Tag Archives: rural China

New Publication: “Maybe listening to the elite? Selective deliberation as a governance tool in rural China”

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René Trappel, Zhao Tiantian (main author), and Han Guoming have published an article in Asia Pacific Viewpoint on the intersection of rural governance, the so-called “deliberative democracy” and the village elite. It is based on extensive fieldwork by Dr. Zhao. Prof. Han (now retired) and Dr. Zhao, both from the Management School of Lanzhou University, Gansu Province, have been research partners throughout the duration of the DFG project “Steering Urban-Rural Integration: Administrative Reconfiguration for a Unified Citizenship”.

Please find the article at Maybe listening to the elite? Selective deliberation as a governance tool in rural China (online first).

Back to the field!

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Finally, after a far too long break, field research in China was possible again. Together with collaboration partner Song Yu from Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University in Suzhou (China), in August and September 2023, Elena Meyer-Clement was able to re-visit fieldsites in peri-urban areas of Suzhou (Jiangsu Province), and Huzhou (Zhejiang Province), and discover new sites in the surroundings. The focus lay on grassroots governance changes in the urbanization process that in China mostly takes the form of resettlement of rural residents to new urban residential areas. At the same time, current policies focus on rural revitalization and the remodeling of villages for tourism. The simultaneity of both processes is fascinating and provided us with lots of food for thought about how policies attempt to prompt and steer societal change in China. We look forward to formulating our thoughts in upcoming publications!

A peri-urban area in Suzhou, 2018…
…and 2023 (same place, different angle) (Photo credits: Elena Meyer-Clement)
How to turn a village into a tourist attraction? An attempt in Zhejiang Province, 2023 (Photo credit: Elena Meyer-Clement)

New publication: “Rural urbanization under Xi Jinping: From rapid community building to steady urbanization?”

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Elena Meyer-Clement published a new article in China Information “Rural Urbanization under Xi Jinping: From rapid community building to steady urbanization?”

The article studies the implementation and evolution of the policy of “rural community building” as a case of policy learning. It analyses national and local policy documents and implementation practices in four provinces. The analysis highlights a new framing of the policy, more intensive hierarchical controls over rural land use, and the state’s increasing reach into village governance, as well as new incentives for local governments to continue with demolition and relocation projects. These changes reveal a mode of policy learning in the context of an authoritarian regime whose goal is to improve policy implementation in the face of growing public criticism and social tension.

Panel discussion at IAMO Forum 2019

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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”.

 

Fieldwork in Gansu Province

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In March 2019 Elena Meyer-Clement and René Trappel, in cooperation with Lanzhou University, conducted fieldwork in Gansu province. The team visited villages, village relocation spots, and urban villages in Lanzhou, Zhangye and Dingxi and conducted interviews with local cadres and residents. The fieldwork provided important insights into the goals, processes and mechanisms of the modernization and urbanization of rural China under the “Rural Revitalization Strategy” in Gansu province.

Elena and René also held lectures (in Chinese) at the Gansu University of Politics and Law.

(photo credit: author)

Paper on “Rural Rejuvenation” presented at annual ASC meeting

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In November, Elena Meyer-Clement and René Trappel presented a paper at the annual meeting of the Working Group of Social Science China Research (Arbeitskreis Sozialwissenschaftliche Chinaforschung, ASC) in the German Association of Asian Studies (DGA) in Göttingen. The title was “From ‘New Socialist Countryside’ to ‘Rural Rejuvenation’: What is new in rural China?”.

The paper compares the strategy of Rural Rejuvenation under Xi Jinping with the Building of a New Socialist Countryside in Hu Jintao’s administration, particularly from the Foucauldian perspective of governmentality. The paper argues that the Rural Rejuvenation strategy introduces new approaches to optimize and modernize the rural population, with direct state interference on the retreat and increasing use of offering new rights and benefits.

(From left to right: Moderator Daniel Fuchs, René, and Elena. Credit: Author)

Workshop on “Urbanizing Rural China: Challenges of Rural Governance” and the founding of a new research network

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Participants of the workshop “Urbanizing Rural China: Challenges of Rural Governance”

The project (in close cooperation with Jesper Zeuthen, University of Aalborg) organized a international workshop on “Urbanizing Rural China: Challenges of Rural Governance” on February 23-25, 2018, bringing together a wide range of experts from Europe, North America and Asia. Hosted at the Klitgaarden Refugium (a former royal summer residence) on the very northern tip of Denmark, the workshop was generously funded by the Danish Social Science Research Council.

Following the workshop, the participants decided to form a research network for further exchange on the modernization of rural China (“Modernizing Rural China“). Scholars interested to join the network are cordially invited to contact Elena Meyer-Clement, René Trappel or Jesper Zeuthen. Furthermore, the participants agreed to pursue a special issue with contributions of the workshop.

Update: A conference report was published in ASIEN – The German Journal on Contemporary Asia, No. 147 (April 2018). The report can be found here.

Update: The special issue will appear in China Information, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2020.

(Photo credits: René Trappel)