Abstract
Is Taiwan a sustainable society? How should we understand the places where so-called greening objects are produced, particularly for the rural industrial bases? How could we break the dichotomy of industrial society vs. agricultural society to comprehend the situation of people living in between? Taking a rural industrial park in central Taiwan as the starting point of our inquiry, this article proceeds to a symmetrical observation of the situation of the various people co-existing with the industrial park. We describe the hybridity of the human and the non-human between industry and agriculture. On the basis of our empirical evidence, we will discuss the limitations of industrial greening management, which is focused solely on the industrial enclave while ignoring spatial heterogeneity. To go beyond the polemical discourses concentrated on industrialization, we would like to advance a non-industrialization historical perspective; we understand the new rural society to be a mediation between industry and agriculture, a localized reflection on the question of sustainable development for the rural industrial park in Taiwan.