Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 4, 2021

 

Household Management and Its Spiritual Dynamics in the Course of China’s Industrialization: The Case of the Massive Industrial Clusters in Chao Town, H City, Zhejiang Province

(Abstract)

 

Fu Wei

 

Since reform and opening up, China has made remarkable achievements in industrialization. One important form of this industrialization is the massive county-level industrial clusters that enrich the concrete connotations of China’s road to modernization. Household management, as an important part of such clusters, is a local social phenomenon that merits in-depth study. In industrial production, the family has always been an independent and rational business decision-making unit which continuously invests its accumulated wealth into industrial development. In the course of the production process, industrial households evince a “do or die” state of mind. This is crucial for the rapid growth and continuous upgrading of China’s industrialization in rural areas with weak foundations, and is also a significant mental factor in the China Miracle. Chinese-style intergenerational relations and family ethics are the inner spiritual force of household management; they provide an essential perspective for understanding China’s modernization model and developing a China-specific knowledge system.