by Silvia Torriti

After Covid-19, the phenomenon of 'counter-urbanisation' is growing in China, with new resources and talents moving from the cities to rural areas to set up businesses. With a positive economic impact, but not without difficulties in relations between the "newcomers" and the native communities in the villages.

Milan (AsiaNews) - Destination: countryside. More and more urban residents in China are deciding to abandon the hectic and unhealthy life in the cities for good and enjoy the amenities of rural life.

The emerging phenomenon of 'counter-urbanisation', nichengshihua in Chinese, is a process that runs counter to what has been happening in the Middle Kingdom so far, thanks to the economic prosperity brought to the countryside by the rural revitalisation strategy, which has helped make the countryside a more attractive place.

Although the influx of new resources and talent from the cities has undoubtedly had a positive impact on the Chinese countryside, it has also given rise to strong tensions within rural society.

Among the recent studies that help shed light on these issues, one conducted by a group of researchers from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications and Nanjing University, based on data collected in the eastern province of Jiangsu between 2021 and 2022, is particularly illustrative.

Published in January 2024 in the journal Humanities&Social Sciences Communications, the survey firstly reveals that the migration phenomenon affects middle-class citizens, aged between 38 and 60 and with a medium-high cultural profile. Of heterogeneous origin, most of them reached the rural villages of Jiangsu following the Covid-19 pandemic and then settled there permanently.

There are many reasons why they moved to the countryside, but the predominant one is the desire to escape the hectic and alienating pace of the city and lead a more balanced, healthy, and humanly fulfilling lifestyle.

Among other things, thanks to advances in the transport system and the efficiency of delivery services, distances have shortened and these backward migrants can enjoy the advantages of rural life without completely renouncing the comforts of cities and their former habits.

Another factor that has had a decisive influence on this choice is the opportunities that the countryside offers to start new and profitable entrepreneurial activities. In this sense, the new migrants' entrepreneurship has been facilitated by the affordability of rents, which, although steadily increasing, are still lower than in the cities.

Many, therefore, have found it attractive to invest in rural tourism, opening restaurants, cafés, health clubs and bed & breakfasts, which often offer zero-mile food and experiences in contact with nature, such as fruit and vegetable picking. These are increasingly popular forms of entertainment, appreciated especially by an urban clientele eager to relax in the countryside for a weekend or spend their holidays there.

Carriers of innovative ideas and sensitive to environmental issues, others have instead dedicated themselves to organic farming, sometimes flanking cultivation with parallel activities such as online product sales, farm tours and environmental education courses. With their atmosphere, the countryside has also become an ideal location for numerous artists and craftsmen who have established their workshops or sales outlets there.

Based on all this, it is clear that the arrival of urban migrants has had a significant impact on the economic and cultural reality of the Chinese countryside and has brought numerous benefits to the local inhabitants. Many have been employed in new businesses or inspired to try their hand at entrepreneurship themselves.

These new opportunities have not only enabled natives to find employment close to home, slowing down the flow of migration to the major urban centres, but are also convincing groups of so-called nongmingong (literally 'peasant-workers') to return to their home villages, after spending the last years of their lives as precarious workers in the cities.

Nevertheless, the presence of the new residents is not always well received by the locals. As the above-mentioned survey also shows, the integration process between natives and migrants is often difficult. This is undoubtedly affected by differences in thinking, lifestyle and habits, due to the different socio-cultural backgrounds of the two groups. Unlike migrants, natives tend to privilege relationships within the family sphere and uphold an almost Confucian view of social relations, based among other things on the patriarchal system and respect for elders.

Anchored in traditional Chinese cultural values, rural residents have sometimes accused newcomers of disregarding fengshui principles when renovating buildings, thus harming village harmony. For their part, the migrants, who consider the ancient art of geomanticism to be mere superstition, do not accept interference in their choices, just as they do not like criticism of their aesthetic preferences, which the locals claim would destroy the charm and authenticity of the rural environment.

Another issue at the centre of the disputes between the two groups concerns land. Since they do not have a rural residence permit (nongye hukou), new residents are allowed to lease the rights to use plots of land by entering into agreements directly with the villagers who, however, do not provide them with any legal protection. This implies that when the contract is renewed, the migrants risk losing everything they have invested in an instant, as the testimony of one of them suggests: 'I rented residential land from a villager for 30 years, but after the renewal, he maliciously raised the rent, threatening to demolish part of the building if I did not pay. In the end I had to find a compromise'.

Land, which the new migrants consider of paramount importance for the realisation of their projects in the countryside, is at the same time the tool that allows locals to regulate their access to the rural community.

According to a study published in February 2024 in Habitat International, it is precisely China's system of collective land ownership that protects the interests of locals and the stability of the countryside, limiting the intrusion of capital from middle- and high-income groups and preventing radical change in rural society.

This would be the reason why in China the process of counter-urbanisation would not lead to 'rural gentrification' (a transformation of the socio-economic fabric ed) as in Europe or the US, but simply to the 'formation of a rural middle class'. Considering this, it is difficult to say whether this phenomenon is more of a help or a hindrance to the rural revitalisation strategy, it certainly represents an interesting challenge for the future of the Chinese countryside.

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