文化视角下的英国城乡关系

The Urban-Rural Relations in Britain from a Cultural Perspective

一种对乡村生活的伊甸园式的想象根植于人类历史,并通过各种艺术作品流传至今。在城市化和工业化的英国,这种想象变得更加栩栩如生。乡村在文化上被定义为一种平衡性的力量,一个逃避或治愈工业社会弊端的途径。不仅如此,乡村还成了"家"的代名词,甚至是英国国家认同的重要组成部分。然而,进入20世纪,城市化以及现代农业的发展给乡村带来了前所未有的冲击。对此,英国政府和社会积极行动,采取各种措施,有效地保护了乡村的景观和文化。与此同时,大量英国人到乡村游玩,并有数量众多的城市中产阶级迁往乡村居住。因此乡村不再单纯属于农民,而是成为全民的伊甸园。在这个过程中,城市移民为乡村带来了活力与财富,但也加剧了乡村的贫富分化,并引发了城市移民和本地农民之间的一系列冲突。尽管如此,矛盾并不能阻碍融合,城乡一体化在英国已是大势所趋。

The imagination of Edenic rural life was rooted in human history,and has been passed down through art works.It became more vivid and powerful during the urbanization and industrialization in Britain.The countryside was culturally defined as a balancing power,an escape from and a cure for the maladies of the industrial society.Moreover,the village became synonymous to home,and even an important part of British national identity.After entering the 20 th century,however,the countryside began to suffer an unprecedented challenge due to the urbanization and the development of modern agriculture.To tackle this,the British government and society took vigorous and various measures,which effectively protected the rural landscape and culture.Meanwhile,lots of the British traveled to the countryside,and a large number of the urban middle-class families moved to live in suburban area.Therefore,the countryside has no longer belonged to farmers only,but become a Garden of Eden for the whole nation.In this process,the energy and wealth brought into countryside through counter-urbanization deepened the gap between the haves and the have-nots,and a series of conflicts were thus produced between urban immigrants and local farmers.Nevertheless,conflicts could do nothing to stop the urban-rural integration,which has already become an unstoppable trend in Britain.