Data comprise results of social surveys carried out in China during 2016 – 2018 to the local stakeholders (farmers and village to county level officials) to understand their knowledge learning dynamics and preference. Surveys were conducted in the rural villages in Puding County, Guizhou Province and in Yujiang County, Jiangxi Province. The study was funded by the grant NE/N007425/1 which was awarded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and through cooperation with grant 41571130074 awarded by the National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC) of China, as part of the UK – China Critical Zone Observatory (CZO). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/9c14948d-cf58-4194-9fef-c2cb56818667
