Characteristics, mechanism, and spatiality of neo-migrants' homeplace-based communities in China: A case study of Hubei Village, Guangzhou

Abstract

Against the backdrop of rapid urbanization,homeplace-based communities accommodating rural migrants from the same origin areas have proliferated in China's metropolitan cities.This phenomenon has attracted a wide range of political concern and media attention.However,little scholarly attention has been devoted to such rural migrant enclaves from the perspective of the social space,and to what extent and in what way 'the power of place' imposes influences upon the migration process and the labor-market process of rural migrants remain poorly understood.Based on field study and qualitative method,this paper aims to probe into the evolution process,basic characteristics,formation mechanism,and spatiality of Hubei Village,a homeplace-based community located in the city of Guangzhou,in the context of rapid urbanization.Our findings reveal that Hubei Village in general has become specialized in economic structure,homogeneous in sub-ethnic composition,and diversified in social stratum since the advent of the reform and opening up,and that abundant production networks and recruitment channels embedded with native space connections engender this community an enclave of key social and cultural distinction from surrounding areas.Our results suggest that Hubei Village plays a key role in accumulating and retaining all kinds of sub-ethnic elements,e.g.capital,labor force,and identity.Specifically,Hubei Village provides a place for the circuit of Hubei migrants' economic capital,for upward mobility of hubei labor migrants,and for integration of Hubei migrants into the host society of detonation cities.Our results further indicate that Hubei Village is a product of interrelated and interwoven forces at varied geographical scales,including market,institutional,and regional-level factors on a macro scale,factors related to urban expansion and infrastructure development on a meso scale,and factors related to competitive edges of Hubei garment factories,entrepreneurial spirit of Hubei migrants,and active response of local community on a micro scale.Based on our empirical study,we make a conclusive remark that homeplace-based communities,as new urban social spaces facilitated by grass-root efforts,make great contributions to the integration of neo-migrants in China's metropolitan cities.Therefore,governments should be cautious to carry out the wholesale demolition of homeplace-based communities,and should reconsider existing redevelopment policies toward urbanized villages.