Data source and processing
Rural development is usually depending on various industries.
Therefore, the status quo of rural industrial development can be
used to diagnose the rural development type, to which a region
belongs. In this paper, the output value data of total GDP as well as
its primary, secondary and tertiary industries of 615 counties (or
cities at county level) in eastern coastal China was collected from
the above mentioned ten coastal provinces’ statistical yearbook in
2006. The proportions of the output value of primary (GDP1%),
secondary (GDP2%) and tertiary (GDP3%) industries in the total
GDP, respectively, were chosen as the indicators to classify the rural
development types. Then, the mean and standard deviation of
indicators GDP1%, GDP2% and GDP3% were counted (Table 2).
The degree of rural development will be different even in the
same rural development type because of the difference of regional
physical conditions and socio-economic development level.
Rurality degree index (RDI) was established to diagnose the
difference of rural development types. Defining the degree of rural
development, we have employed the idea of the functions of the
countryside with regard to society. In general, the major factors
affecting the long-term rural development and the exertion of the
functions of the countryside with regard to society involve: (1)
coverage of society’s food and agricultural rawmaterial production;
(2) the change of rural population; (3) rural economic development
level; and (4) rational spatial organization of the activities of the
rural population.