The Characteristics of Rural Change in the Inner Urban Fringe of Beijing City, China

Abstract

This paper aims to illustrate the changes in a rural area called Rutang Village in the inner urban fringe of Beijing City. The landscape surrounding Rutang Village and its land use pattern appear very rural. However, in spite of this appearance most of the labor force in Rutang Village is engaged in industrial activities. In short, agriculture-oriented society is shifting to industry-oriented in the area. In other words, Rutang Village is going through a transitional period from a purely rural village to an industrial workers' village. The emergence of the transition is due to the development of township and village enterprises, and the advantage of the closeness to Beijing City. Its functions related to agricultural production are strengthened by the administrative orders imposed by the Government of Beijing City, for Rutang Village provides mainly grain production. A collective farm management system is adopted in order to fulfill production quotas. At the same time, outside labor force are hired to maintain agricultural production level. Rutang Village has formed an original agricultural production model. In the survey of Rutang Village, it became apparent that changes of land use, social and organizational structure and economic activity are due to changes of state policies which contribute to a liberal circumstance for peasants in the inner fringe of Beijing City after the reform and opening. Meanwhile, it has also become apparent that there are influences from external factors such as industrialization and urbanization interacting with internal factors such as agro-technical advance and changes in peasants' life styles.

Changes in Medicinal Crop Production in the Urban Shadow of Beijing Metropolis under Agricultural Structure Adjustment: A Case Study of Zhengzhang Village, Hebei Province, China

“…In the urban fringe of Beijing Metropolis, affected by rural urbanization and commercialization, farmland was often ruined or diversified for other uses. At the same time, commercial crops were gradually replacing food crops (Wang 2000). In urban shadow areas, such as Zhengzhang Village, where this research was carried out, profitable commercial crop cultivation such as medicinal crops was operating on a large-scale.…”

“…Thus, the reorganization of regional agriculture was introduced to improve profitability. In urban inner fringe areas, the land that had been cultivated with food crops was exchanged for more profitable horticulture such as vegetables and flowers (Wang 2000(Wang , 2006. In urban shadow areas, based on the Regulation on Protection to Basic Farmland,4 farmland was strictly prohibited to be used for commercial or industrial purposes.…”

“…As for research on changes to urban fringe areas and urban shadow areas, reports are available as well. Wang (2000) proved that changes in inner fringe areas of Beijing City were not only caused by external factors such as policy adjustment, but also by internal reasons. Wang (2006) illustrated the relationship between resource use patterns and government policies in the rural area of Beijing City from the viewpoint of political ecology in China's economic growth.…”

Changes of Resource Use Patterns and State Policies since 1978: A Political Ecology of the Rural Beijing City, China

“…Most of the villages engaged in collective agriculture have developed non-farming industries in the rural areas of Beijing City. The number of peasants re ceiving a proportion of their income from town ship and village enterprises (TVEs) is large (Wang 2000). For this reason, rural areas ad joining the urbanized areas of great cities are dif ferent from general rural areas.…”

Roadmap of moving urban colour toward cultural sustainability in China

“…The urban colour of regionalism formed by the difference of geographical space and local culture is the prominent manifestation of aesthetic value 13 and this kind of diversity can enhance urban sustainability. Excellent urban colour can develop a distinct “sense of place” by molding regional culture, 55 producing cultural landscapes, 66 and inheriting the collective memory of the city, 70 so as to provide a sense of identity to residents or tourists 61 . This is mainly because of the local cultural information showed in urban colour and the highly correlative traits between buildings and the surroundings.…”