Cultural Field And Spatial Practice In Small Town

Urbanization is the core issue in contemporary Chinese society,in the process of which,small towns have always taken a strategic part.The more problems there are in the large cities,the more important the development of small towns is in the urbanization in China.However,the efforts of a large number of small towns in China to seek distinctive development pathways haven't achieved the expected results.The development of small towns relies on various aspects.This article takes Qidu Town of Wujiang District as the research object,and focuses on the development pathway of it.This article asserts that through the spatial practice of relevant actors in the cultural field,Qidu Town has succeeded in forming a model of distinctive development.Therefore,Qidu Town could transform from mainly relying on industry in the last century into the distinctive "Taihu Guoxue Music Town".In the process of developing of cultural resources in the small town,there is a complex relationship between the spatial practice of the actors and the cultural field.By restoring the development process of Qidu Town,this article analyses the relationship between the two and divides the process into three phases according to their relationship.The first phase was from 1999 to 2010.In certain backgrounds,Qidu Town was considered space for economic development.Economic interests guided the spatial practice of the actors,who are mainly the local officials.The formed cultural field didn't work.However,the spatial practice objectively enabled the completion of two cultural projects,Taihu Great Learning Center and Fei Xiaotong Jiangcun Memorial Museum.And it accumulated the original cultural resources for the further development of Qidu Town.It also reconstructed the cultural field of Qidu Town and provided the basis for the development of Qidu Town through the spatial practice in the cultural field later.The second phase was from 2010 to 2016.With the change of social backgrounds,the cultural field had affected the spatial practice of actors.As the main actors,specific officials and cultural elites explored the cultural resources of Qidu Town,added symbolic value of space to it and operated it.In this way,the important projects,including Laotaimiao Culture Square,Qunxue Academy and Midi Music Park completed.Meanwhile,these cultural projects constructed important cultural capital in Qidu Town and provided impetus for the development of Qidu Town.And the capabilities of the officials were improved through their interaction with the cultural elites,and it was the officials that gradually became the leaders in spatial practice.This process also shaped the new cultural field in Qidu Town.The third phase is after 2016,spatial practice is conducted in the renewed cultural field in Qidu Town.The government officials who leaded the spatial practice intentionally withdrew the local government from it and tried to maintain the stability of the cultural field by institutionalizing it.Actors who represent society and market forces have become the main body of spatial practice.And the respective spatial practices of the Taihu Guoxue Forum and the "Home Inn Small Town" project realized the reproduction of city cultural capital in Qidu Town within the renewed cultural field.Focusing on the analysis of Qidu Town,this article summarizes the universal experience in the distinctive development pathway of small town.First of all,we should pay attention to the room granted by the system for the grass-roots officials in which their initiative in spatial practice can be exerted.Second,it takes time to construct cultural capital in small towns by spatial practices.Therefore,it is necessary to construct the cultural field which is suitable for the development of small town and institutionalize it,so that the problems such as halfway disposal and redundant construction caused by the change of officials could be avoided.Besides,this article also responds to theoretical problems.It analyses the complex relationship between the structure and the actors,trying to reflect on the efforts of the social practice theory,which tries to transcend dualism.