How rent facilitates capital accumulation: A case study of rural land capitalization in Suzhou, China

Rural land capitalization is crucial in China’s rapid industrialization and urbanization processes. However, as an essential tool for comprehending the process of land capitalization, Marxist rent theory has not received sufficient attention from scholars. In contrast to Marx’s perspective, which regards rent as a vestige of feudal power, and Harvey’s viewpoint, which considers land as virtual capital, China’s land capitalization process, the resulting increase in rent significantly facilitates primitive accumulation and capital accumulation, especially the accumulation of real industrial capital. This study provides a comprehensive review of relevant research, expands the concept of rural land capitalization by considering both its productive and unproductive aspects, and proposes an analytical framework based on Marxist rent theory to deepen our understanding of rural land capitalization in China. Using Suzhou City as a case study, this study categorized the city’s economic and social development into three stages: township enterprises, industrial park economies, and beautiful villages. It elucidates the process and mechanism of rural land capitalization at each stage, highlights the pivotal role of collective land ownership, and summarizes the salient features of rural land capitalization in Suzhou. Finally, against the current economic and social background, this study discusses the direction of adjustment of China’s rural land system, especially in economically developed areas.