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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 2
Publication Date: February 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.92.11363. Feng, H., & Squires, V. R. (2022). Urbanization in China and the Role of Social and Natural Capital in Land Acquisition and Transfer
Arrangements. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(2). 343-353.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Urbanization in China and the Role of Social and Natural Capital
in Land Acquisition and Transfer Arrangements
Haying Feng
Qinzhou Development Institute
BeiBu Gulf University, Guangxi, China
ORCID 0000-0003-0594-1187
Victor R. Squires
Formerly, University of Adelaide
ORCID 0000-0002-6684-2927
ABSTRACT
The paper is in several parts. We explain the context of the study area that is
characterized by land acquisition and transfer (LAT) by local government (often
against the wishes of the local villagers). We report on a methodology that is simple,
yet robust, that enables local land users and other interested parties to quantify the
social capital of local people in rural and peri-urban areas of Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region (GZAR) and assess the extent to which social capital influences
the bargaining power of land users when faced with acquisition of their cropland,
grazing land, woodlands, water and other environmental goods and services.
Finally, we explore the notion that social capital can be a force to create a more even
playing field and influence the outcomes of land grab for industrial, infrastructure
and urban development. Interest in the concept of social capital and its application
has increased rapidly over the past few years with the realization that social bonds
and norms are important for achieving sustainability. Ferdinand Tönnies identified
the value of the ideas surrounding social capital as early as 1887, but later scholars
gave it a theoretical framework. Social capital implies that there are aspects of
social structure and organization that act as resources for individuals, allowing
them to realize their personal aims and interests. Often, social capital is defined as
trust, norms of reciprocity, and networks among individuals that can be drawn
upon for individual or collective benefit. Social capital is different between
urbanites and rural dwellers, especially farmers. In this paper, we focus on how
social capital serves the interests of individuals or collectives. Social capital based
on kinship and geopolitical position plays an important role in affecting rural land
transfer. Rural land transfer (also called LAT) is becoming a highly contested matter
as China moves to implement its plan to increase the proportion of urban dwellers
to 70% by 2030(Ma et al., 2018). Natural capital (a sub-set of social capital) should
always be maintained as it is critical to sustainable economic development
representing, as it does, a multidimensional concept that mirrors the different
frameworks of various scientific disciplines and social groups used in valuing
nature. Widespread and rampant LAT that accompanies accelerated economic
development in peri-urban and rural areas (Ma et al., 2018) needs to take critical
natural capital into account.
Key words: urban growth, land grab, rural land, economic development, labor, migration
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 2, February-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
CONTEXT AND SETTING
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) is in the south of China and is bordered by the
South China Sea (Gulf of Tonkin) to the east and Vietnam to the south (Fig. 1a.) GZAZR is a
relatively poor but scenic region of 237,600 km2 with a population in 2018 of over 50 million
people. In Guangxi the coastal region is being developed for port facilities and for transport
corridors because the port at Qinzhou is the nearest one to most ASEAN countries (Fig.1b). In
the recent past, artisanal fishing, by people who lived on their boats, was a common form of
livelihood. More recently, large scale commercial marine aquaculture has flourished and many
fisher families have been re-housed on land. Crop agriculture in terraced fields is still widely
practiced (Feng, Squires and Wu, 2020) as well as sugarcane plantations and fruit orchards
(citrus, bananas and mangoes). Land-based industries are springing up with large-scale green- field developments for Smart manufacturing and Smart agriculture as well as large investments
in major high-speed rail and highway infrastructure.
Figure 1 (a) Map showing location of Guangxi Autonomous Region in south China and (b) the
location relative to ASEAN countries
Figure 2 Guangxi has an abundance of scenic spots from karst landscapes to waterfalls and
terraced croplands
URBANIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
China's economic transformation since 1978 has been remarkable, including incredibly rapid
growth of China’s cities. Over the last several decades, employment opportunities generated by
industrialization and the expansion of the urban construction and service sectors, along with
the gradual relaxation of controls on population movements have stimulated rural-urban
migration on a massive scale. Urban growth in China has expanded and the dynamics of the
rural-urban interface has changed dramatically (Feng and Squires, 2018, Ma et al., 2018).
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Feng, H., & Squires, V. R. (2022). Urbanization in China and the Role of Social and Natural Capital in Land Acquisition and Transfer Arrangements.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(2). 343-353.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.92.11363
China’s urbanization has consumed significant land resources as urban boundaries are
continuously expanding outward and territorial jurisdictions of cities are increasing, primarily
through the expropriation of surrounding rural land and its integration into urban areas (Feng,
Squires, & Wu. 2021) As clearly indicated in the Figure 3, the demand for urban requisition of
land has increased year by year in China due to the urbanization policy that seeks to have 70%
of the entire population in urban centers by 2030 (Ma et al, 2018). This expansion has serious
implications for rural and peri-urban land especially for the stock of arable land and, ultimately,
for food security (Squires, Hua and Wang, 2015; Jacoby, Li and Rozelle, 2002). Rural LAT is
becoming a highly contested matter as China moves to implement its plan to increase the
proportion of urban dwellers to 70% by 2030. The expansion of construction land and
environmental protection are the main drivers of the decline in arable land in China (Zhao et al.
2014)
Figure 3 China’s population has stabilized but urban centers are expanding and the
urbanization is expected to be about 70% by 2030.
For example, between 2001 and 2011, the amount of land in China classified as urban
construction land had increased by 17,600 km2, reaching a total area of 41,805 km2 in 2011, an
increase of 58 percent over a decade. About 90 percent of demand for urban construction land
was met through expropriation of rural land, while only 10 percent was supplied from the
existing stock of undeveloped urban construction land (Ma et al., 2018. Many government
officials in China have largely overlooked the implication of rapid urbanization for millions of
farmers or villagers who have been “legally or illegally” made landless over the years. According
to an official statistic, three million people become landless farmers every year in China. The
total number is expected to double in 2030 because of the current pace of urbanization. There
has been a huge influx of rural migrants to urban and peri-urban areas (Tao and Xu, 2007) due
to the pull factor of highly subsidized aid and investment in infrastructural development
(Squires et al., 2012). These migrants who are facing lack of unemployment in their home
region are attracted to jobs and the government-supported opportunity to start businesses.
The BeiBu Gulf region of Guangxi and other regions in eastern China (Squires, Feng and Wu
2021) are also targets for the newly urbanized labor force.