The civilization degree is similar to Cannikin Law that relies completely on its shortest board. As a by-product of modern civilization, household waste has affected the proceeding of modern civilization heavily, but it is ignored because of its role as the shortest board. In China, as the government is sparing no effort to promote the domestic-led economic strategy after years of rapid economic growth, the shortest board has been highlighted in the era of mass consumption. This means the mode of mass production, mass consumption, and mass abandonment has created a great deal of household waste. Furthermore, the waste as a disease of modern civilization has rapidly penetrated from cities to vast and populous rural areas. When farmers are fully integrated into the mass consumer society, it is conceivable that the unsustainable social model will be irreversible, and modern civilization will also begin to collapse. So far, the study of rural household waste has mainly focused on technical and economic aspects, such as waste sorting and recycling techniques. But in fact, the treatment of scattered household waste in rural areas is linked closely with the reconstruction of rural space and villagers'' subjective consciousness owing to the problem''s ordinariness. Therefore, this study attempts to interpret the formation mechanism and governmental dilemma of the waste problem from the perspective of villagers, who are drawn into the wave of modernization, and the village governance, based on field work in China''s rural areas. Subsequently, a comprehensive approach– the formation of co-assisted system for solving the problem was discussed from the following three levels. The first is the making of social-oriented policy and public assistance similar to the model of returning farmland to forest. The second is the reconstruction of mutual aid based on the affection publicity. The third is the promotion of villagers'' self–help and recognition of rural value through local education. |