The Evolution of Traditional Villages to Modern Villages from the Perspective of Labor Migration

Population migration is an important driving force to promote rural transformation and development. However, few studies have examined how rural China evolves from traditional to modern from the perspective of labor migration. Focusing on this issue, this paper finds that the lack of population mobility is a typical characteristic of traditional villages. This paper argues that the migration of rural labor force has gradually weakened the expected benefit exchange model characterized by the exchange of favors in the countryside, and then evolved into a cooperation model dominated by the market transaction mechanism. However, this does not mean that the mechanisms that maintain the traditional acquaintance society are no longer functioning, but on the contrary, the mutual assistance and cooperation among the residual population of the village, the contact between the migrant group and the village, and the role of the returning group are all constrained by the rules of acquaintance society. The key to future rural governance is to build an appropriate institutional mechanism, give full play to the role of the market and the advantages of information symmetry among the remaining rural population, and promote close cooperation among farmers. At the same time, building a mechanism for linking interests between migrants and villages can provide more possibilities for the modernization of rural governance.