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The Chinese new middle class and their production of an ‘authentic’ rural landscape in China's gentrified villages

Chen, P; Zhang, M; Wang, Y; (2023) The Chinese new middle class and their production of an ‘authentic’ rural landscape in China's gentrified villages. Geoforum , 144 , Article 103793. 10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103793.

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Abstract

Landscape change has long been a key characteristic of gentrification research. While much of this research has examined the intention of the middle class to consume authenticity and the consequent landscape changes in gentrified neighborhoods in the Global North, much less attention has been given to contexts in the developing world. This paper addresses this gap by discussing an empirical case of the rural landscape produced by Rural Tourism Makers (RTMs) – a group of new middle class– in China. This research is based on participant observation and twenty-three interviews with RTMs running Minsu guesthouses, a type of tourist accommodation involving the skilled renovation of existing village buildings. To illustrate the empirical nuances, the research draws insights from two perspectives on landscape, namely the symbolic landscape and the lived landscape, to show how RTMs have produced a new rural landscape of local and global characteristics and to examine the authenticity of these landscapes. In so doing, the research enriches our knowledge of gentrification in a non-Western context by analyzing a gentrified rural landscape in the Chinese context, produced by the emerging Chinese new middle class and their westernized consumption preferences. Meanwhile, the authenticity of this new rural landscape, which is based on RTMs’ expectations and imagination, strengthens the constructionist view of authenticity in gentrification studies.

Type: Article
Title: The Chinese new middle class and their production of an ‘authentic’ rural landscape in China's gentrified villages
DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103793
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103793
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Landscape, Authenticity, New middle class, Minsu guesthouse, China
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Planning
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10172778
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