit, and some farmers, due to their extensive farming experience and local knowledge, may be employed as land managers.Their income structure includes fixed land rent, management fees, and temporary labor compensation.As the market economy operates, the development value and profit output of land resources will inevitably grow faster than the income of farmers.The sustainability of the non-agricultural and diversified livelihood structure of farmers remains uncertain.How the market logic of land in pastoral complexes can ensure farmers equitably enjoy the appreciation rights of land requires further negotiation and sharing between the power entities and capital.
In fact, within the context of China's national conditions, the government possesses the function of macro-level planning and decision making, and the delegation of state power ensures that enterprises and social entities execute in accordance with macroeconomic controls.Typically, enterprises involved in comprehensive land consolidation require substantial capital, cumbersome record-keeping procedures, and strong capabilities in resource integration and allocation.In China, this is usually undertaken by state-owned enterprises and large private companies.Due to the state's emphasis on land consolidation and substantial fiscal subsidies, enterprises do not solely pursue profit but ensure the sustainable operation of projects while assuming social responsibilities.The essence of land index allocation and transactions in comprehensive land consolidation is to achieve a win-win situation for government social governance and corporate sustainable development.
In this study, the comprehensive land consolidation framework we propose demonstrates the potential to effectively promote rural revitalization under current government policies and market conditions.However, the uncertainty of the policy environment and changes in external conditions may affect the implementation effectiveness of the framework, necessitating an explanation of the adaptability of the comprehensive land consolidation theoretical framework.The study indicates that key conditions for the implementation of land consolidation include sustained government support, stable funding, and active participation of local stakeholders.Should these assumed conditions change, such as a reduction in government support or limitations on funding sources, the responsible entities for land consolidation should adapt, such as by seeking alternative funding sources or increasing participation from rural and other enterprises.If governmental policies on land quotas or core policies on rural land use are adjusted, it may significantly affect the funding flow, stakeholder participation, and sustainability of land consolidation projects.The pastoral complex model should incorporate mechanisms to predict and adapt to policy changes and adjust based on regional characteristics.As digital rural construction continuously empowers China's rural revitalization, the competent government departments of comprehensive land consolidation can cooperate with enterprises to develop big data models.This cooperation aims to establish a prediction system for the coupling relationship between land policies and economic development activities, assisting land consolidation planners and implementers in understanding and predicting the potential impacts of policy changes on the pastoral complex model.This approach also involves reserving redundancy in actual planning to accommodate possible changes in land use and development policies.Furthermore, the connotation of the pastoral complex should be further expanded beyond Guangzhou.For instance, in areas with diverse natural environments (such as topography, climate, water sources, etc.), the pastoral complex should not only focus on agricultural industries but also consider the ecological vulnerability of marginal lands in mountainous rural areas.Overdeveloping these lands for the goal of increasing cropland can lead to "process waste" due to voluntary abandonment by farmers, and potentially cause further ecological damage.Therefore, the pastoral complex should align with the strategic policies of farmland protection and ecological civilization construction, leveraging its "green operation" characteristics.It should play a significant role in ensuring the ecological safety barrier function of rural land, considering ecosystem service compensation as a vital means to enhance farmers' economic welfare, and ultimately achieve synchronous improvement of regional ecological environment quality and socioeconomic welfare.Provincial regulatory approaches and development plans also significantly influence the pastoral complex model.In economically developed coastal regions like Guangdong and Zhejiang, the development of the pastoral complex model will focus more on agricultural modernization and rural tourism.In contrast, in less economically developed inland areas such as Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, the pastoral complex model should prioritize maintaining ecological integrity in infrastructure development and aim to improve per capita living standards.Due to fiscal constraints in these regions, more supportive land policies and relaxed land quota allowances from the central government are often necessary.The development direction of the pastoral complex in these areas should focus more on local ethnic culture, cuisine, and other regional brand constructions.Overall, expanding cooperation among stakeholders, diversifying funding mechanisms, and establishing clear project supervision methods are directions for the further development of the pastoral complex model.
During the process of comprehensive land consolidation, while state power works to repair the logic of capital, it also relies on market mechanisms to invest in the provision of rural ecological public services and the reorganization of the land ecological structure.This implies that power must also combine with capital to support the implementation and sustainability of its political objectives.Consequently, there are issues where power may not sufficiently constrain capital.There are gaps in the detailed implementation and practical procedures of related policies, and compensation by capital to social entities exhibits significant regional disparities.There is a lack of planning for matching different types of social capital with each phase of consolidation, and regulatory oversight of the return on investment and exit mechanisms for social capital remains inadequate.The balance between the profit-seeking nature of capital and the social attributes of power is an issue that will continue to be explored for a long time to come.Furthermore, this paper also points out that different forms of public participation need to be conducted under the premise of ensuring project transparency and achievability, to avoid sacrificing social justice and environmental sustainability.Future research can further explore how to find the optimal balance between efficiency and fairness, especially in the face of rapidly changing socio-economic environments and policy frameworks.In this way, land consolidation and rural revitalization objectives can not only be implemented quickly and effectively but also maintain good relations with local rural communities.
Land, as a public good with significant externalities, has seen its functions diversified effectively through comprehensive land consolidation, which has advanced the construction of rural ecological civilization.This diversification has expanded the value recognition of rural areas among various stakeholders, elevating the concept from narrowly defined "land resources" to broader "natural resources", with a focus on the comprehensive asset value of the "mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and grasslands" life community.The pastoral complex has linked the development of agriculture and agricultural product processing, ecological tourism, and other industries, achieving a harmonious unity between the rural socio-economic system and the natural system, thereby robustly securing national food security and green development.This paper analyzes rural practices in Guangzhou, a national central city, where the comprehensive land consolidation model has achieved significant results due to its ample government fiscal foundation, substantial support from large local state-owned enterprises, highly effective governments at all levels, and relatively advanced thinking among farmers.The theoretical framework and methods of comprehensive land consolidation proposed in this study may have broader applicability.Considering the variations in socio-economic development levels, geographical environments, and policy implementation across rural areas in China, the findings of this study may be particularly useful for regions with similar economic development levels and facing similar land management issues, such as the economically advanced and land-pressured coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian.However, the study still has certain limitations.China's rural areas are diverse, and how to introduce comprehensive land consolidation in villages with poor industrial bases and scarce arable land resources requires more extensive research to summarize and reveal.

Conclusions
Comprehensive land consolidation is an effective method for promoting rural revitalization and regional sustainable development.This article adopts a political ecology perspective to explore the dynamic interplay and evolution of rural-land relationships under the pastoral complex model in Aotou Town and Zhucun Subdistrict of Guangzhou City, as well as the changes in power structures behind comprehensive land consolidation that promote rural revitalization.The study finds that using pastoral complexes as spatial carriers, comprehensive land consolidation can effectively restore arable land areas and balance construction lands, thereby developing diversified rural industries.Through land-ecological reorganization, pastoral complexes achieve a balance of interests among the government, enterprises, and farmers.The mixing and reorganizing of rural production, living, and ecological spaces into intensive and diverse ordered clusters aid in achieving social equity in rural areas.Land is not only a natural resource that needs to be developed and utilized for rural revitalization but also the ecological base supporting sustainable green development in rural areas.In the process of high-quality development for rural revitalization, the state, capital, social entities, and land exhibit differentiated dynamic relationships.
Under China's unique national conditions, the effective changes in the state power and land system framework have prevented the phenomena commonly seen in capitalist rural development-such as land expropriation and degradation by large social capitals, leading to increased poverty among farmers and further decline of rural areas.The construction of land resources and commodification under the logic of power and capital, along with the continuous adaptation of land element marketization and land governance concepts, have turned the marketization of land quotas into a new strategy for capital accumulation supported by technology.The pastoral complex model has broken through the constraints of ensuring food production and diversified rural industrial development, propelling land to become an object of power control and a space for exertion.The autonomy of local government policies is prominently displayed in the practices of land consolidation and rural revitalization in Guangzhou.It effectively integrates local resources, leverages technological advantages, and fosters active participation of capital, achieving innovative driving forces in comprehensive land consolidation.The emphasis on ecological attributes has led Guangzhou to prioritize the development of green industries in land consolidation and to innovate in ecological governance (such as the implementation of the Field Chief' system).The adaptability of policies to local conditions has effectively promoted rural revitalization and sustainable management of land resources in Guangzhou.
This study explores the application of comprehensive land consolidation in the rural revitalization of China, emphasizing the importance of considering public participation in the policy implementation process.The research finds that while extensive public participation helps enhance decision-making transparency and boost social acceptance, in certain cases, particularly when land consolidation projects need to be executed swiftly to achieve significant social and economic benefits, appropriately reducing the degree of public participation can enhance the efficiency of decision making and implementation.The pastoral complex model, by providing diverse employment opportunities, has increased local villagers' acceptance, thus allowing the government and businesses to flexibly adjust the form and extent of public participation according to the specific needs and urgency of the project.The political-economic logic of government-market interaction under China's unique development model is the fundamental reason for the cyclical land ecological restoration.The organic combination of land consolidation and ecological construction has elevated the coordinated human-land relationship in rural areas to a new level.The innovation in social participation pathways and the effective interaction with state power have transformed the ecological identities of villagers and village collectives, achieving a shift from path dependency to path innovation in rural industrial development.The comprehensive land consolidation and the development model of the pastoral complex in Guangzhou have achieved a balance of interests among multiple stakeholders, promoting rural industrial upgrading and changes in land use.The case experiences summarized by the research institute serve as a good reference for the development of rural areas in economically developed regions with tense human-land relations.
China's current comprehensive land consolidation model, which boosts rural revitalization, holds significant relevance for the development of countries worldwide, especially those in the developing world.The pastoral complex model, with its evolving power relations, constructs a multifaceted role for the state.The state acts not only as a leader in economic development but also as a guardian of social equity and ecological justice, demonstrating the resilience of Chinese state power and providing a robust defense against the impacts of capital, characteristic of the socialist market economy.The cases of linkage between pastoral complexes and land consolidation show that China does not suffer from a lack of social participation and regulation under a supposed single system, as traditional Western political ecology might suggest, making it difficult to address environmental issues [67].On the contrary, under the Chinese system, because of the dynamic learning and adaptive capacities of state power, as well as the strong execution around clear goals by various levels of power entities, the mobilization of capital and social entities in land consolidation and rural environmental governance is more rapid and effective.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.The evolution of land consolidation's connotation.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Theoretical framework of rural revitalization driven by comprehensive land consolidation.

3 .
Typical Case Study: Aotou Town and Zhucun Street 3.1.Study Area and Data Collection 3.1.1.Study Area Conghua District's Aotou Town and Zengcheng District's Zhucun Subdistrict are located in the northern and eastern parts of Guangzhou City in Guangdong Province (Figure

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Location of Guangzhou City and case study area.

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Statistical chart of land use area in townships involved in pastoral complexes from 2012 to 2022 in the study area.

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Land-use transition effectiveness in typical townships with pastoral complexes in Guangzhou from 2012 to 2022 (km 2 ).

Figure 6 .
Figure 6.Time-series images of land use in Aotou Town (above) and Zhucun Subdistrict (below) from 2012 to 2022.

Figure 7 .
Figure 7.Comparison of basic farmland production before and after the consolidation of the S Pastoral Complex.

Figure 8 .
Figure 8. Post-consolidation beautification of rural living spaces and diversification of production models in the Y Pastoral Complex.

Figure 9 .
Figure 9. Promotional board for the "shared" farm 5 in the S Pastoral Complex.

Figure 10 .
Figure 10.Diagram of the relationships and effectiveness formation mechanism in comprehensive land consolidation.

Figure 11 .
Figure 11.Marketization mechanism of land elements under the logic of power and capital.

Table 1 .
Information on the pastoral complexes involved in the study.

Table 2 .
Information on interviewees by type.

Table 3 .
Land-use transition matrix for the years 2012 to 2017 (m 2 ).

Table 4 .
Land-use transition matrix for the years 2017 to 2022 (m 2 ).