Identifying livelihood strategies and transitions in rural China: Is land holding an obstacle?

Using nationally representative rural survey data from 2010 and 2014 in China, this paper quantitatively investigates the factors determining Chinese rural households' livelihood strategies and dynamics in transitions. Using a multinomial probit regression and ordered logit regression (OLR), we find that human assets and transport facilities are the most important factors in improving the livelihood strategies of rural Chinese households. These factors also encourage upward livelihood mobility. However, factors such as land endowment, land renting-in, and land expropriation have a negative effect on rural Chinese households' upward mobility in livelihood strategies.