## 3 Results
### Network Characteristics of Interprovincial Rural Migration  
This study defines migration flows with scales greater than or equal to the national average as degrees and employs an improved degree-based SNA method to analyze the interprovincial migration network of China's rural population (Table 3). The results reveal a high degree of outdegree and indegree centralization in the interprovincial migration network, indicating strong network centrality. The fact that the indegree centralization is greater than the outdegree centralization indicates that rural immigration is more concentrated in specific provinces than emigration, and the immigration provinces have a stronger impact on the interprovincial migration network of China's rural population. However, in 2020, the situation reversed. The decline in both outdegree and indegree centralization from 2000 to 2020 suggests a decentralization trend in rural migration flows, and the migration activities are becoming more dispersed and balanced. This change is closely related to balanced regional economic development, industrial transfers, and improved transportation  
Figure 3: Spatial pattern of provincial rural immigration in China from 2000 to 2020.  
infrastructure. For example, whereas in the past, the rural population was concentrated in the eastern coastal provinces, with the improvement of the transportation network and economic development in the central and western regions, more people are choosing to take up employment and settle in emerging regions such as Chengdu-Chongqing and Zhengzhou, which is contributing to the decentralization of migratory activities and the balanced development of the region. The declining betweenness centralization indicates the diversification of core nodes in the interprovincial migration network of the rural population. In general, from 2000 to 2020, the interprovincial migration network of China's rural population became more balanced, with the role of the core nodes gradually weakening and the concentration of rural emigration and immigration declining. In addition to the overall network characteristics, the economic division of migration sources and destinations provides further insights into the spatial patterns of rural migration. From the perspective of economic division, central and western China consistently account for approximately 81% of national interprovincial rural emigration, highlighting their role as primary migration sources. Eastern China is the main destination of interprovincial rural migration, with its share of the national total interprovincial rural immigration in 2000, 2010, and 2020 being 76.49%, 82.96%, and 79.06%, respectively (Figure 4). From 2000 to 2020, the patterns of interprovincial rural migration networks in the four regions remained relatively stable but with notable shifts in regional dynamics. In 2000, intraregional migration dominated in the eastern region, accounting for 67.01% of total emigration. Northeastern China showed a dual pattern, with 45.53% of migration directed to eastern China and 41.49% occurring within the region. Central and western China primarily sent migrants to eastern China, representing 86.38% and 70.95% of their total emigration, respectively. By 2010 and 2020, the trend of intraregional migration in eastern China and rural migration from central and western China to eastern China initially strengthened but later weakened. Notably, the intraregional share of migration in northeastern China declined steadily, dropping to 25.62% by 2020, while the share of interregional migration to eastern China rose to 60.97% during the same period. In the year 2000, rural out-migrants from Hunan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Hubei predominantly relocated to Guangdong, while Henan, Anhui, and Jiangxi experienced substantial migration flows toward the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, which includes Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.