Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2018

Rural Industry and Its Social Foundation in the Integrated Urban-Rural Development Process: A Case Study of Processing in Remote Villages under the Jurisdiction of City L, Zhejiang Province

(Abstract)

Fu Wei

Rural industry provides an important basis for rural revitalization, and its development can promote urban-rural integration. Rural China has long had complex and diverse rural industries whose existence and development is founded on rural society. Take the example of processing work in remote rural areas under the jurisdiction of City L, Zhejiang. In recent years, industries in the developed areas of Zhejiang have expanded to remote villages, driving the growth of rural industries in remote areas where processing is carried out on order. This is a link in the global production chain: flexible decentralized processing links surplus rural labor in remote areas to a vast global market. The processing of supplied materials is tightly embedded in rural society; human relationships and social ethics facilitate production management, forming a social basis for rural industry. Social ethics in these areas takes the particular operational form of sensitive cultivation of personal relationships. Processing work shapes the distinctive character of rural development and provides a route for social transformation. To implement the strategy of rural revitalization, besides provision of land, finance and industrial policy, China needs to handle the social foundations of rural areas rationally, make full use of rural social resources and stimulate endogenous motivation in rural society.