Agritainment: A Chinese Style of Leisure and Aesthetic Space

This article analyzes the unique case of Chinese agritainment (農家樂, Nongjiale) and explains agritainment as a special place with strong Chinese features and as a Chinese consumptive and aesthetic culture that has developed so rapidly that people have yet to pay attention to its rapid expansion. It emerged at a time when the global time-space compression and reconstruction are the current trend. Its motivation originates from Chinese farmer spontaneity, and it is the outcome of Chinese consumptive culture that began with the reform and the opening up of China. Agritainment has formed a special public consumptive space. This is also a typical leisure and aesthetic space. It constructs a special place and has an important role in the contemporary social life of China, in which people are able to relax, enjoy recreation, and communicate with one another. Moreover, it is a significant space where people contemplate the meaning of, and find happiness in, their daily life. Agritainment gave rise to the popularity of Chinese consumptive culture and has already formed a kind of Chinese “leisure and aesthetic ideology.