The New Nostalgia For The Rural Areas Of The New Generation
In 1978, 82% of the Chinese population lived in rural areas. By 2000, the number decreased to only 64%. This mass rural-urban movement, largely due to open market reforms in the late 1970s, represents one of the greatest internal migrations in history.
For the first-generation migrants, those who left in the initial labor shift and have lived most of their adult lives in cities, they usually describe their hometowns in a pessimistic tone. They feel disappointed with the situation — such as the abandoned farmland, the polluted water and the absence of young people. They mourn for the village in their memory, where the river might be cleaner and where they spent lovely childhood with their families. This perspective is not only judging the rural area with the filter of urban civilization, but also romanticizing the past.
However, the second generation, who are children of the migrants and largely live in the city, represent a different perspective. They are born and grew up in the cities, but usually go back to the villages with their parents during festivals or holidays. Because of their parents and grandparents, they also think of the village as their place of origin, and tend to describe the rural area in a more gentle and positive way: they do notice some problems in the village, but also they hold a passion for rural life.
Ziyi Zhu is a student born, and now living, in Shanghai. Almost every year, she spends some days with her grandparents who live in a village in Jiangsu Province. She has had her memory there since her childhood. In Zhu’s eyes, the village is not an undeveloped, chaotic, and disappointing place, but a place that is simple, natural, and relaxing.
“In the village, there is something the city cannot replace. Everything is quiet. The only sound you can hear is the sound of water and frogs. Sometimes it is too quiet and makes you feel strange, but that is because you have got used to the noise of the city,” shares Zhu. “Gradually you will feel peaceful and relaxed in the quietness. And in the village you can feel you have closer relationships with others, while when living in Shanghai people are always busy with their own business.”
For second-generation rural migrants, like Zhu, they can offer a new perspective to the rural livelihood their parents left for higher-paying jobs in the city. Perhaps it is because Ziyi doesn’t live in the village every day, so the changes in the village are clear in her eyes. In her words, the village now is very different from how it used to be in the past, and things are becoming better. “In the past, people have to fetch water from the wall, but now almost everyone can use tap water. And now people are using gas to cook instead of burning wood. All of these make life more convenient.”
But there are still many difficulties and limitations in rural life. After sharing her passion for the rural life, Zhu fell into silence. “One of my cousins is facing the choice of whether to stay nearby the countryside or to live in bigger cities such as Wuxi or Nanjing, and so do many young people. There are still many difficulties and inconveniences in the village. Not like living in the cities, you can’t go to the malls and buy whatever you want at any time; the medical conditions are far from those in the cities, and some families still live with low income. And I feel in the village people’s views are relatively limited; people just care about things happening in the village, but cannot see more possibilities.”
Unlike the first-generation migrants’ comparisons between the rural and urban areas, which strive to draw a conclusion on which one is better than the other, Zhu provides a third option. “I don’t really like living in Shanghai. There are steel and cement everywhere, and this is not my style, ” said Zhu, when asked whether she prefers to live in Shanghai or the village, “but the village may also not be the most ideal place. Even if I live in the village I wish I could pay attention to what is happening outside and keep learning new things. As for the other way around, when I’m in Shanghai I also want to explore some public spaces and have more interaction with people. You see, instead of settling in one place, I may prefer to travel between.”
How is the real situation in contemporary Chinese rural areas? Where will the rural area go in the future? These questions need answering. After all, to improve the people’s living conditions in the rural area we are calling for rural revitalization, not rural urbanization. Hopefully, understanding of the rural areas of the second-generation, such as Ziyi Zhu, can make us closer to the answers.
