Zhendong Luo, an associate professor at Nanjing University and a visiting scholar at CURS’ Program on Chinese Cities, will give a talk entitled “New Urbanization in China from the Bottom Up: The Characteristic Mechanisms & Trends of Rural Urbanization Driven by E-Commerce.” He will speak from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in New East‘s Reading Room this Thursday, April 7. The talk is free, and light refreshments will be served.
Rural urbanization driven by e-commerce is a relatively new process in China. This process is systematically restructuring rural economic, social, and spatial environments, influencing the non-agricultural transformation of employment and sparking comprehensive modernization of country life and intensive urbanization of rural land. The advantages of rural areas—including low-cost entrepreneurial environments, specialty agricultural products, and local non-agricultural industry—and advances in e-commerce allow rural areas to overcome geographic constraints and join the national and global economy.
In his talk, Professor Luo will discuss these changes and how the importance of the capital and knowledge heading to the countryside help support rural sustainable development. For more information, please contact Todd Owen, CURS’ Associate Director, at towen@email.unc.edu.