Living in the E‐Commerce Countryside: Place Attachment and the Negotiation of Place Change in Rural China

ABSTRACT

Rapid digitization is transforming rural communities worldwide, yet current scholarship remains dominated by macro‐economic analyses. This study examines the micro‐dynamics of engagement in E‐commerce villages through the lens of lived experience. Drawing on a qualitative case study of Dinglou, China, we analyse interviews with 40 households using a dynamic framework of place attachment. Findings reveal a complex negotiation of change across three dimensions: Affectively, residents experience an ambivalent attachment contingent on economic gain alongside emergent ‘emotional alienation;’ cognitively, they construct a hybrid identity of ‘entrepreneurial rurality’ while navigating tensions between cohesion and rivalry; and behaviourally, they adopt strategies of ‘selective rootedness’ and collective stewardship to mitigate socio‐environmental degradation. We argue that economically mediated place attachment creates a duality of resilience and fragility, where emotional alienation threatens long‐term sustainability. Consequently, policy must look beyond digital infrastructure to nurture the social infrastructure underpinning community resilience in the digital age.