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Henan Province is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and one of the earliest human settlements, which means that the area has an important national cultural heritage. Traditional villages are an important facet of this cultural heritage, and studying their spatiotemporal characteristics in different periods has important theoretical and practical significance for the sustainable development and protection of cultural heritage in the region. This paper takes the traditional villages of the Yellow River basin in Henan Province that were formed before 1919 as the research object. Information on the ancient river was obtained through a literature search as well as via field research, and the important tributaries of the Yellow River in different periods were mapped using ArcGIS 10.0 software. The nearest neighbor index, kernel density estimation, standard deviation ellipse and other methods were adopted to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the traditional villages. The factors that influenced the evolution of traditional villages were explored in depth by combining changes in the course of the river and water conservancy projects. The results show that the formation of traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province has experienced a historical track of growth, contraction, growth and prosperity and stability. The traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province generally show a clustered pattern, forming a dense concentration of traditional villages in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The center of gravity shows a migration trend from southeast to northwest. In terms of influencing factors, the spatiotemporal evolution of the relationship between villages and their distance to water is closely related to climatic fluctuations, changes in channel, water conservancy projects and social and cultural factors. This paper deepens our understanding of the relationship between traditional village evolution and watersheds by improving the consistency between village spatial distribution and historical geography and provides a useful theoretical reference for the sustainable development of China's traditional villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has led to the increasing scarcity of land resources in China. Exploring the spatial-temporal characteristics and influencing factors of urban land use efficiency (LUE) is of great significance for optimizing the allocation efficiency of land resources and promoting regional sustainable development. In this study, the Super-SBM model was used to calculate the urban LUE of the Yellow River Basin from 2009 to 2018. The regional differences and agglomeration characteristics of LUE in the Yellow River Basin were analyzed. Moreover, a panel regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of LUE. The results showed that the LUE in the Yellow River Basin experienced a process of fluctuation decline during the study period. The regional difference of LUE in the Yellow River Basin was as follows: upper reaches > middle reaches > lower reaches. The hot and cold spots of LUE were relatively stable in spatial distribution during the study period. The hot spots were mainly distributed in Ordos in the upper reaches and Yulin in the middle reaches, while the cold spots were mainly distributed in Henan Province in the lower reaches. Globalization had a positive impact on LUE in the lower reaches. Marketization had a positive impact on LUE in the whole basin and lower reaches, and a negative impact on LUE in the middle reaches. Decentralization had a positive impact on the LUE of the whole basin and the upper reaches, and a negative impact on the LUE of the lower reaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]