中文摘要：

回顾和总结了新世纪以来国际乡村地理学研究的相关进展与动向，涉及乡村内涵和研究领域、研究理论和方法及其发展趋势。结果表明：新世纪以来国际乡村地理学研究开始转向探究乡村性的表现，即从原先关注乡村的物质性转向关注其政治经济结构与社会建设；在研究方法上，倾向于综合运用定性与定量相结合的多元方法。未来国际乡村地理学的发展方向与研究热点主要涉及全球化背景下的一些全球性议题，为此，乡村地理学研究亟需加强跨学科联系与合作，并注重研究尺度的外扩与内敛。最后，结合国际乡村地理学的最新研究进展，联系中国实际，提出了未来中国乡村地理学研究需要重点关注的方向。

英文摘要：

This paper summarizes the progress in and the trend for international rural geography research since the turn of the new millennium, in the aspects of the connotations of the rural, research fields, theory and methodology. The outcomes show that international research in rural geography in the new century has started to engage with the performance of rurality, moving from previous foci on the materiality of the rural, to on its political-economic structures and on its social construction. The methodology of international rural geography research is facing the challenge of combining quantitative and qualitative data and using multi-methods. Climate change and food security, along with other growing global concerns including protecting biodiversity and maintaining energy supplies, will undoubtedly be major influences in shaping the future trajectories of rural geography research. As such, making connections interdisciplinary rural research and adopting upscaling and downscaling methods for rural geography research are advocated. Finally, combining with the international progress in rural geography research and the status quo of rural development in China, several areas presenting key challenges for rural geography studies in China in the early twenty-first century have been put forward.