Art-oriented reconstruction movement and governance in rural China: illustrated by cases in Guangdong Province

Abstract

ABSTRACT Reconstruction and governance in rural China have been a recurring theme for the last century. This article presents case studies based on Art-Oriented Rural Reconstruction Movement (ARRM) projects in Guangdong Province to analyze their modes of reconstruction, the themes they chose to engage with and their social impact, and the various social actors that dominated these projects. This study aims to answer whether ARRM provides a better mechanism as a creative mode of rural governance and whether other desired benefits, such as attracting economic resources toward the preservation of local culture or invigorating the local community, are better achieved. The cases help shed light on the question of the performativity of ruralism in connection with China’s contemporary urban practices in Shenzhen and a series of government-led art events of rural revitalization in the countryside. In doing so, they help identify what ARRM means to the ‘self-governed’ and the imagined ‘harmonious’ rural society, as well as what both mean to China.