Rural resettlement as a strategy of community governance in 21st century Mainland China: lessons from four case studies

Relocation and concentration of villagers have been one of the most controversial policies in China's efforts to decrease social disparities and improve rural well-being. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in four rural areas across three provinces, this paper examines the feasibility of this broad programme in benefiting villagers and communities. Although it has been implemented across the Chinese countryside, reliance on village-level finance, in association with rural modernity and urbanisation, has transformed the programme into one that is significantly more likely to benefit villagers and, more so, entire communities, in areas that have undergone non-agricultural development than in agriculturally poorer regions.