INFLUENCE MECHANISM BETWEEN LAND SYSTEM REFORM AND VILLAGE PLAN TRANSFORMATION: TAKING VILLAGES ON HANGJIAHU PLAIN AS AN EXAMPLE

Abstract

Taking villages on Hangjiahu Plain as examples, this article explores the influence mechanism between the land system and the morphological evolution of villages from the 1940s to 2010s. The land system imbedded in Chinese villages and towns comprises two dimensions: political and social, the interaction of which imposes a decisive impact on the village’s planar morphology. In terms of political land systems, the research object witnesses five periods: Land Tenancy, Land Reform, People's Commune, Land-Contract Responsibility System, and New Rural Construction. Each period has burned a legible mark on the village's spatial structure. On the other hand, pushed by densification of population, the social land system specified by social relations is activated. It defines specific boundary between different households and impacts tangible spatial feature of a village and typo-morphology of rural houses. This research reveals forces of those two dimensions on village plan, political and social. The crash of these two dimensions results in redundancy in land-use. Such redundancy can only be assimilated through intangible, implicit boundaries defined by social relations rather than explicit form-shaping policies.