Abstract

This article examines how middle-aged Chinese farmers navigate their position between a highly mobile new urban elite and the traditionally immobile elderly peasantry through a set of practices I term inter-mobility. Based on ethnographic research in Huanglu village, I explore how their adoption of new greenhouse technologies is shaped by both the shifting political-economic landscape of post-socialist China and their desire to align kin-based solidarities with emerging values of progress. I argue that these farmers use greenhouse farming to cultivate a strategic, in-between position, distinguishing themselves from the perceived stasis of the older generation while upholding familial commitments, unlike the perceived rootlessness of younger urban entrepreneurs. This inter-mobility is animated by an ethos of yongxin, which frames their entrepreneurial risk-taking as a form of intergenerational care. The study highlights how China’s broader societal transformations generate not just new agricultural technologies but also new subjectivities within its stratified mobility regimes.

摘要

本文以“居间流动”这一概念为核心，考察中年中国农民如何在高度流动的城市新精英与传统上留守故土的老年农民之间，占据一个既区别于二者、又联结二者的居间位置。基于在皇路村的民族志研究，本文发现，这一群体对新型温室技术的采纳，既受到后社会主义中国政治经济格局变迁的深刻影响，也源于他们试图将基于亲缘的团结与新兴的进步价值观相融合的愿望。笔者认为，这些农民通过温室种植构建起一种策略性的“居间”身份：既区别于被视为“安土重迁”的上一代，又以履行家庭责任的方式，区别于被视为“离土无根”的年轻城市创业者。这种“居间流动”的内在动力，是一种“用心”的精神气质，它将创业的风险承担诠释为一种代际关怀的实践。本研究揭示，中国宏观的社会转型不仅催生了新型农业技术，也形塑了其分层流动体制下的新型主体性。

Keywords

greenhouse farming; mobility; inter-mobility; subjectivity; care; technology; peasantry; China; 温室农业; 流动性; 居间流动; 主体性; 关怀; 技术; 农民; 中国

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2026 Yue Liao

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