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Abstract
This article explains the uneven distribution of industrialised villages in China through the application of modernisation theory and the theory of uneven and combined development. It adds to our understanding of China’s unevenness by employing a ‘bottom-up’ approach, building on existing literature that focuses on national policies. We compare the economic and social consequences of industrialisation in 13 villages in eastern China; these have been divided into three categories based on their level of industrialisation. We demonstrate that the highest or lowest levels of industrialisation either replace, or weaken, rural social contexts. However, semi-industrialised villages do not suffer from this social reformatting. Instead, ‘guerrilla production’ provides work opportunities for unskilled and fragmented workforces. These villages modernise while combining modern and traditional modes of production and social forms. Rural China’s uneven development is therefore best described as a mosaic. In our opinion, this situation will persist for the foreseeable future. Villagers see the current social and economic circumstances as bringing benefits, meaning there is little reason to upgrade.
Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2021.1903309.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Prof. Andreas Bieler, in the School of Politics and International Relations, and Dr Scott Pacey, in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, at the University of Nottingham; Prof. Leiming Dong, in the School of Sociology at Beijing Normal University; and Professor Shaun Breslin, in the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, for their constructive comments on early drafts of this paper. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions. We would like to thank School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. The research was conducted while Xi Li was an Ph.D. candidate in Tsinghua.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Interview data
I1T1, Scholar of Dongguan Institute of Technology, Dongguan, 19 December 2017.
I1T2, Scholar of Tsinghua University, Dongguan, 19 December 2017.
I1V1, Villager, Dongguan, 25 October 2020.
I1V2, Villager, Dongguan, 26 October 2020.
I2V1, Villager, Fujian, 7 December 2018 (by telephone).
I2A1, Town mayor, Fujian, 7 December 2018 (by telephone).
I5A1-2, Government staff members, Jiangsu, 2 September 2016.
I6A1, Village cadre, Jiangsu, 1 October 2017.
I6B1, Factory owner, Jiangsu, 1 October 2017.
I6V1, Worker, Jiangsu, 3 October 2017.
I6V2, Villager, Jiangsu, 3 October 2017.
I7A1-3, Government staff members, Hebei, 19 August 2016.
S1A1, Village cadre, Shandong, 15, 17, 25 January 2018.
S1A2, Community accountant, Shandong, 16, 25 January 2018.
S1A3, Community women’s director, Shandong, 21, 23, 25 January 2018.
S1V1, Villager, Shandong, 18, 19 January 2018.
S1V2, Villager, Shandong, 20, 21 January 2018.
S1V3-4, Workers, Shandong, 22 January 2018.
S1B1, Factory owner, Shandong, 24 January 2018.
S2V1, Villager, Hebei, 28 January 2017.
S2V2, Worker, Hebei, 28 January 2017.
S2B1, Factory owner, Hebei, 29 January 2017.
S2B2, Factory owner, Hebei, 2 February 2017.
S3V1, Villager, Guangdong, 31 October 2020.
S3V2-3, Workers, Guangdong, 31 October 2020.
S3B1, Factory owner, Guangdong, 31 October 2020.
S3B2, Factory owner, Guangdong, 1 November 2020.
S4V1, Villager, Fujian, 17 December 2020.
S5V1, Villager, Zhejiang, 7 December 2020 (by telephone).
S5B1, Factory owner, Zhejiang, 19 December 2020 (by telephone).
N1A1, Village cadre, Hebei, 6 February 2017.
N1V1–3, Villagers, Hebei, 15 February 2017.
Notes
1 The existing literature focuses on counties as micro-units (He et al. 2017).
2 Here, we use the term ‘backward’ in the sense employed in U&CD literature, rather than in any detractive sense.
3 Natural villages are clustered human settlements without government structures. See http://www.mohurd.gov.cn/xytj/tjzljsxytjgb/tjxxtjgb/201708/t20170818_232983.html (accessed 22 December 2019).
4 These administrative units are arranged in a hierarchy in the People’s Republic of China, progressing upwards from the level of ‘villages’ to ‘towns’, ‘cities’ and ‘provinces’.
5 The cases have been designated according to their categories. Industrialised villages are marked ‘I’, semi-industrialised villages are marked ‘S’ and the non-industrialised village is marked ‘N’.
6 The document is available at http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2016-10/14/content_5119018.htm (accessed 22 December 2019).
7 Data source: http://jiuban.moa.gov.cn/fwllm/jjps/200511/t20051122_499163.htm (accessed 22 December 2019).
8 Data source: http://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn = C01&zb = A0A0C&sj = 2004 (accessed 11 March 2020).
9 Interviews: I1V1–2, Villager, Dongguan, 25 October 2020.
10 The area where I4 is located had developed in the 1980s. See Lee (2011, 6–10).
11 Data source: http://kszsz.jszwfw.gov.cn/art/2018/7/25/art_159577_15960.html (accessed 22 December 2019).
12 Interview: I5A1, government staff, Jiangsu, 2 September 2016.
13 Interviews: I2V1, Villager, Fujian, 7 December 2018 (by telephone); I6V2, Villager, Jiangsu, 3 October 2017.
14 Interview: S1A1, Village cadre, Shandong, 15, 17, 25 January 2018.
15 Interview: S2B1, Factory owner, Hebei, 29 January 2017.
16 Interview: S3B1, Factory owner, Guangdong, 31 October 2020.
17 Interview: S3B2, Factory owner, Guangdong, 1 November 2020.
18 Interview: S4V1, Villager, Fujian, December 2020; S5V1, Villager, Zhejiang, 7 December 2020 (by telephone).
19 Interview: S1V3, Worker, Shandong, 22 January 2018.
20 Interview: S2V2, Worker, Hebei, 28 January 2017.
21 Interviews: S3V1, Villager, S3B1, Factory owner, Guangdong, 31 October 2020; S3B2, Factory owner, Guangdong, 1 November 2020; S4V1, Villager, Fujian, December 2020; S5V1, Villager, Zhejiang, 7 December 2020 (by telephone).
22 Interviews: S1V1, Villager, Shandong, 18, 19 January 2018; S1V2, Villager, Shandong, 20, 21 January 2018; S1V3, S1V4, Workers, Shandong, 22 January 2018.
23 Interviews: S1A2, Community accountant, Shandong, 16, 25 January 2018; S2B2, Factory owner, Hebei, 2 February 2017.
24 Interviews: S1B1, Factory owner, Shandong, 24 January 2018; S2B1, Factory owner, Hebei, 29 January 2017; S2B2, Factory owner, Hebei, 2 February 2017.
25 Interview: S3V3, Worker, Guangdong, 31 October 2020.
26 Interview: S2B2, Factory owner, Hebei, 2 February 2017.
27 Interview: N1A1, Village cadre, Hebei, 6 February 2017.
28 Interview: N1V1–3, Villagers, Hebei, 15 February 2017.
29 Interviews: S4V1, Villager, Fujian, 17 December 2020.
30 Interviews: S1V1, Villager, Shandong, 18, 19 January 2018; S1V2, Villager, Shandong, 20, 21 January 2018; S1V3, S1V4, Workers, Shandong, 22 January 2018; S2V1, Villager, S2V2, Worker, Hebei, 28 January 2017.
31 Interviews: S2B1, Factory owner, Hebei, 29 January 2017. S4V1, Villager, Fujian, 17 December 2020. S5B1, Factory owner, Zhejiang, 19 December 2020 (by telephone).
32 Interviews: S5B1, Factory owner, Zhejiang, 19 December 2020 (by telephone).
33 Interviews: S1A1, village cadre, Shandong, 15, 17, 25 January 2018; S1A2, Community accountant, Shandong, 16, 25 January 2018; S1A3, Community women’s director, Shandong, 21, 23, 25 January 2018; S2B1, Factory owner, Hebei, 29 January 2017.
34 Interview: S4V1, Villager, Fujian, 17 December 2020. See also Lin and Xiao (2020).
35 Interview: S1B1, Factory owner, Shandong, 24 January 2018.
36 Interview: S1V2, Villager, Shandong, 20, 21 January 2018.
37 Interviews: S3V2, Worker, Guangdong, 31 October 2020.
38 Interviews: S4V1, Villager, Fujian, 17 December 2020.
39 Interview: I6A1, village cadre, Jiangsu, 1 October 2017.
40 For detailed income data, see Table 2. Interviews: S1V3, Worker, Shandong, 22 January 2018; S1V4, Worker, Shandong, 22 January 2018; S2V2, Worker, Hebei, 28 January 2017.
41 Interview: S1B1, Factory owner, Shandong, 24 January 2018.
42 Interview: S3B1, Factory owner, Guangdong, 31 October 2020.
43 Interview: S5B1, Factory owner, Zhejiang, 19 December 2020 (by telephone).
44 Cai’s study included fieldwork carried out in 1996 and 1998. However, 1998 was a milestone year for rural land management in China, when the ‘Land Administration Law’ was revised. This new law was implemented in 1999, establishing strict restrictions on land use right transfer.
45 ‘Taobao villages’ are villages reliant on the business on Taobao. The villagers produce and pack at home, selling their products online. A number of Taobao villages have appeared along the south-east coast, leading to similar consequences to those in our cases.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Xi Li
Xi Li graduated from Tsinghua University in 2021 and is currently a lecturer at Beijing University of Technology, Her research area is urbanisation in China. Her work has been published in Journal of Beijing Normal University, Folklore Studies and Journal of Hebei University of Economics and Business. She was a visiting scholar at University of Nottingham, UK. In recent years, she has conducted field research in Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong, China. Her PhD thesis mainly discusses the relationship of incentive, public goods supply and Hukou reform.
Chun-Yi Lee
Chun-Yi Lee is Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations and Director of the Taiwan Studies Programme at Nottingham University. She specialises in cross-strait political economy, Taiwanese entrepreneurs in Mainland China and Southeast Asia, and China’s role in the global political economy. Her first book, Taiwanese Business Or Chinese Security Asset: A Changing Pattern of Interaction Between Taiwanese Businesses and Chinese Governments, was published by Routledge in 2011. Her most recent co-edited book with Michael Reilly, A New Beginning or More of the Same? The EU and East Asia After Brexit, published by Palgrave in 2021.