nick r. smith

The End of the Village: Planning the Urbanization of Rural China

How China’s expansive new era of urbanization threatens to undermine the foundations of rural life

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, China has vastly expanded its urbanization processes in an effort to reduce the inequalities between urban and rural areas. Centered on the mountainous region of Chongqing, which serves as an experimental site for the country’s new urban development policies, The End of the Village analyzes the radical expansion of urbanization and its consequences for China’s villagers. It reveals a fundamental rewriting of the nation’s social contract, as villages that once organized rural life and guaranteed rural livelihoods are replaced by an increasingly urbanized landscape dominated by state institutions. 

Throughout this comprehensive study of China’s “urban–rural coordination” policy, Nick R. Smith traces the diminishing autonomy of the country’s rural populations and their subordination to larger urban networks and shared administrative structures. Outside Chongqing’s urban centers, competing forces are at work in reshaping the social, political, and spatial organization of its villages. While municipal planners and policy makers seek to extend state power structures beyond the boundaries of the city, village leaders and inhabitants try to maintain control over their communities’ uncertain futures through strategies such as collectivization, shareholding, real estate development, and migration.

As China seeks to rectify the development crises of previous decades through rapid urban growth, such drastic transformations threaten to displace existing ways of life for more than 600 million residents. Offering an unprecedented look at the country’s contentious shift in urban planning and policy, The End of the Village exposes the precarious future of rural life in China and suggests a critical reappraisal of how we think about urbanization.

Praise for The End of the Village:

"This excellent book provides important insights into the complexities of Chinese urbanization. Through a thorough and grounded investigation of a peri-urban village, Nick R. Smith produces a lively and remarkably informative account of how the village has been transformed by both state-led planning and reactions from its inhabitants against these external forces. Highly recommended to anyone interested in China and urban studies." Fulong Wu, University College London

"The End of the Village is a grounded and masterfully executed project on the ever-evolving relationship between two moving targets: the city and the village. It is a go-to text for all students concerned about the spatial question in the political economy of China’s transformation today." You-tien Hsing, University of California, Berkeley

“In my view, the book offers interventions that will shape debates in China studies and urban studies for years to come. It stands as an essential authoritative text on urban–rural coordination and the contingencies of China's urbanization processes. It should be read by scholars not only of urban planning, but also those interested in China's party-state, development, and rural society.” Jesse Rodenbiker, Cornell University (The China Quarterly)

Press

Rautio, Suvi. 2021. “Nick R. Smith, ‘The End of the Village: Planning the Urbanization of Rural China.’” New Books in Chinese Studies.