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Reconstructing Rural Chengdu: Urbanization As Development in the Post-Quake Context

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Reconstructing Rural Chengdu: Urbanization As Development in the Post-Quake Context Reconstructing Rural Chengdu: Urbanization as Development in the Post-Quake Context by Jessica Wilczak A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography and Planning University of Toronto © Copyright by Jessica Wilczak 2017 Reconstructing Rural Chengdu: Urbanization as Development in the Post-Quake Context Jessica Wilczak Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography and Planning University of Toronto 2017 Abstract On 12 May 2008 Western China was struck by an 8.0-magnitude earthquake (the Wenchuan Earthquake) that left over 87,000 people dead or missing, and destroyed nearly 8 million homes. The epicenter of the quake lay less than 100 km away from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. Although the central city itself was not damaged by the quake, many settlements in Chengdu’s rural periphery had to be completely rebuilt. This dissertation examines how the Chengdu government used post-quake reconstruction as an opportunity to urbanize rural areas in the metropolitan region under the policy of “urban-rural integration”. But urban-rural integration was not merely urbanization in the sense of an expansion of the built-up urban core; it was a far more comprehensive project that was framed as a means of developing the rural economy, improving living environments, and bolstering peasants’ rights. I argue that Chengdu’s urbanization is best understood as a developmental project—a form of “development qua urbanization”—and as a form of governmental power in the Foucauldian sense. I further interpret the underlying logics of urban-rural integration—that rural areas are best developed through urbanization—in the context of China’s current historical conjuncture. In doing so, I turn to Polanyi’s description of the transition to a market society, and Lefebvre’s prediction of the transition to an urban society. Drawing on media and policy analysis, academic debates on ii Chengdu’s urban-rural integration project, and participant observation work and in-depth interviews conducted in peri-urban Chengdu over a period of nearly two years, I examine the multiple forms that post-quake urbanization in Chengdu took, including rationalizing land use throughout the metropolitan region, building concentrated villages, assigning individual titles to rural collective land, developing markets for rural property rights, encouraging large-scale agribusiness, extending social services to rural areas, reforming rural governance institutions, and transforming peasants into self-managing citizens. iii Acknowledgments This dissertation is the product of collective efforts. I would like, first of all, to express my warmest gratitude to my supervisor, Alana Boland, whose interest and faith in the project have sustained me during this long march. I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation committee—Deb Cowen, Scott Prudham, Katharine Rankin, and Rachel Silvey—for their support over the years. During my time at the University of Toronto, I have had the good fortune of having many gifted and grounded interlocuters, supporters, and partners in crime. I would like to thank fellow China scholars in the department, particularly Elizabeth Lord, who asks the best questions, and Yu Leqian and Wang Chao, who share my love of Sichuan. Amy Cervenan, Heather Maclean, David Seitz, and Jason Shabaga were tireless cheerleaders when I needed cheering. And there were so many others in our amazing department who inspired me in classes and reading groups, or helped me leave the heady stuff behind when I needed it: thank you for being such kind, fun, and generous spirits. This work would not have been possible without the support of a number of people in China. I would like to thank Professor Zhu Jiangang at Sun Yat-sen University for welcoming me into his projects in Sichuan and providing an example of dedicated, activist scholarship (and boundless energy). My research assistant Zhao Jianmei not only helped me navigate Sichuan dialect, but also eased my way into the community with her extraordinary people skills. Conversations with Hu Ming, Peng Meng, and Wang Xiao at the community center were invaluable in helping me understand the dynamics in the township. In Chengdu, Xu Jian was one of my first contacts, and proved to be a fun and well-informed companion during our fieldtrips to various development sites around Chengdu. I owe the warmest thanks to Luo Dan and her colleagues at Roots and Shoots, who welcomed me into their networks. Jeff Li also introduced me to planners and developers, and shared insights from his own experiences working in the quake zone. Matt Hale was similarly generous about sharing his experiences in rural China and introducing me to activists and academics in Chengdu. And there were so many people who made my time in Chengdu rich and rewarding beyond my research, including Sophia Kidd, So Han Fan, Kirsten Allen, Jen DeRose, Raffaella Brizuela Sigurdardottir, Svetlana Furman, Lance Pursey, Marc Lajoie, and many, many others. iv I have been fortunate enough to receive generous financial support for this project over the years, including an SSHRC Canadian Graduate Scholar Award, an IDRC Ecopolis Research Grant, and an OGS Scholarship. Towards the end of my project, I worked as a Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, Germany, where I received a warm welcome from Karsten Giese and other colleagues at the Institute of Asian Studies. Maria Bondes sustained me with homemade meals and Samuel time, and provided valuable feedback on early drafts. Alex Burilkov always had time for tea, trashy films, and discussions of post- socialist politics. I also want to thank Kaddi Stock for offering me a quiet haven in her home and acting as my gentle guide to German culture. Finally, I want to thank the endlessly patient women in my family who have supported me through this process. Many thanks to my mother, Judy McClement, whose love of books sent me down this path many years ago. Thanks are also due to my aunt, Marlene McClement, for her clear-sighted advice and reassuring faith in her nieces. And to my remarkable sister, Kate Wilczak, I owe more than thanks for helping me through everything from existential doubts to writers’ block. I really couldn’t have done it without you. v Table of Contents Table of Contents vi List of Figures ix Note on Names and Measures xi Chapter 1 1 1 Urbanization as development in post-quake Chengdu 1 1.1 Overview 1 1.2 The governmental workings of urbanization qua development 5 1.3 Development and the double movement 9 1.4 The ambiguous role of the state in Polanyi’s Great Transformation 13 1.5 Hegemonic urbanism 18 1.6 Methods and data collection 20 1.7 Organization of the dissertation 23 Chapter 2 25 2 Remaking post-reform Chengdu: from backwards regional capital to World Modern Garden City 25 2.1 Overview 25 2.2 Historical-geographical roots 29 2.3 Open up the West, Build a New Socialist Countryside 33 2.4 Chengdu’s new era of regional planning 36 2.4.1 36 2.4.1 Phase I: Urban-rural integration (2003-2007) 36 2.4.2 Phase II: Metropolitan Chengdu (2007-2009) 39 2.4.3 Phase III: The World Modern Garden City (2009-2011) 41 2.5 Metropolitan planning and the tyranny of abstract space 44 Chapter 3 46 3 “Making the countryside more like the countryside”: the rise of rural planning in post- quake Chengdu 46 3.1 Overview 46 3.2 Rural urbanization and the rise of rural planning 48 3.3 Principles of the new rural planning Error! Bookmark not defined. vi 3.4 Sending planners down to the countryside 54 3.5 The case of Luping Village 58 3.6 Beyond the village plan: the metropolitan politics of land consolidation 62 3.7 A Lefebvrian critique of rural planning 64 Chapter 4 68 4 Unleashing “silent capital”: Urban-rural integration and property rights reforms in Chengdu 68 4.1 Overview 68 4.2 China’s rural property rights system 70 4.3 The first step: verifying rights 76 4.4 The second step: creating markets 79 4.5 A heated debate: growth vs. stability 84 4.6 Can urban and rural development be “integrated”? 90 Chapter 5 92 5 "We give thanks to the quake”: accelerating rural economies in post-quake Chengdu 92 5.1 Overview 92 5.2 Contextualizing the lianjian approach 94 5.3 Anything but “free” 100 5.4 Accumulation by dispossession? 105 Chapter 6 110 6 Cultivating communities: social reconstruction in rural Chengdu 110 6.1 Overview 110 6.2 Are Chengdu’s rural “social management” projects neoliberal? 112 6.3 A century of peasant advocacy 114 6.4 Social management in postsocialist China 115 6.5 Social management in Metropolitan Chengdu 118 6.5.1 Sending urban bureaucrats down to the countryside 119 6.5.2 Establishing villagers’ councils 122 6.5.3 The “new lives, new homes, new habits” campaign 125 6.6 NGOs and social work in the post-quake landscape 127 6.7 The hazards of civil society? 130 Chapter 7 132 vii 7 Habitation versus Improvement in Longmenshan Town 132 7.1 Overview 132 7.2 Social reconstruction in Longmenshan 135 7.3 Baishuihe Community 138 7.4 Baoshan Village 148 7.5 Guoping Village 153 7.6 Discussion 156 Chapter 8 159 8 The limits of urbanization qua development in Chengdu 159 References 163 Appendix 1: Interviews 200 viii List of Figures Figure 1: New houses in Luping Village (photo by author) ........................................................... 8 Figure 2: Map of Sichuan within China (Wikipedia, Creative Commons License 2.0) ............... 26 Figure 4 GDP per capita, People's Republic of China and Sichuan Province, 1978-2008 (Sichuan Statistical Yearbook, 2009) ..........................................................................................................
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