Abstract:

Based on the academic discussion of multivariate differentiation of rural space, this article analyzes the spatial development process and effects of homestay area in Guanhu Village in Shenzhen using the in-depth interview method and the actor-network theory. The results show that: (1) Homestay place owners and acquaintance networks are the key actors in the development of Guanhu Village, which helped realizing the transformation and restructuring of the rural material space as well as the social space. (2) In the spatial restructuring process of Guanhu Village, the actor-network space of homestay tourism was formed with the continuous construction and translation of acquaintance network, and increasingly the previously dispersed human, economic, and social capitals became concentrated and transformed to social resources. Therefore, the homestay place owners and acquaintance networks forms the nonstructural driving force in the development of Guanhu Village. (3) The new social acquaintance network constructed by external actors and the traditional social acquaintance network of Guanhu Village cannot complete the process of translation and communicate, not only causing the social differentiation between homestay place owners and the local residents and isolation, but also bringing about power struggle within the relationship network, which results in the transformation of dynamic mechanism from nonstructural to binary dynamic mechanism and further restructuring of material space. (4) Based on the social acquaintance network, Guanhu Village has formed a new model of shared economy, which is combined with the Internet platform for sharing goods and services as a cheaper alternative compared with the Internet intermediaries.

Key words: homestay area development, shared economy, actor-network, acquaintance network, social space, non-structural driving force