# Advancements, Dynamics, and Future Directions in Rural Environmental Governance Research in China
## 5 Research Hot Frontier Analysis
### Hot Trend Analysis  
Co-occurrence time zone maps effectively illustrate the annual research hotspots and their developmental trends over time. Figures 6 and 7, generated with VOSviewer software, presents a time zone map showcasing the patterns of keyword co-occurrence within China's REM research field. This map delineates the frequently used keywords and their changes over time in Chinese REM studies. In the figure, each node symbolizes a keyword; the size of a node corresponds to its frequency in the literature. The color of each node indicates the temporal aspect, with a gradient color bar in the lower right corner marking time progression from blue to yellow, signifying the variation in keyword frequency over time. Furthermore, the interconnecting lines between nodes depict the relationships of keyword co-occurrence. The thickness of these lines represents the co-occurrence strength, with thicker lines suggesting a higher frequency of concurrent appearance of two keywords in the same document. Since 2014, research has concentrated on rural environmental pollution [43] and governance measures [44]. [PERSON] explored ecological issues in rural areas, proposing policy measures for building an ecological civilization by integrating socio-economic and environmental strategies [45]. The incorporation of big data and information technology has increasingly become a viable solution for enhancing the efficiency of environmental governance and addressing rural challenges [46]. By 2016, studies were focusing on environmental governance [47] and the water crisis in rural settings [48], noting that a considerable portion of the rural population lacked access to safe drinking water, thus facing health risks from inferior water quality [49]. Additionally, the diverse geographical and infrastructural settings across rural China have impeded effective water supply and quality management. In 2018, the research emphasis shifted towards sustainable development [50] and ecological governance [51]. [PERSON]'s analysis showed how social relationships and the principles of the circular economy--reduction, reuse, and recycling--impacted waste management practices among farmers, revealing significant interactive effects that influenced rural  
Figure 5: Keyword co-occurrence map of Chinese REM studies in WOS. governance strategies [52]. [PERSON] utilized advanced technologies, such as deep convolutional neural networks, to foster innovative approaches for sustainable rural ecological governance, aiming to improve the monitoring and management of ecological resources and underscoring the transformative potential of technology [53]. Since 2020, academic research has been directed at rural residential [36] and ecological environments [54], waste disposal [55], and sewage treatment [14], driven by policy guidelines. [PERSON] discovered that rural environmental governance is increasingly adopting integrated approaches that melt policy management, environmental science, and community participation to address these challenges effectively [56]. [PERSON]'s bibliometric analysis from 1992 to 2022 indicated that policies governing rural residential environments have progressed through initial, exploratory, enhancement, and deepening phases, showing a mature policy framework. This research encompasses the nuances of rural residential environments, governance models, effective evaluations, and governance technologies, with a gradual shift towards more systematic and comprehensive research methods [57]. Moreover, the evolution trends of the major hotspot keywords 'rural area', 'environmental governance', 'rural environment', 'governance', and 'rural revitalization' from 2002 to 2022 are shown in Figure 8. Within these trends, research in the 'rural' category has maintained a leading position, exhibiting a consistent upward trajectory. The prominence of 'rural revitalization' as a keyword escalated notably post-2015, following the state's release of the 'Comprehensive Implementation Plan for Deepening Rural Reform' [58].