구성되는 현대적 공간으로서의 농촌

Construct Rural China as a Modern Space : ‘Building New Socialist Countryside’ and the Practices of ‘New Villagers’ Driven by the ‘Project System’

Based on the social-constructivist theory of space, this paper reexamines the process of rural modernization in China from the Building New Socialist Countryside(Shehuizhuyi Xinnongcun Jianshe, also as BNSC) Campaign launched in the mid-2000s to the more recent Rural Revitalization Strategy(Xiangcun Zhenxing) promoted by Xi Jinping Administration. The paper argues that the ‘Project System (Xiangmuzhi)’ has served as a special institutional device that has run through the whole process. It has also regulated the (re)production of rural space launched by various actors, including both the central and local government, as a 'Structured Coherence'. In addition, as the cases this paper revealed, even without significant changes in the basic rural system, the state power and ‘the flow of capital to the countryside(Ziben Xiaxiang)’ have fundamentally reshaped the spaces of practice in rural China through the Project System. However, the rural areas as everyday practices have gradually declined or even vanished in the name of modernization. This has, on the one hand, triggered the central government to turn its attention to the 'modernization of humans'. On the other hand, it has also inspired a lot of reflections and alternative practices at the level of the local rural communities and the civil society. Taking the eco-community practices of 'New Villagers(Xin Cunmin)' that have emerged in recent years as a lens, this paper highlights the alternative representation and (re)production of rural space by Chinese civil society and focuses on the external pressures and internal tensions faced by these (re)productions.

本文基于社会建构性的空间理论，重新解读中国从2000年代中期以来展 开的社会主义新农村建设到最近习近平政府推动的乡村振兴战略这一农村 现代化过程。本文认为，项目制作为一种特殊的制度设置，贯穿于整个过 程，制约着包括中央和地方政府在内的各方力量对农村空间的再生产。此外，正如文中的案例所揭示的，在农村基本制度没有发生重大变化的前提下，国家权力和“资本下乡”通过项目制已经对中国农村的实践空间进行了根本性的改造，然而作为日常实践的农村却在标榜为“现代化”的改造中逐 渐式微甚至消亡。这一方面诱发了中央政府转向关注“人的现代化”，另一方 面也在地方社会和市民社会层面引发了很多反思和另类的实践。本文以最近 几年登场的新村民群体的生态共同体实践为窗口，展示了中国的市民社会 对农村空间的另类再现和再生产，并关注了这种再生产所面临的外部压力 和内在矛盾。