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As more rural youth return to their hometowns due to employment, family, or disillusionment with big city life, small cities are serving as a buffer zone between their dreams and reality. Editor’s note: Wang Defu’s new book “Age of the Masses,” published in May, is a collection of his reflections on and explorations of urban community governance in China. As an associate professor from the School of Sociology at Wuhan University, Wang conducted over 1,000 days of field research in more than 100 urban and rural communities across the country. The book covers issues such as the renovation of old neighborhoods, the current state of grassroots cadres, and the return of young people to their hometowns — all closely related to how positively people view their lives in today’s China. Following is an excerpt from the book. Are small cities still reliable places for young people to settle? “Small cities” refer to prefecture-level and county-level cities at or below the fourth or
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