Kan Liu

My dissertation project explores the massive reorganization of China’s vast countryside as part of the “Socialist New Countryside” campaign initiated in 2005. This recent phenomenon will directly affect 70% of China’s total population, and involves phenomena such as the demolishing of “natural” villages and relocation of villagers to new apartments. My key question is how does one account for the relatively effective implementation of this radical transformation of the countryside? I will answer this question through field work in rural Jiangxi, looking at multiple actors (including the central and local state, peasants, entrepreneurs, and intellectuals), and focusing on the dynamics of political accommodation between these different actors.