Abstract: The differentiation between urban and rural areas has drawn attention from scholars all along. Economists, in particular, explain it from the most microcosmic perspective. As an urban-based society, Shanghai carries enormous differences between urban and rural areas, which however has been less studied. This thesis argues that the “local values” of rural society have been eroded and ‘enticed’ by the culture of consumerism. This leads to the lack of the identity of self-worth in the suburban and rural areas, and then the declining of local unity. As a result, suburban and rural areas lose the ability to resist the dominating of urban sprawl and change the situation of being deprived.