In June 2019, Elena Meyer-Clement was invited as a panelist at the IAMO Forum 2019 at Halle (Saale), Germany. The topic of the panel discussion was “Current challenges and way forward for Chinese agriculture after 40 years of rural reform”. In this multidisciplinary panel, Elena presented her thoughts on the role of urbanization and the concentration of rural housing space in China’s ongoing “rural revitalization strategy”.