The Construction Mechanism and Practice of Characteristic Industrial Villages from the Perspective of the “Society–Space” Relationship, Taking Zhuma Township, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, as an Example

Abstract

Zhuma Township, which is located in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, has a long history of camellia cultivation, holds the title of “the hometown of camellia in China”, and is an agricultural town with a strong history characterized by its camellia industry. This paper first overviews the development and application of the theory of “socio-spatial” relationships and then formulates a theoretical framework for analyzing characteristic industrial villages according to this theory. Following the study of Zhuma Township, the process of local, industry-driven rural development is divided into three periods: slow growth, rapid expansion, and orderly transition. Then, we summarize the construction mechanism of characteristic industrial villages from the four levels of social relationship reorganization, industrial value increase, local culture reshaping, and spatial order reconstruction. Finally, we present a guide to the practice of rural construction. This paper aims to provide a useful reference for the construction of characteristic industrial villages on both theoretical and practical levels.

1. Introduction

China’s many rural areas share basic characteristics—a wide area, large population, and profound culture. For thousands of years, the mode of production of its farming economy and the introverted and closed social structure have contributed to the stable rural spatial form. From 2004 to 2023, the Chinese government focused on the “three rural issues” and issued the No. 1 Central Document for 20 consecutive years, which mentioned rural construction as a strategic priority for development and positioned industrial revitalization as the key to rural revitalization [1,2]. Based on the experience of industrial development developed in countries, most of the rural areas that have experienced sustainable development have a certain local characteristic resource endowment, which forms the industrial basis for rural development. In China, industries have developed important local practices for promoting sustainable rural development, but there is still a lack of systematic understanding of the scientificity and regularity of rural construction driven by local characteristic industries. Characteristic rural industries experience four levels of development: first, they take root in the countryside for a long time; second, they establish rural development in coordination with one another; third, they extend the industrial chain and expand industrial space; fourth, they have the vitality of continuous regeneration [3]. Therefore, this paper will discuss characteristic rural industries based on local industrial resource endowments; villages that complete rural transformation driven by characteristic industries and can achieve sustainable development are defined as “Characteristic Industrial Villages”.

2. Literature Review

2.1. The Development and Application of the Theory of the “Society–Space” Relationship

Foreign academia began to pay attention to the rural field around the 20th century. The recognition of the countryside changed from the binary opposition of material space and social representation to a focus on daily life practices [4,5,6] and pursuing the integrity of rural space. Lefebvre reflected on the traditional view of space as a “container” and constructed a theoretical framework of “triadic dialectics” for space production that transcends the dualism of “matter-consciousness” [7]. Halfacree constructed a triple model of rural space for the issue of rural gentrification [8]. Related domestic research started in the 1990s. Some scholars regard the essence of rural construction dominated by urban capital as a symbolic consumption space generated by excess industrial and commercial capital, using the countryside as a carrier and thus obtaining spatial surplus value in the form of monopoly land rent [9,10]. Some scholars apply the theory of spatial production to analyze the relationship between, and the mechanism of, the reconstruction and transformation of rural spatial form, as well as changes to the main social relationship [11,12,13].

2.2. History and the Current Situation Regarding Rural Construction Research

Foreign countries initially paid attention to rural construction from the perspective of urban objects and regarded the countryside as an auxiliary tool for the development of industrialization and urbanization [14]. Subsequently, they realized that rural construction should be discussed under the premise of urban–rural integration and comprehensive value [15,16,17]. Therefore, research on rural construction in foreign countries has undergone changes, from focusing on “serving the elite” and “serving the city” to “serving the countryside”. The research and practice of rural construction under the comprehensive value dimensions of subject, society, culture, ecology, and consumption provide continuous vitality [6,16,18,19]. China’s rural construction has proceeded from a focus on natural elements to comprehensively considering the natural, economic, social, and environmental elements, and the corresponding research content has also been updated with the trends in the development of comprehensive rural construction. The concept of “Human Settlement Environment Science”, proposed by academician Wu Liangyong, laid a regional foundation for China’s large-scale rural construction research and practice [20]. He Yong, Sun Peiwen, and colleagues proposed the planning practice method of “integration of production, village, and landscape” [21]. Wang Zhu, Qian Zhenlan, and colleagues put forward the strategy of organic renewal of the countryside “with the goal of economic and social development” and achieved innovations related to the organizational mechanism of rural construction [22]. Dong Wei and others believed that one-time planning should be transformed into a gradual construction planning model, and the main position of the villagers should be highlighted [23]. It can be seen that rural construction is actually a heterogeneous isomorphism of economic production, social structure, spatial form, and cultural value; moreover, the driver of construction itself is a dynamic overall improvement oriented toward economic and social development [24].

2.3. Development and Characteristics of Rural Industries

The essence of Japan’s “sixth industrialization” agricultural development strategy is to promote the process of industrial integration and development [25], while South Korea’s “sixth industrialization” is dedicated to rural composite industries [26]. The Netherlands promotes specialized and large-scale production around the creative agricultural industry chain, forming industrial clusters [27]. Relying on its good agricultural resource endowment, France has transformed from a small-scale peasant economy to a modern agriculture led by overall planning, the integration of three industries, and technology. The United States has applied modern technology and intelligent technology to realize the extension of the agricultural industry chain and the expansion of the value chain. In Canada, with the support of the government, the industrial models of “cooperatives + agricultural producers” and “professional associations + agricultural producers” have emerged. The industrial development of China’s rural areas has progressed through traditional agriculture based on planting and breeding, to industrialization led by township enterprises, and to the current stage of diversified development [28]. The characteristic pastoral countryside in Jiangsu Province is an important local practice for industrial revitalization [29]. The team of Zhejiang University put forward a strategy of industrial- and space-adaptive construction and the concept of a “small and micro pastoral complex” [30,31]. With the improvement in logistics conditions and digital economy infrastructure, new industrial forms of “agriculture+”, such as e-commerce of agricultural products, deep processing of agricultural products, and rural innovation and entrepreneurship, are booming [32].

2.4. Brief Review and Research Objectives

Based on the literature review, the main shortcomings of current rural studies are as follows. First, although it has been recognized that an excessive focus on spatial issues at the expense of the underlying economic and social issues is detrimental to the sustainable development of rural areas, the research has started to pay attention to the comprehensive construction concept that combines society, industry, environment, and culture. However, the relationship between these aspects and the mechanisms of how they co-interact in the construction of physical space are relatively shallow. Second, domestic scholars have introduced western theories such as “spatial production” to supplement the insufficiency of domestic research on the identification of social and spatial elements, but they still lack localized explanatory theoretical foundations and practical verification. Third, based on the industrial experience of developed countries, most of the rural areas that have entered into sustainable development have resource endowments with certain local characteristics and accordingly form the industrial basis for rural growth. However, domestic research is mostly limited to policy interpretation or experience recommendation, and there is a lack of systematic understanding of the regularity of industry-driven rural construction. To resolve the above deficiencies, this paper takes Jinhua Zhuma Township as a specific research object to interpret how local industries drive rural development, to recognize the construction mechanism of characteristic industry-based villages from the perspective of the “socio-spatial” theory, and to further guide the specific construction and planning practice, which completes the return of architecture to cross-disciplinary research.

2.5. Research Idea

Lefebvre believes that space has social attributes and thus created the theory of space production, which divides space production into three important levels: spatial practice, representations of space, and representational space [7]. The three correspond to the physical space of natural entity attributes, the mental space of logic and formalization, and the social space of life and experience, respectively. Inspired by the classical space production theory, Halfacree constructed a triple model of rural space, which divided the rural space system into rural locality, rural representation, and rural daily life. The representation of the countryside conceives space from top to bottom through external forces such as institutions, policies, and markets, directly affects the construction of rural locality, and affects the daily life of villagers. Rural daily life is directly lived by rural subjects through conceptions and symbols. Villagers form endogenous forces through bottom-up representations of space that “resist” or “accept”, which are then reflected in the construction of material space. The locality of the countryside reflects the result of the balance between the representation of the countryside and the daily life in the countryside (Figure 1).

These theories emphasize the core idea that “the change in material space reflects the complex process of social development and change” and provide research ideas for analyzing the construction process of characteristic industrial villages from the perspective of “society–space” relationship. The production space initially overlaps with the residential space highly, forming a “spatial practice” in which the spatial form and the social form are highly consistent. With the expansion and extension of the industrial chain, the production and living space currently is not only a place for villagers’ daily activities but also a space for tourists to visit and experience. Under the leadership of the government and the help of industrial and commercial capital, an abstract concept of place has emerged for external publicity. Apparently, such a symbol breaks away from the original spatial practice and becomes a “Representation of space” of a characteristic industrial village, which will have a great impact on the material space and social structure of the village. Villagers are different in characteristic industrial villages than in villages that simply develop tertiary industries. Villagers’ life, production, and social interaction activities are also important driving forces. Therefore, the spatial construction of characteristic industrial villages is the result of top-down policies, planning and design, and bottom-up daily activities, that is, the new “Rural locality”. So far, an analytical framework for characteristic industrial villages has been established (Figure 2).

3. Study Region and Research Ideas

3.1. Study Region

Zhuma Township is located in the northwest of Wucheng District, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, at the foot of Jinhua North Mountain, with Jinhua Mountain in the north, Wujiang River in the south, and Lanxi City in the west (Figure 3). It has eight administrative villages under its jurisdiction. The external traffic in the township is developed, with railway freight and passenger stations and the Hangjinqu Expressway exit in the area. At the time of writing, there are 4401 local villagers in the township, 126 production teams, and a population of 11,821. The township area is 23.6 square kilometers, with a total flower seedling planting area of 7.33 square kilometers, of which the camellia production base is 1.87 contiguous square kilometers, which is the largest camellia planting and sales base in China. There are 8 family farms, 45 professional cooperatives, and 5 companies engaged in flower seedling management in the township. More than 4300 people are engaged in camellia planting and sales, accounting for more than one in three of the township’s population. Camellia planting in Zhuma has a long history. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a tradition of cultivating potted camellias, which is called the “Hometown of Chinese Camellia”.

3.2. Data Sources

The data and basic information for this paper come mainly from historical archives, field surveys, in-depth interviews, and government working documents. The historical archives include township records, county records, and records of paintings and calligraphy by local artists, which are used to trace the historical changes and folk culture of Zhuma Township. The data describing the natural environment, village space, land use, building houses, etc., come from field surveys and will be used to organize the current situation of village construction. Through in-depth interviews with village cadres, planting households, seedling brokers, and township cadres, the various stages of the development of the camellia industry are organized. Social and economic development and other data come from public information on government websites such as “Jinhua Statistical Yearbook (1985–2022)” and materials such as the work documents of Zhuma Township Government and village committee, which are used to understand the level of development of the camellia industry and future development trends (Figure 4).

4. The Development Process of Zhuma Township from the Perspective of “Society–Space”

According to the important events in the development process of Zhuma Township, its development process is divided into three stages: slow growth period (before 1984), rapid expansion period (1985–2003), and orderly transformation period (2004-present).

4.1. Slow Growth Period (Before 1984)

Zhuma Township is located at the foot of Jinhua Mountain, with four distinct seasons and abundant rainfall, which is especially suitable for flower planting. According to the “Zhuge Family Genealogy” of Baizhu Village, Zhuma Township, camellia has been cultivated here for more than 800 years. Based on Kangxi’s “Jinhua Fu Zhi” in the Qing Dynasty, more than 30 varieties were cultivated at that time. The “Jinhua County Chronicle·Products” during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty also recorded that the flower farmers in Zhuma Township had been familiar with the characteristics of various camellia varieties and the flower and tree modeling techniques. In addition to planting camellia and other flowers, they also supplied them to the market for sale. During the period of the Republic of China (1912–1949), affected by the war, farmers scattered and planted flowers sporadically. After the reform and opening up in 1978, camellia cultivation gradually resumed, and new varieties began to be cultivated. After the reform of the land contract system in 1983, an increasing number of villagers planted camellias in the contracted fields. The camellia market developed rapidly, and the price of camellias rose rapidly. For example, “Huafoding” (a fine variety of camellia) branches with one bud and two leaves and can be sold for 50–60 yuan. In the early 1980s, the planting, cultivation, and trading of camellias were in a state of disorder. Due to the asymmetry of market supply and demand information, the price of camellias was artificially raised for a period, and then dropped heavily, forming a vicious circle of ups and downs. Therefore, an organization was urgently needed to regulate the camellia market. In 1984, the Jinhua Camellia Association came into being. To alleviate the crisis of slow sales, “the young people at that time went north by train to sell camellias, and sold them all over the country” (interview with Xu Xiaohua, male, 56 years old, villager of Qingmeili Village, legal representative of Leyuan Flower Co., Ltd., a large camellia grower, Zhangzhou, China), which also made “Zhuma camellias” stand out. The spatial practice at this time was mainly based on the needs of production and life, and the villagers began to spontaneously transform and build the production and living space of the village. Residential buildings and agricultural supporting facilities in the village were gradually increasing, but infrastructure construction such as living and transportation was backward. Traditional agriculture and handicrafts were still the main industries, but the economic income and living standards of the villagers were generally not high. This period was an exploration stage under the adaptation of resource endowments. The development of the camellia industry in this stage mainly relied on the long history of cultivation, a good ecological environment, and the leading roles of capable people and sages.

4.2. Rapid Expansion Period (1985–2003)

In 1985, the Jinhua Camellia Association held the first Camellia Exhibition. In 1986, the Eighth Standing Committee of the First Jinhua Municipal People’s Congress named camellia as the city flower of Jinhua. At the end of the 1980s, flower and seedling merchants from all over the country came here admiringly, but due to the closed environment at that time, they could not trade smoothly. So, the first generation of camellia brokers who were responsible for leading the way in the nursery and translating dialects were born. In the mid-to-late 1990s, Xiazhangjia Village in Zhuma Township, under the leadership of Qian Ruihua, a national model worker and secretary of the party branch, transferred the contracted land from the villagers to the collective, and then, the collective transferred the land to large camellia growers. According to the statistics at that time, the village transferred a total of 0.7 square kilometers of land. “By attracting large planters to settle in this way, villagers can not only earn rent, but also learn planting techniques.” (In an interview with Qian Ruihua, male, 74 years old, national model worker, secretary of the party branch of Xiazhangjia Village). By the end of the 1990s, there were more than 600 camellia varieties in Zhuma Township, with an annual output of 800,000 pots of camellia and 3,000,000 seedlings cultivated. In 1999, Zhuma Township was awarded the title of “Hometown of Chinese Camellia” by the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2002, the International Camellia Species Garden was established in Xiazhangjia Village, becoming the world’s first park-style special garden integrating the collection, preservation, cultivation, breeding, utilization, and popular science promotion of original species. There are more than 700 Camellia species in the Garden, accounting for 97% of the world’s total. In the same year, the Chinese Camellia Culture Garden was completed and opened, and more than 1000 camellia varieties were planted in the garden. In 2003, the 16th International Camellia Conference and International Camellia Festival was held in Jinhua and welcomed 330 foreign guests, which laid the foundation for the import and export of the camellia industry.

To sum up, this period was the cultivation stage of large-scale planting and industrial transformation under the dependence of resource endowments. At this stage, the entry of large planters was popularized, improved technology, and expanded the scale of planting. To prepare for the holding of the International Camellia Festival, the level of public services and infrastructure in Zhuma Township, such as medical care and sanitation, water supply, and power supply, has been continuously improved. Representations of space reflect the continuous improvement of the quality of the rural living environment and provide a solid foundation for the social and economic development of Zhuma Township and the development of rural tourism. The spatial practice is manifested in the new functional spaces that are constantly derived from the countryside, such as large-scale public cultural spaces including species gardens and cultural gardens. The convening of the international grand meeting has spread camellia culture much more widely than before: for example, my country’s first book on the history of camellia culture “Chinese Camellia Culture” was published.

4.3. Orderly Transition Period (2004-Present)

In 2004, the “Zhuma Brand” camellia trademark was registered, which became an important symbol of the industrialization of camellia planting. The realization of the economic value of camellia mainly relies on the flower market. In 2009, Luodian Town, adjacent to Zhuma Township, built the largest single flower market in central Zhejiang. In 2012, on the basis of the flower market, the flower nursery stock exhibition and sales center was established, with 76 merchants from inside and outside the province, 65 of which sold camellias. The annual market sales amounted to CNY 300 million and the net profit was CNY 50 million, which brought an annual income of CNY 1 million to the village collective. The market has not only promoted the prosperity of the camellia industry but also derived tertiary industries such as logistics, tourism, and accommodation, effectively promoting the development of the camellia industry on a large-scale, orderly, and brand-oriented manner. Since 2010, with the support of the local government, the Camellia Festival has become an annual event in Zhuma Township, which provides favorable conditions for the continuous attraction of businessmen and cultural tourism and also drives the economic development of surrounding towns (Figure 5). In 2017, Zhuma Township launched “Creating a Strong Agricultural Town with Camellia Characteristics”. As of the completion of the establishment, a total of CNY 82.5916 million was invested in agricultural projects, including CNY 59.0556 million in financial funds and CNY 23.536 million invested by various social business entities. Government investment projects mainly focus on infrastructure construction such as roads, water conservancy, greenways, and farmland improvement, while business entities invest mainly in the construction of modern agricultural facilities, research and development, and other categories (Figure 6).

In 2020, the non-grain rectification started. To ensure the orderly, high-quality, and sustainable development of the camellia industry, Zhuma Township has entered a stage of production contraction and comprehensive transformation and upgrading. Some camellia planting bases have been moved to other provinces, and tourism and cultural industries have become new development priorities. Tourist reception centers and characteristic homestays have successively been built. There are 12 km of camellia greenways and ecological walkways built in the whole township. Fangxiadian Village has built the largest gateball field in the country, and Zhumaguan Village has dug deep into the culture of camellias to create a characteristic block of “camellia”. In 2021, the Camellia Cultivation System in Wucheng, Jinhua, Zhejiang declared China’s important agricultural cultural heritage. According to the data provided by the township government, in 2022, the output value of flower seedlings was CNY 131.1 million, and more than 170,000 tourists were received. The camellia industry has created a large number of employment opportunities. Supporting positions, such as cutting seedlings and cuttings, modeling and pruning, and seedling brokers, have made use of the surplus labor force in the countryside. In recent years, the rise of e-commerce has also brought new opportunities for Zhuma Township. At this stage, the village is not only a place for villagers to live but also a place to make a living. The emergence of villagers’ multiple identities and the rapid transformation of rural society and economy have shaped a new rural daily life.

5. The Construction Mechanism of the Characteristic Camellia Industrial Village in Zhuma Township

The construction of characteristic industrial villages must anchor local characteristic industries, and the simple “discussion of space” in the past is no longer applicable to modern rural areas. The intervention of characteristic rural industries is a strong interference factor with chain effects. The following explains the construction mechanism of characteristic industrial villages from the four levels: reorganization of social relations, increase in industrial value, reconstruction of rural culture, and reconstruction of spatial order.

5.1. Reorganization of Social Relations

The transformation of the social structure of characteristic industrial villages must be based on the development of industries, which is manifested in the transformation of a traditional society centered on blood ties to a modern society centered on industrial ties [33]. In the early stages of industrial development, the social relationships in the countryside were mainly maintained by kinship and neighborhood relations, showing characteristics of villagers living together as a group. In the incremental period of industrial development, the “capable person effect” was an important factor in changing the traditional social structure (

Table 1. Representative performance of personnel in the development process of camellia industry.

Capable Person Type	Capable Person	Main Deeds
Cultivate Talent	Xiaohua Xu	A large camellia planter; the cultivated camellias have won gold medals in the Camellia Festival many times.
	Zhuanyan Zheng	The first batch of large camellia growers, especially good at cultivating the “Hexagonal Red” variety.
Sales Talent	Jianhua Li	Seedling broker, annual sales rank first in the township.
	Rihong Tong	Camellia industry e-commerce sales leader.
Enterprise Talent	Ruihua Qian	Realize the large-scale planting of camellia in Zhuma Township and establish the Zhuma Camellia Association.
	Shuqian Chen	Established Zhejiang Damei Agriculture Co., Ltd.
	Yonggen Fang	Established out-of-province (Qingdao) camellia planting base.
Technical Talent	Kaghua Zong	Cultivation expert of new varieties of camellia.

). With their own technical capabilities and innovative experience, they broke the introverted and closed traditional rural society and gradually evolved it into a modern and open one. In this process, the identity of the main body of the villagers was transformed into entrepreneurs, industry organizers, suppliers, brokers, etc. At the same time, the participation of migrant workers, purchasing merchants, and tourists built a social relationship that emphasizes both blood and business ties. As the industrial development enters a period of quality improvement, multiple subjects have become the main force in the construction of characteristic industrialized villages. Local governments, village collectives, industrial and commercial capital, and social elites have joined in one after another. The core of the rural social network has changed to business relationships, and the modernization of Zhuma Township has been promoted. This process provides a key endogenous driving force for the construction of characteristic industrial villages (Figure 7).

5.2. Rise of Industry Value

When relating the connotations of the four levels of characteristic rural industries [1] to the process of cultivating camellia characteristic industries in Zhuma Township, it can be understood as the process of increasing industrial value (Figure 8). The suitable natural climate and long cultivation tradition make the camellia industry rooted in the local traditional agriculture. Currently, the value of the industry is limited to the agricultural production and sales themselves. Thanks to the leadership of capable people and sages, the support of the government and industry, and the convenience of the market and logistics, the camellia industry in Zhuma Township has been upgraded to a characteristic agriculture. The quality and price of its products have absolute competitive advantages in the national and international markets. The characteristic agriculture has advanced into a characteristic industry, which is mainly manifested in the integration of secondary and tertiary industries such as related handicrafts, distribution, and tourism into the industrial chain system [34], for example, e-commerce sales, eco-tourism, and cultural communication related to the camellia. At the same time, in the process of industrial integration, industrial spaces serving new formats such as live broadcast rooms, country homestay, and farming schools have emerged. As the value of the industry rises, even if the external environment of the village continues to change, the rooted, diverse, and complex camellia industry can still complete industrial upgrading and development, providing regeneration vitality for the construction of characteristic industrial villages.

5.3. Reshaping of Local Culture

The countryside has undergone the changes of the times and has been influenced by political, economic, social, and other factors in different periods, forming its unique local culture. The large gap between urban and rural areas in the past made industrial and commercial capital, social groups, and tourists often examine the rural culture with a “Discipline” attitude, leading to the gradual disappearance of its uniqueness. This phenomenon has shaken the foundation of rural survival, and it has also been a great blow to the sustainable development of characteristic rural industries. The camellia culture in Zhuma Township has long been recorded in historical materials, poems, calligraphy, and paintings, but due to the excessive focus on economic benefits in the early stages of the development of the camellia industry, it has gradually declined. With the transformation and upgrading of the industry, camellia culture has become an important resource after identification and sorting. The practical application of Zhuma Township includes relying on the rural public space to build a camellia culture auditorium (Figure 9); planning experience projects related to camellia culture; designing cultural and creative products carrying camellia culture; regularly holding camellia festivals and camellia fairs, etc. Therefore, the reshaping of rural culture aims to extract the connotation of rural culture, strengthen its own value shaping, transform rural cultural resources into rural cultural capital [35], and make it a solid support for the diversified development and sustainable operation of characteristic industrial villages.

5.4. Spatial Order Reconstruction

The spatial order reconstruction of characteristic industrialized villages is affected by social relationships, industrial upgrading, and local culture. In a traditional agricultural society, the villagers spontaneously constructed and formed the original spatial form according to the needs of production and life. The deconstruction of traditional social relations and the growing needs of villagers have prompted the continuous expansion and transformation of the village’s material space. The characteristic camellia industry has developed rapidly and integrated the secondary and tertiary industries. The economic benefits brought about by industrial upgrading have stimulated villagers to carry out an adaptive transformation of rural physical space according to market demand, further promoting changes in spatial form and pattern. At the same time, with the popularization of e-commerce and logistics, more convenient and rich sales channels have appeared, and a new rural spatial pattern has also emerged. Rural cultural space is an important part of local culture. It is not only a physical field but also carries collective memory and cultural identity [36]. The reshaping of local culture has changed the attributes of cultural space, leading to the re-understanding, re-processing, and re-creation of cultural space, combining traditional cultural elements with modern expressions and effectively improving the quality of the living environment.

6. Construction Practice of China Camellia Industry Wisdom Expo Park

6.1. Overview of China Camellia Industry Wisdom Expo Park

China Camellia Industry Wisdom Expo Park (hereinafter referred to as Wisdom Expo Park) is in Fangxiadian Village, Zhuma Township and aims to build China’s first high-end flower nursery stock wisdom industry park. The whole project is based on the advantages of the camellia industry in Zhuma Township and integrates functions such as a camellia boutique garden, big data center, comprehensive seedling demonstration area, scientific research institutions, trading center, and garden tourism. The total area of Wisdom Expo Park is about 0.61 km², containing excellent water and soil texture and convenient transportation. The current green space lacks overall planning; the arrangement of plants is messy, and there is a lack of seasonal and hierarchical diversity. The surrounding camellia and seedling industries are well developed, and the site covers the Shuijiaolong Reservoir with abundant resources (Figure 10).

6.2. Construction Practice of China Camellia Industry Wisdom Expo Park

Based on the theoretical analysis framework of characteristic industrial villages from the perspective of “society–space”, the process and results of the planning and design of the Wisdom Expo Park are analyzed, and the above-mentioned construction mechanism is tested. Specific analysis is as follows.

6.2.1. Composite Physical Space

Industrial development and space creation have the characteristics of matching each other in each stage. The camellia industry in Zhuma Township has entered a period of production contraction and comprehensive transformation and upgrading, and the corresponding physical space has also entered a stage of quality improvement. The formation and development of local industries will inevitably lead to the continuous expansion of production space, which will squeeze the living and ecological space in the countryside. At the same time, this pressure will also react on the production space and form a check and balance on industrial development. The demand for the coordination and symbiosis of various spaces has led to the creation of composite spaces, which will become the trend of rural space construction in the future. Based on the advantages of camellia resources, Wisdom Expo Park has updated the traditional production and living space into a multi-complex space integrating ecological leisure, scientific research and development, sales display, cultural inheritance, and special tourism (Figure 11).

6.2.2. Symbolic Mental Space

The Wisdom Expo Park corresponds to the superior plan of Jinhua City’s “Great Garden in Central Zhejiang Province” and extracts the most symbolic element “Camellia” for processing and publicity. It should reappear in the context of rural revitalization, set off the atmosphere of the countryside, and strengthen the local concept of “Hometown of Chinese Camellia” (Figure 12). Based on this, an unrepeatable spatial symbol is formed, which becomes a cultural and touristic product available for consumption. For example, combined with the shaping of Jiangnan landscapes, the setting up of a fixed cultivation and collection center and a high-quality camellia planting area, which have both production functions and ornamental functions (Figure 13); the transforming of the original blocks and public buildings in the site into retail blocks and tourist distribution centers to meet the needs of tourists (Figure 14). The villagers’ dwellings have become the main symbolic carrier, and the appearance has been modified and the theme refined to make it a display of daily life images and humanistic spirit (Figure 15).

6.2.3. Multi-Agent Social Space

The site where the Wisdom Expo Park is located is adjacent to urban expressways and expressways rich in ecological resources, and it is an important display window for the camellia industry. The challenge it faces is how to carry out reasonable development within the limited construction land. The construction of the Wisdom Expo Park adopts a cooperation model of “Villager main force, government guidance, capital assistance, and social participation”. As the core subject, the villagers have the priority to speak in the construction of the Wisdom Expo Park. The township government grasps the overall direction of construction in the form of encouraging policies and demonstration site support. Social capital assists agricultural planting to enter the industrial value-added chain and develops emerging industries that integrate culture and productivity. Social participation is reflected in the formation of a continuous bond with the countryside by consumer groups such as tourists through experiences such as farming activities, sightseeing, and rest. In this way, the will of multiple subjects is engraved onto the physical space, forming a new “rural daily life”.

To sum up, the construction of the Wisdom Expo Park is an effective practice of local industry-driven rural development, and its results can be classified into four levels: society, economy, culture, and space. First, this construction practice establishes an equal relationship between villagers and other subjects, strengthens the villagers’ subject status in space construction activities, and considers the villagers’ spatial willingness as the premise of decision making. At the economic level, the development of the camellia industry is dominated by primary agricultural planting, but the extension of the industrial value chain and the creation of regional brands of flowers and trees are still weak. With the help of industrial and commercial capital, secondary and tertiary industries such as agriculture-related handicrafts, distribution, and tourism are included in the industrial chain system to meet the demands of traditional industries and to climb to high-value segments. The adjustment of the rural industrial structure will be reflected in the space construction to varying degrees. The construction of the Wisdom Expo Park is the spatial evolution of the camellia industry in order to adapt to market competition. At the cultural level, the local culture of characteristic industrial villages is compatible with the spatial cognition of “others” based on local villagers’ local identity, forming a new and diversified spatial identity. The camellia elements in Zhuma Township were deeply excavated and combined with the overall development of the village, thus defining a new cultural development goal. Finally, this resulted in the space construction practice of the China Camellia Wisdom Expo Park (Figure 16).

7. Conclusions

Based on the classical theory from the perspective of the “society–space” relationship, this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework for characteristic industrial villages. It also pays attention to the “social process” behind the spatial evolution of characteristic industrial villages, emphasizing the economic development model under the premise of protecting the existing cultural traditions and spatial forms. This is a supplement to the classic theory of the “society–space” relationship and the theory of Chinese rural space. China is in a period of rapid urbanization; the rural economy dominated by traditional agriculture is gradually transforming to modernization, the construction of rural space is gradually evolving from style shaping to comprehensive evolution, and the original social relationship is gradually replaced by the developed social structure. Zhuma Township anchors the “Camellia” local characteristic industry and drives the concept of comprehensive rural construction. It is highly representative and provides guidance for local rural planning practices. It is also key content that needs to be deepened in future Chinese rural research.