Reworking uneven geographical development: the spatial logic of China’s rural banking reforms

Abstract

Drawing on financial geography literature and the concept of state rescaling, this article investigates the state–finance nexus with an emphasis on state spatial reconfiguration. Through a historically and geographically informed political economic analysis, it argues that China’s state-led, market-oriented rural banking reforms are not merely the outcome of a deepening market logic within the financial administration of the rural sector. They are also crucial for state spatial reconfiguration to address uneven rural and urban development. The article calls for greater sensitivity towards relational spatiotemporality and uneven development to comprehend fully the spatiality of the state–finance nexus.