Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

5-2022

Abstract

This commentary welcomes Gillen et al.'s geographies of ruralization as an alternative to the urban-centered analysis of socio-spatial transformation in post-reform China. We offer three perspectives to further develop such alternative articulation by drawing on China's most recent geographical experiences of rural revitalization. The first is the ‘top-down’ process of rural revitalization launched by different levels of Chinese state agents and how this is divergent from local needs or embedded in bottom-up engagement. The second is the temporal dimension of ruralization highlighting how uses of the past are implicated in and legitimize the state agenda of rural revitalization. The third directs attention to the entanglement of nature and culture – that is, how a harmonious human–nature approach to rural revitalization is produced in discourse and practice. We argue that these alternative insights offer possibilities of developing more inclusive geographies of ruralization in the Global South and beyond.

Keywords

China, nature–culture, past, ruralization, rural revitalization, state

Discipline

Asian Studies | Rural Sociology

Research Areas

Sociology

Publication

Dialogues in Human Geography

Volume

12

Issue

12

First Page

213

Last Page

217

ISSN

2043-8206

Identifier

10.1177/20438206221102933

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206221102933

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