Journal:Journal of China Agricultural University(Social Sciences)
Abstract:In the past ten years, more and more urban middle class have returned to the rural area for various reasons, which has brought about the phenomenon of rural gentrification. This article takes Village Tin South China as an example to investigate the phenomenon of education-led gentrification. This research found that the recognition of “what is good education” has led urban middle-class families enter the countryside to search the alternative education. They call themselves “new villagers”, and through the dual production of physical space and cultural space, they have formed an educational gentry community with a sense of belonging to the inside and a sense of boundary to the outside. Unlike the general view that rural gentrification will promote rural revitalization, this paper holds that there is a clear separation and tension between the educational gentrification communities and the local original communities, even if some actors try to promote the integration of “new villagers” and indigenous people, which is still short-lived. The integration of gentrified communities and local peasant communities still needs organized and institutionalized construction, so that the foreign groups dominated by the middle class can become active “new villagers” who can give full play to the traditional functions of “rural gentry” although they are not “rural gentry” in the traditional society.
First Author:Jiexiang Zhao
Co-author:Jiangang Zhu
Volume:39
Issue:4
Page Number:136-155
Translation or Not:no
Date of Publication:2022-08-15