Based on a survey of 2343 rural residents in China, this paper adopts a binary logistic regression model as the analytical tool to study the impact of rural residents’ social network and sense of responsibility regarding their participation in environmental governance. The results show that the cost, frequency and scope of social network activities have positive and significant influences on resident participation in rural environmental governance. The cost of a social network is conducive to building a rural social network, enhancing the connection of interests and promoting the formation of a rural community. Extending social network objectives from family members to villagers can improve the cultural identity and emotional identity of rural residents. The increase in the frequency of social network activities can not only enhance trust among residents, but also reduce the cost of environmental governance mobilization. The scope of a social network acts as an inhibitor whereby social interaction beyond the scope of rural areas will reduce identification with rural emotions. The four dimensions, including responsibility cognition, responsibility will, responsibility emotion and responsibility behavior have significant influences on resident participation in rural environmental governance. Residents’ sense of responsibility plays the role of an introverted driving force for them to take part in rural environmental governance, which itself helps to overcome “non-participation” behaviors of “rational smallholders” to a certain extent. Furthermore, it endows rural environmental governance with resilience. So, it is of significance to enhance rural residents’ social networks and to improve rural residents’ cognition of collective responsibility.

In the post-pandemic era, the need for resilient and flexible COVID-19 prevention strategies in rural areas has become increasingly prominent. Based on a sample of 2229 rural residents nationwide, the Structural Equation Model was adopted to analyze the influence of social capital and technological empowerment on pandemic resilience in rural areas. The proportion of diversity, adequacy, and effectiveness of pandemic prevention measures taken by communities was about 57%. Social capital (0.667) and technological empowerment (0.325) had a significant positive impact on rural resilience and pandemic prevention. Social capital plays a mediating role between technological empowerment and pandemic resilience in rural areas. The risk of disease in society stimulates the inherent social capital factors in villages, with the individual social network generating strong social support. Technological empowerment can not only provide new methods for the connection of social capital, but also bring new means for rural authorities to improve their governance capabilities. Social trust in social capital plays an important role in rural resilience and pandemic prevention. The indirect effect of technological empowerment through social capital on pandemic resilience is greater than its direct effect. Social capital construction is the key to rural resilience and pandemic prevention.

Rural health governance is an important part of low-carbon green life, which is also related to the sustainable development and population health project in rural areas. Based on the survey data of 2343 rural residents in China, this study adopted a binary logistic regression model to explore the effects of rural residents’ social network and cognition on their participation in rural health governance. The research results show that only less than 30% of the respondents participated in rural health governance, and the proportion of rural resident participating is not high. Both their social network and cognition have a significant impact on their participation in rural health governance. Introverted communication helps strengthen the connection between rural residents, form the network and structure of rural social communication, build emotional links and common interests, and form a common cultural understanding paradigm and action framework. The extraverted communication means that rural residents gradually break away from the social network of acquaintances, which is not conducive to building a rural community. Rural residents’ understanding of behavior begins to deviate from rural culture, customs and emotional values, and the binding force of traditional culture is reduced, making it difficult to motivate them to participate in rural public life. Policy cognition can improve rural residents’ recognition of the value and significance of health governance. Responsibility awareness is the internal driving force for rural residents to participate in health governance, which can also reduce the governance cost of rural managers. Based on this, increasing rural residents’ introverted communication and cultivating their sense of responsibility are key to promoting their participation in rural health governance.

Emergency management performance (EMP) at the county level in China plays a critical role in linking counties to serve as a bridge between urban and rural areas. This study explores the factors that influence EMP within China’s county-level governance by applying Riggs’ administrative ecology theory. The study examines the impact of normative constraints, favor politics, cooperative politics, and charismatic politics directly on EMP collectively and individually. This study analyzes empirical data using structural equation modeling from Jiangsu Province, which includes a survey of 300 emergency management personnel. The results show that normative constraints have the most significant positive influence on EMP, followed by charismatic politics, cooperative politics, and favor politics. The study highlights the mixed practices of traditional and modern administrative contexts, with the “prismatic” administrative model offering an adaptive governance approach during China’s societal transition. This study advances the theoretical understanding of transitional governance systems and provides practical recommendations for policymakers to improve EMP in county-level governance frameworks.