Family Continuum: Rural Family Reproduction In The Process Of Urban-Rural Integration

The study of family transformation is an important topic of concern for early sociologists and anthropologists in China.The transformation and changes of families are mainly reflected in the process of family reproduction,as well as in the micro family livelihood,family member mobility,and the family life cycle of individual birth,aging,illness,and death.Family reproduction refers to the process of resource transfer and survival and development between generations.To put it simply,rural household reproduction is also a process of farmers’ "living",because "living" is an act embedded in household reproduction.Studying family transformation through family reproduction can not only make up for the macro narrative shortcomings of family transformation in policy texts from a micro perspective,but also provide insight into the evolution of China’s urban-rural relations and the choice of urban-rural integration paths.With the invasion of modernity and the prolongation of the family life cycle,family reproduction has evolved from a simple reproduction that focuses on vertical reproduction,aims at inheriting family lines,and continues the family structure,to a developmental reproduction that focuses on horizontal reproduction,in order to achieve better quality of life,and achieve the survival of different generations of families in different urban and rural areas;The process is not only a reproduction of intergenerational family structures through family division,but also a reproduction of family forms in which family members form small families in different spaces.This article uses participatory observation and unstructured interviews to study household reproduction in Mian villages in northern Anhui,which are close to the relatively developed socio-economic areas in eastern China,against the background of urbanization and marketization.In the dual paradox of "entering the city" and "returning home",the cotton village family has developed a "continuum" of living patterns.Instead of taking the "linear" "whole family entering the city" as their family development goal,farmers have sequenced the distribution of family members in three spaces,namely,rural,county,and urban areas.Family reproduction is divided into three specific patterns of living in different geographical spaces.Family members flow and circulate between urban and rural areas,sharing resources with each other Functionally complementary,families have evolved from a single community into a continuum of residential forms and functions.In this mode of family reproduction,families demonstrate a strong resilience and viability,and the logic of "living" life is reshaped.Rural family are generally composed of elderly or young male elderly people who live in self built houses and can grow vegetables on limited private plots to maintain "recreational agriculture",or work part-time in capital based agricultural enterprises and counties.They play a role in maintaining "community oriented homes" in rural areas,interacting with county families,and contacting village committees.The family in the county is mainly composed of middle-aged or young elderly women and young grandchildren,with the purpose of raising their grandchildren’s lives and accompanying them.At the same time,they can also return to the countryside to take care of the elderly at any time,undertake the return of urban family members to the countryside,and cope with market-oriented risks.The county family is the first step for rural families to enter the city and establish a foothold.It is also a regional node for family mobility and a region where resources are concentrated and transferred throughout the family.Urban family are made up of young couples who aim to earn money and maximize wealth accumulation.They work outside to better provide superior living conditions for the next generation,while also making long-term plans for their return home.The spatial flow of rural and urban households in Mian Village is not simply a linear flow of "from city to township" or "from township to city",but a repeated pull and integration flow among villages,counties,and cities.The goal of family reproduction is not to "bring the whole family into the city" or settle down in the city for future generations,but to organize different family living patterns and integrate different family resources at different stages of family development,in different urban and rural areas.Family continuum is a reproduction model of a family’s living form in geographical space,implying reproduction factors such as family structure,family function,family ethics,and family development goals.This article replaces traditional family reproduction with spatial changes in residential forms.Families form a new family form by integrating labor and non labor,different generational members,different gender divisions,urban and rural resources,family development goals,and family development capabilities,rational and emotional coordination,and market and power transformation,thereby outlining the localization path of family reproduction transformation.The family reproduction model of Mian Village imperceptibly fits and shapes China’s new urban-rural relationship from the micro perspective of the family-urban-rural integration.Urban and rural areas move from a dual separation in geographical space,system,and resources to a mutually mobile integration.The reproduction model of the family continuum connects urban and rural society,and peasant families are active practitioners between urban and rural areas.Through the reproduction of the family continuum,families have found a way to resolve the dual opposition between urban and rural areas,as well as the debate between familism and individualism.Families between different generations are closely combined.The vitality of China’s social development in the new era lies in the resilience of families and the dynamic development order of families to undertake the unbalanced allocation of resources between urban and rural areas in the process of social transformation.In the future,China’s urban-rural relations should focus on the micro perspective of farmers’ families,promote urban-rural integration from the perspective of farmers’ family reproduction,and focus on the urban-rural resources connected by family mobility,so as to build a micro foundation for urban-rural social integration,thereby providing continuous social vitality for rural revitalization.