Abstract: Based on a social survey in Village Q in northern Hunan,using the "four-dimensional social relations" theory as an analytical framework,we examined the social relations of the atomized farmers (scattered farmers).It is found that the social relations of "blood-marriage-geography - friendship" of the atomized farmers has disintegrated and was reconstructed into "inner-relatives (relatives related to the same clan) - outer-relatives (relatives related to female members of the family) - geography - friendship" social relationship.The blood relation of the family clan of the atomized farmers,including the five upper and lower generations with the present generation as the start in Chinese tradition,has disintegrated,and marriage relation was stronger than blood relation;blood relation and marriage relation are integrated with each other,and the concepts such as inner-relatives identification and outer-relatives identification are derived.The social relations of the atomized farmers still have differential order characteristics:the inner-relatives relation within two generations is in the core layer of their social relations;the geographical relation is at the outermost layer;the outer-relative relation and the friendship relation are in the middle and there is little difference between the two.In response to the new trend of the social relations of the atomized farmers,we should make full use of their highly shared concepts of inner-relatives identification,enhance their willingness and endogenous motivation to actively participate in rural governance,and help build a modern rural governance system that combines "autonomy,rule of virtue,and rule of law".

Key words: atomized farmers, social relation, blood relation, marriage relation, geography relation, friendship relation, inner relatives and outer relatives, rural governance