Abstract: Thanks to globalization and urbanization, slums are sprawling out around the world at an unprecedented speed. What will the urbanization process in China bring about? Europe and America as the origin of modern nation states can be traced in history back to the metropolis around the Mediterranean. In its development in different systems, capitalism has always depended on the city as its core and engine. However, unlike the conflict between the cities and the rural areas in the West, the urban-rural relationship in China has been one of reciprocal feeding. In recent times, along with the modernization process, a sharp cleavage has been driven into the urban and rural relationship, which has become the most profound problem of modernity in China. Nowadays, we need to construct “Neo-ruralism” under the new circumstances, start anew the discussion on the past, present and future of Chinese small-scale peasant economy, and rebuild a healthy reciprocal relationship between the cities and the rural areas. Only thus can we solve the social crisis faced by Chinese cities and rural areas while at the same time exploring the possibilities of changing the unequal pattern of the world.
Keywords: urbanization, slum, the urban-rural relationship, small-scale peasant economy, neo-ruralism
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