Abstract: China’s national parks are a complex ecosystem in which man and nature coexist harmoniously. The sustainable development of national park communities is the basis for national parks to improve the effectiveness of modernization and achieve high-quality development. However, how to scientifically understand and effectively measure the “sustainability of national park communities” remains unsolved. This study combines the grounded theory method and hot-spot analysis method in qualitative research, and starts from two aspects: connotation analysis and index system construction. Through theoretical deduction, it systematically sorts out 241 domestic and foreign documents, identifies 19 important categories and hot issues that scholars in this field are generally concerned about, tentatively puts forward the concept of “national park community sustainability” and constructs the evaluation index system of China national park community sustainability. It includes 4 first-level indicators, including resource and environment sustainability, cultural sustainability, livelihood capital sustainability and community governance effectiveness, as well as 12 second-level indicators and 20 third-level indicators. This study is based on the perspective of equality and systematic coupling between man and nature, taking into account the objectivity, comprehensiveness and pertinence of concept deduction and index selection under the management objectives of national parks in China. The management tools finally put forward can provide technical support for national park management institutions to effectively guide community transformation and balance the relationship between protection and development from the perspective of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

Key words: national park, grounded theory, hot spot analysis, community sustainability, index system