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Urban-rural mobilities: the case of China’s rural tourism makers

Urban-rural mobilities: the case of China’s rural tourism makers
Urban-rural mobilities: the case of China’s rural tourism makers
Across the globe, the ongoing development of transportation and communication technologies has produced growing possibilities for the mobility of people, ideas, objects, and knowledge. In China, government policies, including economic reforms and targeted migration strategies, have resulted in the relocation of millions of people within and between urban and rural areas. Recently, however, there has been an important ‘mobility shift’ from the production-focused migration of peasants and factory workers to more diverse forms of consumption-focused mobility. This appears to be something different from traditional forms of tourism, but more research is needed. In particular, it is important to consider who these individuals are, what motivates them, and whether they are leaving the urban for the rural or constructing hybrid spaces, mobilities, and lifestyles. This paper examines the nature of urban-rural mobilities in China through the case of China’s Rural Tourism Makers (RTMs). Drawing on fieldwork in four RTMs’ Model Bases, including 131 interviews and participant observation, it demonstrates how mobilities are being practiced ‘on the ground’. The paper argues that the binaries between production and consumption and between urban and rural break down as RTMs are both middle-class consumers and creative-class producers who continually move between urban and rural for personal and professional reasons. In so doing, the paper nuances our understanding of mobilities within China, the practices and locational choices of creatives, and post-productivist theorizations of rurality.
China, Chinese middle class, Creative class, Mobilities, Rural tourism, Urban-rural migration
0743-0167
402-411
Chen, Peipei
6c431e27-a0ba-48be-a8e3-ccc4157a0c62
Hracs, Brian
ab1df99d-bb99-4770-9ea1-b9d654a284dc
Clarke, Nicholas
4ed65752-5210-4f9e-aeff-9188520510e8
Chen, Peipei
6c431e27-a0ba-48be-a8e3-ccc4157a0c62
Hracs, Brian
ab1df99d-bb99-4770-9ea1-b9d654a284dc
Clarke, Nicholas
4ed65752-5210-4f9e-aeff-9188520510e8

Chen, Peipei, Hracs, Brian and Clarke, Nicholas (2022) Urban-rural mobilities: the case of China’s rural tourism makers. Journal of Rural Studies, 95 (10), 402-411. (doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.09.017).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Across the globe, the ongoing development of transportation and communication technologies has produced growing possibilities for the mobility of people, ideas, objects, and knowledge. In China, government policies, including economic reforms and targeted migration strategies, have resulted in the relocation of millions of people within and between urban and rural areas. Recently, however, there has been an important ‘mobility shift’ from the production-focused migration of peasants and factory workers to more diverse forms of consumption-focused mobility. This appears to be something different from traditional forms of tourism, but more research is needed. In particular, it is important to consider who these individuals are, what motivates them, and whether they are leaving the urban for the rural or constructing hybrid spaces, mobilities, and lifestyles. This paper examines the nature of urban-rural mobilities in China through the case of China’s Rural Tourism Makers (RTMs). Drawing on fieldwork in four RTMs’ Model Bases, including 131 interviews and participant observation, it demonstrates how mobilities are being practiced ‘on the ground’. The paper argues that the binaries between production and consumption and between urban and rural break down as RTMs are both middle-class consumers and creative-class producers who continually move between urban and rural for personal and professional reasons. In so doing, the paper nuances our understanding of mobilities within China, the practices and locational choices of creatives, and post-productivist theorizations of rurality.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 13 September 2022
Published date: 4 October 2022
Additional Information: Funding Information: This research was supported by the State Scholarship Fund (Grant number 201606190236 ) from the China Scholarship Council . The fieldwork was also supported by the Research Mobility Programme of the Worldwide Universities Network and a Dudley Stamp Memorial Award from the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords: China, Chinese middle class, Creative class, Mobilities, Rural tourism, Urban-rural migration

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 470275
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/470275
ISSN: 0743-0167
PURE UUID: c4a517a9-024e-4a6e-af71-7dc77d6a0c09
ORCID for Brian Hracs: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1001-6877
ORCID for Nicholas Clarke: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9148-9849

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 05 Oct 2022 16:42
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:36

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Contributors

Author: Peipei Chen
Author: Brian Hracs ORCID iD
Author: Nicholas Clarke ORCID iD

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