| 摘要: |
| 基于媒介地理学的“四象限”理论
和列斐伏尔的“空间三元论”，系统分析数
字媒介对乡村空间的物质性、文化性与社会
性的重构，揭示数字中介化重塑乡村经济实
践形态、文化认同逻辑与空间权力配置的过
程，提出“媒介—人—空间”的理论分析框
架。研究发现，媒介渗透既推动乡村空间的
“去地域化”，也催生新的乡村地方依恋，在
物质空间层面，通过促进信息传播引发乡村
物质空间的变化；在文化空间层面，对乡村
符号景观的重构并推动人对乡村情感体验的
改变；在社会空间层面，通过影响社会关系
的生产与再生产并重塑乡村社会权力空间。
研究有望为媒介地理更好地服务乡村振兴提
供参考。 |
| 关键词: 媒介地理 乡村空间 社交媒介 空间重构 |
| DOI：10.13791/j.cnki.hsfwest.20240904004 |
| 分类号: |
| 基金项目:教育部人文社科规划项目（23YJAZH028）；广东省自然科学基金（2024A1515011291）；国家自然科学基金 （42571265） |
|
| Reconstruction of rural space from the perspective of media geography: Theoreticalframework and empirical cases |
|
FAN Jianhong,YE Wei,XUE Lintao,XIE Dixiang
|
| Abstract: |
| Grounded in the Four-Quadrant Theory of media geography and Lefebvre’s Trialectics of
Spatiality, this study systematically investigates how social media reconstructs the materiality,
culturality, and sociality of rural space. It reveals the process through which media intermediation
reshapes the forms of rural economic practices, the logic of cultural identity, and the configuration of
spatial power. Based on these theoretical foundations, the paper proposes an analytical framework of
“media-human-space”, aiming to interpret how the penetration of digital media reshapes the spatial
structures and symbolic meanings of the contemporary Chinese countryside. The research
demonstrates that media penetration simultaneously drives the de-territorialization of rural spac by
loosening geographical constraints and reconfiguring flows of capital, information, as well as labor,
and generates new forms of local attachment through mediated emotional connections and the
reconstruction of place identity.At the material-spatial level, social media reshapes the organization of
economic activities and the circulation of rural commodities through technological mediation.
Livestreaming, short-video marketing, and other digital practices embed the traditional functions of
rural marketplaces into mobile interfaces, transforming the smartphone into a portable marketplace
that digitally reorganizes the people-goods-place relationship. The resulting online ordering-directfrom-
source model dissolves the traditional center-periphery hierarchy, connecting remote villages
directly to national and even global consumer networks. In this process, farmers are transformed from
conventional producers into integrated media performers, combining production, marketing, and
storytelling in a single practice. The spatial implications of this transformation indicate that rural
material space is no longer merely a site of agricultural production but also a field of media
performance, tourism development, and symbolic value creation. Such symbolic reproduction of
material space exemplifies Lefebvre’s notion of spatial practice and illustrates the dual process of deterritorialization
and re-territorialization under media mediation. At the cultural-spatial level, social
media functions as a key mechanism in producing, circulating, and consuming rural imagery. The
study identifies three major expressive paradigms within rural media texts: aestheticized expression,
authentic expression, and stigmatized expression. Aestheticized expression constructs idealized
pastoral utopias through visual and linguistic rhetoric—filters, color tones, and poetic captions, that
transform everyday rural life into a consumable aesthetic spectacle. Authentic expression, in contrast,
presents unembellished depictions of daily labor and local customs, emphasizing sincerity and
proximity. Through vernacular language and on-site narration, it restores a sense of lived experience
that resists urban romanticization. Stigmatized expression centers on the representation of rural decay,
poverty, and marginality, employing sentimental or sensational tropes that reinforce social stereotypes
and intensify urban-rural divisions. These representational modes coexist and interact, together
constituting a complex symbolic landscape where the rural is simultaneously idealized, normalized,
and problematized.The cultural reconstruction of rural space manifests a three-dimensional interplay
among symbol, space, and power. Social media accelerates the symbolic mobility of rural signs,allowing local cultural symbols to travel across regions and social classes, while also reshaping the geography of recognition and identity. The rise of grassroots
discourse, such as that expressed by returnee youth through agricultural livestreaming, represents a bottom-up struggle for representational power and spatial
agency. In this sense, social media transforms the countryside from a passively viewed object into an active subject of spatial production and cultural narration.
The symbolic geography of the rural is therefore a dynamic site of negotiation where authenticity, aesthetics, and stigma converge under the logic of digital
platforms and algorithmic visibility. At the social-spatial level, social media reconstructs rural social relations through the dual mechanisms of deterritorialization
and re-embedding. It extends traditional kinship and neighborhood networks into virtual space, allowing for the coexistence of online and
offline interactions within the same social fabric. Digital communication redefines interpersonal intimacy, turning online greetings and comments into
substitutes for physical encounters. At the same time, media technologies alter generational hierarchies: younger villagers, equipped with digital literacy and
technical skills, become new information nodes, while elders shift from authoritative communicators to passive recipients. This redistribution of communicative
power signals the reorganization of social hierarchy and authority in the rural context. Yet, the same process also generates new inequalities. Algorithmic
recommendation systems and capital-driven visibility regimes often privilege certain picturesque villages while marginalizing others, leading to uneven
development and new forms of spatial injustice. Overall, the findings indicate that the pervasive infiltration of social media has produced a systematic
reconstruction of rural space across material, cultural, and social dimensions. Media mediation does not only change the spatial morphology and symbolic
representation of the countryside but also reshape the interactional logic between urban and rural systems. The essence of this reconstruction lies in the
dialectical interplay between technological empowerment and media regulation, reflecting the broader social negotiation between modernization, locality, and
digital capitalism. Through the proposed media-human-space analytical framework, this study elucidates the internal mechanisms and dynamic logic of media
intermediation in rural spatial transformation. It contributes to the localization and theoretical expansion of media geography and provides empirical insight into
the digital pathways of China’s rural revitalization. |
| Key words: media geography rural space social media space reconstruction |
