## 5 Conclusions  
In this study, Geodetector, a gravity center model, and third-order partial correlation analysis methods were used to analyze the change patterns of vegetation NPP and its driving mechanisms in different sub-regions of China from a partition perspective.  
1. Vegetation NPP in China showed a decreasing trend from southeast to northwest. The gravity centers of Northeast, Northwest, and North China showed a trend of southward migration, indicating that the increments of vegetation NPP in the south of the corresponding region were greater than those in the north. The gravity centers of Southwest, Central South, and East China showed a trend of northward migration, indicating that the increments of vegetation NPP in the north of the corresponding region were greater than those in the south.
2. During 2000-2010, human activities contributed greatly to the vegetation NPP increase and during 2011-2022, climate change was the dominant factor for the increase in vegetation NPP.
3. Zones with significant positive correlations between vegetation NPP and accumulated temperature were mostly located in the southern part of Qinghai Province. Zones with significant positive correlations with precipitation were mostly concentrated in Inner Mongolia and other regions. Zones with significant positive correlations with temperature were widely distributed in the junction of Tibet and Qinghai Province and the northeast region. Zones with significant positive correlations with sunshine were mainly distributed in the central and eastern regions of Inner Mongolia.
4. Precipitation and land use were the dominant factors influencing changes in vegetation NPP in Northeast China, while precipitation and soil types played an important role in the vegetation NPP changes in North China. Temperature was the dominant factor influencing the change in vegetation NPP in East China, while precipitation and soil types were the main factors affecting the vegetation NPP changes in Northwest China. The explanatory power of human activities on the change in vegetation NPP in Northwest China gradually increased. Altitude and precipitation contributed considerably to the change in vegetation NPP in Southwest China. Provided that urbanization is ensured, reducing land use can effectively promote an increase in local vegetation NPP.  
Conceptualization, methodology, writing--original draft preparation, Y.L. and M.X.; investigation, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition, B.G. and G.Y. Methodology, investigation, J.L. and Y.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (grant number: ZR2021 MD047); the Scientific Innovation Project for Young Scientists in Shandong Provincial Universities (grant number: 2022 KJ224); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers: 42101306 and 62006096); the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (grant number: 2020)05146); and a grant from the State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System.  
Data Availability Statement:Data are contained within the article.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.  
Appendix AFigure 13: Conversion among different levels of vegetation NPP transfer at different levels. (a) 2000–2010; (b) 2011–2022.  
Figure 17: The area ratio of contribution rates for different grades during different historical periods (increase).