Haoying Li successfully defended her PhD thesis, Producing Rural Space in southwest China Entrepreneurship, Smallholders and Governance in the Transformation of Mianyang, Sichuan.
This PhD thesis examines how rural space is produced in non-frontier regions of China, using Mianyang in Sichuan as a case study. It combines spatial analysis, qualitative fieldwork, and mixed methods to trace patterns of rural entrepreneurship, capital organisation, and grassroots governance. It explains how uneven rural development emerges through the interplay of spatial conditions, organisational mechanisms, and power relations.
She completed her doctorate at the Geography Department under the supervision of Jonas Nielsen. Her defense took place on 5 March 2026, and she received Magna cum laude.
Congratulations to Haoying Li on this outstanding achievement!
