Urbanization in Between：Rural Traces in

（1. College of Asia and the Pacific，The Australian National University；

2.Department of Sociology， Beijing University，Beijing，China）

JOURNAL OF ETHNOLOGY， VOL. 7， NO.2， 49-58， 2016 （CN51-1731/C， in Chinese）

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1674-9391.2016.02.07

Abstract：

Modernization theory emphasizes the discontinuities of lived experience that occur under processes of capitalist urbanization – the abrupt shifts in kinship practice， orientation towards community， and ways of life that urbanization is said to bring about， giving rise to individualism， cosmopolitanism， and sometimes social alienation. Contemporary Chinese urbanization is taking place at breakneck speed， and most recent sociological and anthropological studies of this urbanization have been emphasizing themes that resonate with the classic literature， such as the growth of individualism or the spread of anomie and alienation. Xin Liu， for example， writes about anomie in the lives of contemporary urban Chinese businessmen， while a number of other authors have stressed how contemporary Chinese society emphasizes the individual. Much of the research on such themes has taken place in Chinas largest urban areas， where vast waves of immigrants and migrant workers have left their village homes and some of their rural norms.

In sharp contrast， the emphasis in earlier writings on Chinese urbanization focused on how Parish suggested that the urbanization that occurred under the Mao-era planned economy， shaped by the interlinked systems of household registration （hukou）， work units （danwei）， and neighborhood committees （juwei）， took a different shape from the urbanization that had occurred in Western countries. Families and neighborhood communities remained close-knit， they argued， while crime， drug addiction， and prostitution seemed rare， and slums or shantytowns were non-existent. Everyone and everything the urban domains that they depicted appeared to be heavily regulated and tightly governed.

During the 1980s and 1990s， many authors wrote of the in situ industrialization and modernization （without urbanization） that took place in post-Mao China， with the development of township and village enterprises （TVEs） under the “l(fā)itu bulixiang” （leave the soil but not the rural vicinity） model. Greg Guldin called this Chinas “rural urbanization.” As the prominence of township and village industry faded during the late 1990s， the China studies field as a whole began to focus more sharply on large urban areas and processes of alienation and individuation， as depicted above. In this article， I offer a middle pathway between contemporary studies of urban China that are stimulated by themes from classic modernization theory and earlier studies that saw China as representing an alternative model of urbanization.

I focus on Zouping， a Shandong county capital whose population has grown from about 20，000 to more than 300，000 during the past three decades. As Beatriz Carrillo argues， the urbanization that occurs in midsized metropolises has been an understudied phenomenon over the past decade or so. She notes that the new residents of county capitals and midsized cities often come from the nearby surrounding countryside， and thus are less dis-embedded from their “rural roots” than migrants to the Pearl River Delta or to large eastern metropolises such as Beijing， Shanghai， Wenzhou，or Nanjing. Zouping in some respects resembles the Shanxi county town described by Carrillo in that much of Zoupings growth stems from local migration， but Zouping is large enough to recruit migrants from further away as well. Among the local migrants and the original populace of Zouping， there is a continuing sense of embeddedness. But， alienation， the expansion of social horizons， and other social processes associated with classic modernization theory are also apparent， especially among migrants from distant locales. The contribution of this article is to insist upon the side-by-side nature of these processes.

1.The physical， cultural， and consumer expansion of Zouping

During the 1990s， Zouping City grew gradually towards the north and west. However， explosive growth really began after 2000， when an urban-planning specialist from Shanghais Tongji University was invited to draw up a new plan. County leaders decided to build a “new city district” （xin chengqu） south of a superhighway that had been built in 1995 to link the two major Shandong cities of Jinan and Qingdao， and to create an industrial “development zone” （kaifaqu） east of the old city. Construction on the two new districts began in 2001， and by 2004 both had begun to take shape. The original plan for the industrial development zone entailed an additional 43 square kilometres of urban space， including residential areas， but the zone was so successful that it has continued to grow， and by 2010 surpassed 10 square kilometres. The new city district likewise， exceeded its originally planned size. The growth of the Weiqiao Group （Weiqiao Chuangye Jituan）， a conglomerate producing textiles， aluminium， and electricity， has provided much of the economic basis for Zoupings growth. In 2009 it contributed 60% of the countys industrial tax revenue and employed more than 100，000 workers.

Alongside the growth of employment opportunities spurred by the Weiqiao industrial conglomerate， and the physical growth of the urban built area， has come a rapid growth in consumer spending and lifestyle changes that especially affect the young and relatively well-off.

The types and breadth of consumption in Zouping reflect a felt shift in local perspectives toward a national focus. That is to say， people pay extra to consume the food from other parts of the country， take trips to other parts of the country， educate their children in preparation for the national university entrance exam， and come to imagine their futures in terms of urban and new national lifestyles.

2.The economic roots of Zoupings growth

The Weiqiao industrial conglomerate had previously been headquartered in the town of Weiqiao， which is in the northwestern part of the county， roughly 30 kilometres from the county capital， where some cloth production is still found. After the opening of the development zone， most of groups facilities were relocated to the county capital， where the company became a magnet for employment. The history of this corporate group demonstrates the relatively indigenous and organic nature of industrial development in Zouping. It began as a collectively-owned enterprise in Weiqiao during the 1980s. In that period there were literally hundreds of similar， small-scale publicly-owned rural township and village enterprises （TVEs） scattered across the towns and even across the 800 or so villages of the county. Zouping County had long been a cotton growing region， and cotton spinning and cloth manufacture were the first industries attempted by the village government entrepreneurs who emerged during that period. Weiqiaos founder and current CEO， Zhang Shiping， proved quite resourceful in purchasing appropriate machinery， motivating workers and hiring outside experts to overcome production difficulties， and gradually out-competed all of the other cloth-producing TVEs in the county. Almost all of these TVEs went bankrupt， and the county government threw its support behind this winner.

Though the second largest business group in Zouping County is considerably smaller， its history is quite similar. Xiwang also started as a TVE but it specialised in making corn oil， cornstarch， and later high-tech bio-products from corn. Like Weiqiao， Xiwang out-competed its rivals to become the dominant corporation in its industry. It has successfully moved into product lines requiring considerable technological sophistication， and has thrived by employing outside experts， especially in bio-chemical engineering， while， at the same time， drew upon the local population for more mundane jobs.

Whereas Zoupings industry was earlier based on local agricultural inputs， the industrial activities of Weiqiao and Xiwang are increasingly driven by a search for high profit margins rather than the ability to locally source agricultural products. In fact， with the further development of Zoupings and Chinas transport system， Weiqiao has stopped sourcing its cotton locally， obtaining most of it from Xinjiang. The county government has encouraged Weiqiao （along with a few other local corporations） to go into aluminium refining because it is an industry that offers relatively high profit margins （if one accepts the high levels of air pollution and risk of accidents that accompany it）. While most of Weiqiaos workers remain in cloth production， more and more of its profits are coming from aluminium refining.

3.Lived experiences

The diverse outcomes of urbanization and industrialisation in Zouping can be illuminated through a series of family portraits of Zouping residents in the midst of a transition from non-industrial and rural backgrounds to an urban setting： long-term contract workers， migrant workers， people who profit as landowners in Zoupings “villages in the city” （chengzhongcun）， youths who refuse to work at Weiqiao， and youths who hope to work there.

a.Long-term contract workers

Because buying a house in the factorys compound requires contract-worker status， and because the act of buying the house itself indicates a relatively high degree of commitment to and trust in Weiqiao， the workers in this housing tend to have worked at Weiqiao for a number of years， and to come from villages within Zouping County， and plan on spending the rest of their lives working for the company. They are largely satisfied with their jobs and scoff at young people who complain that work in the factory is too bitter. Other long-term contract workers have chosen either to purchase housing on the open market or to live in their village homes and commute daily rather than purchase the subsidised Weiqiao housing. In either case， most contract worker families live lives that complicate the rural-urban divide， and that go against notions that urbanization gives rise to individualism， the demise of extended families， and dis-embedment from local communities.

b.Migrant workers

The situations and attitudes of migrant workers are much more diverse than those of the long-term contract workers of local origin. While some migrants manage to become contract workers， they live too far from their rural homes to also be part-time farmers. They hardly ever live in three-generation households. Because of the schools， many married workers bring their children with them， but hardly any bring their aging parents. Most return to their original homes only once or twice a year. Their attitudes towards Weiqiao and Zouping vary. Some like the place and the company， and hope to move there permanently. Others dislike both， and are looking to leave， while some see Zouping as a reasonable but temporary home.

c.Villagers in the city

As Zouping has expanded over the years， there have been a wide variety of conditions under which villagers have had their land requisitioned. However， almost all have ended up better off than villagers who did not. Although the process has become more regulated over the past decade， even many of the villagers who had their land requisitioned during the 1990s are doing well. Here I focus on people from villages that had their land requisitioned since 2001， and those who live in the development zone rather than the new city district. Some villagers have had both their farmland and original houses requisitioned， and have been moved into new apartment complexes. Other villagers have only lost their farmland， but continue to live in their original houses.

4.Factory work and Zoupings future

Zoupings fate as a future community rests upon people committing to factory work. Here I briefly explore attitudes towards factory work among young people. I have spoken with many single young people who have made a conscious choice to work as service personnel in Zoupings hotels， restaurants， and shops. They know they could earn more money working at Weiqiao or one of the other factories， but they see such work， particularly that at Weiqiao， as undesirable. Despite the negative opinions of some， there are still youths interested in working at Weiqiao and other nearby factories. The Zouping government has been helping the factories to recruit employees through its own technical school （zhiye xueyuan）， which runs courses in whatever majors the local business groups demand. If the groups sign contracts agreeing to recruit a certain number of graduates， the technical school will recruit students from outside of the county. It has regular recruiting relationships with other prefectures in Shandong as well as Gansu， Hebei， Henan， and Hunan provinces.

5.urbanization and people in transition

The co-presence of the disparate groups that have been depicted here illuminates much about the patterns of urbanization in the county. Many conclusions may be drawn. In situ urbanization certainly makes a difference. When a significant portion of the rural population does not have to travel far from home to secure industrial employment or to live in a place large enough to be called a city， forms of living that blur the divide between rural and urban， agricultural and industrial become possible. Agriculture can be undertaken as a part-time activity rather than fully abandoned. Finally， local governments and employers treat workers better， as a type of recognized constituent， if they see them as locals.

Yet there are limits to the difference in situ urbanization can make， at least within a marketised economy. The companies that form the backbone of the Zouping economy cannot offer employment conditions that price their products out of the marketplace. A certain percentage of temporary workers must be used so the company can easily shed salary burdens during periods of economic recession.

To the extent that places such as Zouping are economically successful， they attract increasing numbers of outside migrants. If large companies can offer employment that is better than in other cities， or better schools and lower real estate prices， they will attract migrants. If living standards progress to the point that locals will not put up with the bitterness of factory work， then companies take measures to recruit migrants. Both of these factors are apparent in Zouping.

Earlier in this article， it was observed that among the more affluent strata of households of Zouping City， urbane lifestyles have emerged both because of the intersection of relative wealth and consumption opportunity and because of the types of competitive consumption that develop within embedded social relations where many families are becoming more wealthy. This urbane consumerism is quite alien to the cramped lifestyles of some of the people whose profiles I have just presented. The co-presence of multiple forms of urban experience is a common circumstance. In part it is the multiplicity of the present that makes for the possibility of multiple futures. One way of thinking of urban transformation is not to portray it as the obliteration of old forms of life， but as the simultaneous creation of new spaces and possibilities alongside the continual reinvention of the old. Cosmopolitan consumption， alienated youth， and shanty-towns on the urban fringe seem relatively new， at least in their extent. Yet， old lifeways， family forms， economic and political relationships， and patterns of thought （though transformed）， somehow remain recognisable. In Zouping， we still see extended families， consumer tastes related to a rural habitus， small-scale farming， and the dynamics of finding meaning through familial sacrifice long after Zouping has been transformed from a town into a city.

Key Words：urbanization； industrialization； social embeddedness； lived experience； family forms

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