Globalization, state intervention, local action and rural locality reconstitution - A case study from rural China

Abstract Rural China, as an important part of the countryside all over the world, has been drastically restructured under the contemporary globalization and state intervention. In this paper we seek to develop a framework of reconstitution practice in rural China to bridge rural locality reconstitution and globalization and state intervention. Firstly, based on reviewing the literature in western country settings, we analyze the rural institutional reforms and policy innovations adopted by Chinese government under globalization, identifying the implementing path of state policies and the generic logic of local action. Then, the framework is examined through a case study of Jiudian village in the northern part of Jiangsu province, especially paying attention to the operational power in rural locality reconstitution such as the local government institutions, village collectives, and non-local investor's influence in reproducing rural place. It is argued that the progressive state intervention in rural development mainly aim at reorganizing agriculture sector and rural China to prepare for taking part in globalization to realize industrialization and modernization, and that the local governments act as the creative executors of national policies and the coordinators of local action leading to rural locality reconstitution in terms of industry, society and space. Despite being not entirely opened to global commodity market, the rural locality in China has been evidently featured by international circumstance. Similar to the rural area in developed world, the rural locality reconstitution in China also present contestation, such as the potential risks of unemployment and increased living cost linked to the inflow of external capital and rural settlement relocation.