Latecomer China in Characterizing Urbanization: Another Face of New Century Novels

Abstract

From de-urbanization to urbanization, China has mainly undergone a gradual transition from integration to diversification. Based on the actual cities in China in the new century after reform and opening up, one period of time which born at the end of Cultural Revolution, we tend to interrogate the urban novel for corresponding to rural novel, is a reflection on cultural integration and de-urbanization. From three aspects including the transcendence of modernity, the urban and rural spatial narrative of new century novels and the presentation of urban landscapes, considering the recursive reality from rural China to urban China, we attempt to explore how the novel text represents China's urbanization, dig out the manifestations of human’s survival in the process of urbanization in China in the new century after seeking roots in rural areas, thus mirroring the mixed urban habitats of multiple ethnic groups in Guangxi.