Rural Industrial Geography in Urbanizing China: A Multiscalar Analysis of a Case Study in Xintai, Northern China

Abstract

The rapidly urbanizing global south has witnessed drastic changes in rural transformation in which industrial dynamics have played a fundamental role. However, research on rural industrial geography and its influencing factors is limited compared with its urban counterpart. The spatial pattern of rural industry in an ordinary county in China—Xintai—is examined by adopting a multi-level approach. The underlying factors are then explored by situating it into a hybrid historical and geographical process of economy, institution, and society. Results show that: (1) The process of rural industrialization is hierarchically and spatially uneven across the county with the first- and second-tier industrial villages clustering around the central city and along two main roads exhibiting a general pattern of ‘one core and two bands‘. (2) Despite the overall pattern of concentration, rural industry exhibits a polycentric and dispersed distribution at the county and township levels. (3) The resources have continued to play a pivotal role in shaping the current industrial geography of this formerly resource-dependent county, followed by market accessibility, role of government, social capital, and the within-township industrial distribution. This research demonstrates the importance of the multi-level perspective in recognizing and understanding rural industrial geography and reveals its differences in urban and rural areas.