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China’s Urban/Rural Dichotomy

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Abstract

This chapter provides a thorough examination of China’s urban/rural dichotomy. Cody discusses historical factors (the household registration system, or hukou) as well as contemporary discourses of urban/rural difference (authenticity, backwardness and self-governance) to illustrate how a pervasive sense of urban superiority took shape across Chinese society. The chapter examines the ambiguous position rural residents find themselves in: they are celebrated as representing the essence of Chinese culture but are perceived as backward and slowing down China’s modernisation project. “China’s Urban/Rural Dichotomy” concludes with an analysis of contemporary food provisioning practices and ideologies, showing how they explicate tense class relations between urban and rural residents.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Because of bad eyesight, Jiang Xinlai had to leave the Army.

  2. 2.

    ‘Culture (wenhua 文化)’ in a context such as this refers to formal education and years of schooling.

  3. 3.

    Shifu (师傅) is a Chinese term of address. The first character 师 (shi) means ‘skilled worker’ and the second character 傅 (fu) means ‘tutor.’ While Shifu is used as a respectful term of address for people engaged in skilled trades of low-class (e.g. drivers, cooks and farmers), it is also used to address Buddhist monks, Daoist priests and even artists. Addressing Jiang Xinlai as Jiang Shifu acknowledges his trade and class, yet it also indicates that a certain amount of respect surrounds him.

  4. 4.

    Children originally received the same household registration status as their mother, though after 1998 it could be from either parent.

  5. 5.

    See Woronov 2016 for a detailed anthropological account of vocational education in China.

  6. 6.

    This particular land reform was implemented in 1993 and rolled out in a staggered manner across China.

  7. 7.

    Fei’s notion of the differential mode of association feeds essentialist discourses—such as authenticity—despite being criticised for its failure to consider bureaucratic institutions and behaviours present in China, both today and throughout history (Tan 2016).

  8. 8.

    Reality indicates otherwise and anthropological research challenges this perspective of rural Chinese. Anna Lora-Wainwright (2009), for example, argues that villagers are actively engaging with the market and the many new circumstances and opportunities its expansion has brought about. She argues that far from being backward or laggard, many rural residents are highly innovative and adaptive.

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  1. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China

    Sacha Cody

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  1. Sacha Cody
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Correspondence to Sacha Cody .

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Cody, S. (2019). China’s Urban/Rural Dichotomy. In: Exemplary Agriculture. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3795-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3795-6_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-3794-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-3795-6

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