Contested Territory: the Evolving Spatial Geographies of Jian Sha Zhou Village

Abstract

China’s urbanization of rural areas has allowed many people to be elevated out of rural poverty and to have alternatives to farming for their livelihood, yet political corruption, economic polarization, land fragmentation, and disputes over land rights are escalating. These themes are evident in Jian Sha Zhou, a village on the periphery of Dongguan in southern China. Jian Sha Zhou exemplifies both the robust adaptability of villages that have transformed from simple agricultural units into a variety of settlements, as well as the intrinsic problems that result from urbanization. This article explores the evolving spatial geographies of the village and the competing and contradictory forces acting upon it. It specifically addresses the way in which contestation of land rights has resulted in development stasis. Unlike the village uprising—and the government’s reaction to it—in Wukan, in Guangdong Province, which became the focus of national and international media, most contested issues remain at a local level and go unreported. The land dispute in Jian Sha Zhou is archetypal of the increasing problems associated with the urbanization of rural land. As such, it provides insights about the future development of the sites that exist across China’s rural–urban fringe.