The Production of Global Space Under the Transnational Entrepreneurship: Empirical Study on Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China

Abstract

This research probes into the process, impact, and mechanism of the production of global space in Yiwu under the transnational entrepreneurship, utilizing the „spatial ternary theory” and methods of field investigation and in-depth interview. It focuses on analyzing how the local government, state-owned enterprises, transnational traders, local residents, and domestic migrants act and interact in the production of global space since the 1980s. Results showed that the production of global space in Yiwu goes through a process from delocalization, globalization to relocalization, indicating the local construction and reconstruction of economic, social, and living relationships in small- and medium-sized cities influenced by transnational entrepreneurship. The production of global space in Yiwu is jointly promoted by top-down government power and bottom-up social strength, and local governmental entrepreneurialism that has been directly influenced by globalization is a key engine. Field investigation also discovered that there is a phenomenon of transnational traders’ apparent integration and invisible isolation with local residents and domestic migrants in the new social relationships in Yiwu. These findings will enrich the empirical research on the global space in small- and medium-sized cities in the context of China, and on the dialectical and interchangable relationship of the trinity of ternary elements in the spatial ternary theory; and help deepen the understanding on urbanization and globalization of small-and medium-sized Chinese cities, and optimize the governance of transnational migrants and the ethnic enclaves they live.