Process and mechanism of social integration of new and old villagers from the perspective of relational place: A case study of Guinan Village in Zhongshan

In the context of the rural revitalization strategy, an increasing number of urban people are flooding into the countryside, becoming “new villagers”, and they work with local villagers to promote rural development. In rural tourist destinations, the phenomenon of reverse flow from city to village is more prominent, and the social integration of new and old villagers in rural space caused by this phenomenon needs to be further studied by the academic circle. The social integration of new and old villagers can be regarded as a process in which fluid social relations are reconstructed in rural space. Relational place accords equal status to relations and space, exploring space shaped by relations and relations embedded in space, which provides a new theoretical perspective for understanding the social integration of new and old villagers in rural space. This study takes the theoretical perspective of relational place and uses Guinan Village in Guangdong Province as a case study to deeply analyze the process and mechanism of social integration between new and old villagers. It is found that the social integration of new and old villagers is embodied in four dimensions: economic integration, cultural integration, life integration and identity integration, with interactions and mutual influences among integration at different levels. The social integration of new and old villagers presents a period of conflict, shallow integration and differentiated integration. The dimensions of social integration between new and and old villagers exhibit distinct characteristics at different stages. Driven by the combined effects of tourism development, intergenerational accumulation and the temporal dimension, the relational place is formed through entity space and relational space, which promotes the social integration process of new and old villagers. This study pays attention to the dynamic process of social integration between internal and external groups at the scale of rural space. Based on relational place to analyze its theoretical mechanism, it supplements geographical discussions on social integration against the background of mobility and provides valuable suggestions for population flow and management in the context of rural revitalization and urban-rural integration.