The model transformation and spatial shifts of China's freshwater aquaculture production: A retrospective analysis from 1980s to 2024

As the global leader in freshwater aquaculture, China's production has undergone a profound transformation from the 1980s to 2024. This review analyzes this trajectory, highlighting a fundamental shift from extensive, capture-based practices to intensive, culturally dominant production. We document a dramatic spatial concentration within the Yangtze and Pearl River Basins, a diversification of species beyond traditional carps towards high-value crustaceans, and the evolution of farming models from pond-based systems to modern industrial aquaculture. However, this rapid growth has converged with multidimensional challenges in ecology, technology, economy, and policy, creating a critical bottleneck for sustainable development. This analysis synthesizes these spatio-temporal patterns to illuminate China's trajectory, its current economic and productive scale, and to extract transferable insights for guiding sustainable aquaculture practices worldwide.