In the wake of Covid-19, the phenomenon of “counter-urbanization” is growing in China with new resources and talent moving from cities to rural areas to create businesses. With a positive economic impact, but not without difficulties in the relations between the “newcomers” and the indigenous communities of the towns.
Milan () – Destination: the countryside. More and more urban residents in China are deciding to permanently abandon the hectic and unhealthy life in the cities and enjoy the comforts of rural life. The emerging phenomenon of “counterurbanization”, nichengshihua in Chinese, is a process that goes against what has been happening until now in the Middle Kingdom, thanks to the economic prosperity brought to the countryside by the rural revitalization strategy, which has contributed to making the countryside a more attractive place.
While the influx of new resources and talent from cities has undoubtedly had a positive impact on the Chinese countryside, it has also led to strong tensions within rural society. Among the recent studies that help shed light on these issues, one carried out by a group of researchers from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications and Nanjing University, based on data collected in the eastern province of Jiangsu between 2021, is especially illustrative. and 2022.
Published in January 2024 in the journal Humanities&Social Sciences Communications, the survey first reveals that the migration phenomenon affects middle-class citizens, between 38 and 60 years old and with a medium-high cultural profile. Of heterogeneous origin, most of them arrived in the rural villages of Jiangsu after the Covid-19 pandemic and then settled there permanently.
There are many reasons why they moved to the countryside, but the predominant one is the desire to escape the frenetic and alienating pace of the city and lead a more balanced, healthy and humanly satisfying lifestyle. Among other things, thanks to advances in the transportation system and the efficiency of delivery services, distances have been shortened and these backward emigrants can enjoy the advantages of rural life without completely giving up the comforts of the cities. and to his old habits.
Another factor that has decisively influenced this choice is the opportunities that the countryside offers to start new and profitable business activities. In this sense, the entrepreneurial spirit of new emigrants has been facilitated by the affordability of rents, which, although constantly increasing, remain lower than in the cities.
Many, therefore, have found it attractive to invest in rural tourism, opening restaurants, cafes, gyms and bed & breakfasts, which often offer kilometer zero food and experiences in contact with nature, such as fruit and vegetable picking. These are increasingly popular forms of leisure, appreciated above all by an urban clientele eager to relax in the countryside for a weekend or spend their holidays there.
Carriers of innovative ideas and sensitive to environmental issues, others have instead dedicated themselves to organic farming, sometimes flanking cultivation with parallel activities such as selling products online, farm visits and environmental education courses. With its atmosphere, the countryside has also become an ideal place for numerous artists and craftsmen who have established their workshops or points of sale there.
For all these reasons, it is clear that the arrival of urban migrants has had a significant impact on the economic and cultural reality of the Chinese countryside and has brought numerous benefits to the local inhabitants. Many have found employment in new companies or have been encouraged to try their luck as entrepreneurs.
These new opportunities have not only allowed natives to find employment close to home, slowing the migratory flow towards large urban centers, but are also convincing groups of so-called nongmingong (literally “peasant-workers”) to return to their homes. hometowns after spending the last years of their lives as precarious workers in the cities.
However, the presence of new residents is not always welcomed by the natives. As the aforementioned survey also shows, the integration process between natives and immigrants is usually difficult. This is undoubtedly influenced by differences in mentality, lifestyle and habits, due to the different sociocultural origins of both groups. Unlike immigrants, natives tend to favor relationships within the family and defend an almost Confucian vision of social relations, based among other things on the patriarchal system and respect for elders.
Anchored in traditional Chinese cultural values, rural residents have sometimes accused newcomers of not taking fengshui principles into account when renovating buildings, thus damaging the harmony of the village. For their part, emigrants, who consider the ancient art of geomanticism a mere superstition, do not accept interference in their decisions, nor do they like criticism of their aesthetic preferences, which according to locals would destroy the charm and authenticity of the rural environment.
Another issue at the center of disputes between the two groups concerns land. Lacking a rural residence permit (nongye hukou), new residents can lease the rights to use the plots by signing agreements directly with the villagers, which, however, do not provide them with any legal protection. This implies that, when the contract is renewed, immigrants risk losing everything they have invested from one moment to the next, as the testimony of one of them suggests: “I rented a residential plot of land to a villager for 30 years, but After the renovation, he maliciously raised my rent, threatening to demolish part of the building if I didn’t pay. In the end I had to reach an agreement.
The land, which the new emigrants consider of utmost importance for the realization of their projects in the countryside, is at the same time the tool that allows the locals to regulate their access to the rural community. According to a study published in Habitat International in February 2024, it is precisely the Chinese system of collective land ownership that protects the interests of locals and the stability of the countryside, limiting the intrusion of capital from middle and high-income groups. and preventing radical change in rural society. This would be the reason why in China the process of counter-urbanization would not lead to “rural gentrification” (a transformation of the socioeconomic fabric) as in Europe or the United States, but simply to the “formation of a rural middle class.” Taking this into account, it is difficult to say whether this phenomenon is more of a help or an obstacle to the rural revitalization strategy; it certainly represents an interesting challenge for the future of the Chinese countryside.
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