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Article History

Received: 19 September 2024

Accepted: 11 March 2026

First Online: 26 March 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: Our study is based exclusively on secondary data from the 17-province survey, which was collected prior to our research by reputable organizations: the Landesa Rural Development Institute of the U.S., Renmin University of China, and Michigan State University. The data utilized in our research is anonymized and aggregated, ensuring that there is no direct interaction with human participants or the collection of new data. As our study does not engage with human subjects or produce identifiable personal information, it falls outside the scope of ethical review requirements. This rigorous adherence to ethical standards reinforces the integrity of our research while allowing us to focus on the important findings derived from the data.

: Informed consent is not applicable to our study because we are utilizing secondary data from the 17-province survey that has already been collected and anonymized. The original data collection process, including obtaining informed consent, was conducted by the survey administrators prior to our use of the data. Since our research does not involve collecting new data, interacting with participants, or making any changes to the existing data, there is no requirement for obtaining additional informed consent. Our study relies on data that has been pre-processed to ensure anonymity and confidentiality, thus negating the need for further consent from individuals.