A New Bottom-Up Process: The Rural Urbanization Driven by E-Commerce in China

Rural urbanization driven by e-commerce is a new bottom-up urbanization process originating in the information era.The systematical restructuring that this process brings about in the social life,economic environment,and physical space of the countryside,which is reflected in characteristics such as the leaping non-agriculturalization of employment,the comprehensive modernization of rural life,and the intensive spatial urbanization.Obviously,there are many common features between this new process and the old one in the past three decades,but progresses also exist.The distinctions of the countryside,such as a low-cost entrepreneurial environment,local non-agricultural industry,and resources of specialty agricultural products,are manifested in the process.Combined with the Internet and e-commerce by the rural grassroots entrepreneurs,they enable rural area to break the location constrains and join in the national even global industry division,and further realize the leaping development of scale and function.Meanwhile,the capital and talents back to the rural areas are an important guarantee for the upgrading of rural development.Consequentially,the developing and planning idea of smart shrinking is necessary for the rural urbanization process driven by e-commerce in China.