Chinese Cities - Sciences Po - OGLM 3050 - 59127 - S2 2025/26 Clément Renaud [hi@clementrenaud.com](mailto:hi@clementrenaud.com) (use left/right keyboard arrows to navigate) --- class: inverse, center, middle ## Week 1 # 城市 ## From The Ancient To The New #### 27 Jan 2026 --- class: inverse, center, middle ## Character of the week # 城市 [Purple Culture](https://www.purpleculture.net/dictionary-details/?word=城市) / [Hanziyuan](https://hanziyuan.net/) / [CUHK dic](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=城市) --- # About me Clément Renaud https://clementrenaud.com --- class: inverse # About you First, who has been to China ? Please tell me in a few words: - Your name - Your program (GLM / exchange / double diploma) - How well do you know China ? (assess your level of knowledge / understanding) - Why pick this course? - Any special expectations about the course ? - Any question you would like me to cover ? - Bonus: Do you want to represent your class for this course? [Fiche de présence](https://scolarite.sciences-po.fr/PROD/twbkwbis.P_GenMenu?name=homepage) --- # Introducing the course ### Program of the semester Check the [courses](/chinese-cities/courses) ### Assignment: Made in China - [read the assignment](/chinese-cities/assignement-made-in-china) - due week 6 - for next week: start thinking about an object --- class: center, middle, inverse # Cities in China ### From the Ancient to the New --- ## Disclaimer # Lost in translation > _la Chine est de plus en plus présente dans le monde, mais elle en est en même temps comme absente. Nous n'entendons pas sa voix._ > > _Chine trois fois muette_ - JF Billeter - Ed. Allia (2005) --- ## What we will try to avoid ### Common pitfalls in studying China - over-generalizations ("China is...") - radical empiricism (the tree vs the forest) - honesty about what we don't know - look at the details, not the headlines - acknowledge variety and contradictions --- class: bg-contain,inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/china-cities-by-tier.png) # A spatial overview --- # Understanding the "Tier" system ### How cities are classified in China - **Tier 1**: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen - (Bei-Shang-Guang) - **Tier 2**: Provincial capitals, large cities (Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan...) - **Tier 3**: Prefecture-level cities - **Tier 4**: Smaller cities and towns Classification based on: GDP, population, politics, consumer behavior .footnote[ - [SCMP interactive](https://multimedia.scmp.com/2016/cities/) ] --- class: inverse, middle, center # Theoretical framework ## A society "from the soil" ### From Wu Fulong --- # Wu Fulong's framework > Wu, Fulong. _Creating Chinese Urbanism: Urban Revolution and Governance Changes._ London: UCL Press, 2022\. ### Argument: Chinese society is "leaving the soil" Three phases: 1. **Imperial era**: earth-bounded, differential associations 2. **Socialist era (1949-78)**: "communist neo-traditionalism" 3. **Post-1978**: urban revolution, marketisation --- # Fei Xiaotong 费孝通 ### _Rural China_ (乡土中国, 1947) Chinese society as **"earth-bounded"** (乡土) > "just like the circles that appear on the surface of a lake when a rock is thrown into it. Everyone stands at the centre of the circles produced by his or her own" ### 差序格局 chaxugeju The **differential mode of association** - inner circle: family - outer circle: extended family - further out: villagers, acquaintances --- # A society of acquaintance ### Key features - governed by **social norms** rather than laws - dense social networks, place-based attachment - moral order maintained by gentry, not bureaucracy - "the power of the emperor did not intrude into villages" ### Contrast with European city - Weber's "Occidental City": birthplace of capitalism, citizenship, civil society - Chinese city = seat of administration, not autonomous space --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/Yamen-Shaoxingfu.jpg) # 衙门 yamen The seat of local government --- # The imperial Chinese city ### An administrative centre - yamen (government compound) at the center - walled for defense and population control - urban markets were marginal, restricted - Confucian elites preferred government careers over commerce > "significant commercial capitalism failed to appear in Chinese cities because the most profitable commodities were monopolised by the state" - L. Ma ### 城 (chéng) = wall / fortification ## 城市 (chéngshì) = city = "walled marketplace" --- # The treaty-port transformation ### After the Opium War (1842) - international settlements and foreign concessions - contrast: under-serviced Chinese city vs. modern European quarters - influx of rural migrants and war refugees - real estate boom in Shanghai → shikumen housing ### Short-lived cosmopolitanism - 1920s-30s Shanghai: emerging middle-class culture - Greater Shanghai Plan (1927): civic center, public facilities - Japanese invasion interrupted modernization --- class: inverse, middle, center # Housing Typologies ### Urban and social organization --- # Four types of neighbourhoods | Type | Era | Social logic | | ----------------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------ | | Traditional (hutong/shikumen) | Imperial/Republican | Differential association | | Work-unit (danwei) | Socialist | Neo-traditionalism | | Urban village | Reform era | Transient, informal | | Gated community (xiaoqu) | Contemporary | Individualism, property | --- class: inverse, middle, center # Traditional Housing ## Imperial/Republican era ### Differential association --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/回民胡同.jpg) # Beijing Hutong 胡同 .footnote[ - [Google Maps](https://maps.app.goo.gl/V6hiGeWNqBPr31169) ] --- # The Siheyuan (四合院) ### Beijing's courtyard houses - "four-sided enclosed courtyard" - organized along north-south axis (geomancy) - hierarchical spatial layout (elders in north, servants in south) - multiple generations living together ### The Hutong network - narrow alleys connecting siheyuan compounds - organic urban fabric, pedestrian scale - community life in shared spaces .footnote[ - [Beijing city structure and evolution](https://www.bbsr.bund.de/BBSR/EN/publications/IzR/2008/8/Contents/DL_TangKunzmann.pdf) - [Conservation Plan](https://tibetheritagefund.org/media/download/hutong_study.pdf) ] --- # Hutong today ### Between preservation and demolition - 拆 (chāi) - "to demolish" - painted on buildings marked for destruction - UNESCO-style preservation in selected areas - gentrification and tourism - new guidelines for renovation (2024) .footnote[ - [Example of Renovation](https://inter-lab.co.uk/The-Evolution-and-Space-Patterns-of-Beijing-Hutongs) - [BJ Municipality Guidelines](https://zjw.beijing.gov.cn/bjjs/xxgk/zcwj2024/gfxwj40/xxyx/436464671/2024060611455397127.pdf) ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/shikumen.jpeg) # Shanghai Shikumen 石库门 .footnote[ "Stone gate houses" ] --- # Shikumen architecture ### Shanghai's unique housing type (1850s-1940s) - hybrid Western-Chinese design - developed by British/French concession builders - longtang / lilong 弄堂 (community lanes) ### Key features - stone-framed entrance gates (石库门) - 2-3 story row houses - shared lane culture - at peak: housed 60% of Shanghai's population .footnote[ - [shikumen overview](https://thethinkingarchitect.wordpress.com/2015/10/21/chinese-puzzle-shifting-spatial-and-social-patterns-in-shanghai-shikumen-architecture/) - [Historical map comparison](https://www.shanghai-map.net/shtdt/multi-images/index.html) ] --- # Shikumen transformation ### From workers' housing to heritage site - Treaty of Nanking (1842) created foreign concessions - massive in-migration during Taiping Rebellion - became symbol of Old Shanghai nostalgia - Xintiandi (新天地): famous redevelopment project .footnote[ - [Virtual Shanghai](https://www.virtualshanghai.net/) ] --- class: inverse, middle, center # Socialist Urbanism ## The Danwei system (1949-1978) ### Neo-traditionalism --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/Cao_Yang_Yi_Cun.jpeg) # The socialist work unit 单位 .footnote[ Caoyang New Village, Shanghai (1952) ] --- # Danwei: a total institution ### 单位 (dānwèi) = work unit .row[ .column[ More than production units **"totalised social entities"** - housing - healthcare, education - food (canteens), recreation - social management ] .column[ ### Why "neo-traditionalism"? - replicates differential mode of association - territorial bonding (live where you work) - "a small-town climate" in the city - low mobility, stable networks ] ] .footnote[ - [Danwei overview](https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1338#) - [Caoyang New Village in Shanghai](https://en.planning.org.cn/nua/view?id=561) ] --- # "Communist neo-traditionalism" ### Andrew Walder's concept (1986) Despite revolution, **traditionalism continued** under socialism - permanent work-unit membership - close proximity between state and individuals - particularistic (not impersonal) relations - "organisational dependence" on the state ### The "totalised society" 总体性社会 - state controls all resources - no space outside the collective/public/state realm - society with "under-differentiated social structure" --- # The city as collection of danwei .row[ .column[ ### Industrialisation without urbanisation - city = collection of work-units + traditional neighbourhoods - no city-wide planning until 1990 - sectoral administration > municipal governance - work-units self-regulate land use ] .column[ ### The hukou system - ties people to their place of registration - rural/urban divide formalized - limited geographical mobility ] ] .footnote[ - [Graezer-Bideau REALTIME](https://realtimechina.net/files/REALTIME_Making-Digital-China_Chap02.pdf) ] --- class: inverse, middle, center # Urban villages ## The Reform and Opening era ### Transient, informal --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/baishizhou.jpeg) # Urban villages 城中村 .footnote[ Baishizhou, Shenzhen ] --- # What are urban villages? ### Villages swallowed by city expansion - farmers retained land ownership - built rental housing for migrants - "handshake buildings" (握手楼) - informal, dense, affordable ### Characteristics - high density, low rent - thriving informal economy - migrant worker housing - lack formal planning & services .footnote[ - [Baishizhou - Shenzhen Noted](https://shenzhennoted.com/2023/01/06/baishizhou-village-a-return-of-the-repressed-whats-in-a-name-mash-up/) - [Baishizhou - a photo journey](https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/life-dying-urban-village-photographic-journey-baishizhou/) ] --- # Urban villages today ### Tensions - demolition and redevelopment pressure - displacement of affordable housing - loss of urban diversity - debates: preserve or redevelop? .footnote[ - [Shenzhen master plans - ISOCARP](https://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/2162.pdf) - [slides - planning the SEZ](https://clementrenaud.com/talks/SCPo/#8) ] --- class: inverse, middle, center # Gated community (xiaoqu) ## Contemporary housing ### Individualism, property --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/山大乐水居小区.jpg) # Xiaoqu 小区 .footnote[ Gated residential compound ] --- # The Xiaoqu model .row[ .column[ ### Contemporary Chinese housing - gated residential compounds - property management companies - shared amenities (gardens, parking, gyms) - homeowner associations ] .column[ ### Key features - walls and security guards - internal roads (not public) - privatized urban space - mix of high-rises and mid-rises ] ] .footnote[ - [Vids](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%E6%88%91%E7%9A%84%E5%B0%8F%E5%8C%BA) - [Housing model xiaoqu](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Housing-Model-xiaoqu%3A-the-Expression-of-an-of-Wallenwein/d407349e1cdf348d23730d9f69fc1cea1a4ff845) - [Gates and walls](https://cityterritoryarchitecture.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40410-020-00122-x) ] --- # Scale of contemporary housing ### Mega-projects - Tiantongyuan (天通苑) in Beijing: 400,000+ residents - sometimes called "Asian largest residential compound" - built in late 1990s as affordable housing ### Renovated danwei - old work units transformed into mixed-use communities - example: Liuyun Xiaoqu in Guangzhou .footnote[ - [Tiantongyuan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiantongyuan) - [Renovated danwei](https://www.fareast.mobi/en/bestpractices/liuyun/Liuyun-Xiaoqu-From-Housing-Estate-to-Mixed-Use) ] --- class: inverse, middle, center # To summarize ### "Leaving the soil" --- # The urban revolution (1978-) ### China leaving the earth-bounded society - city becomes engine of economic growth - "workshop of the world" - urbanization: 18% (1978) → 65% (2024) - marketisation transforms social relations ### What changes? - from neo-traditionalism to individualism - from place-bounded to mobile - from differential association to contractual relations - state is "forced out" of its embedded position --- # Four types of neighbourhoods Each expressing a different state - society relationship | Type | Social logic | State-society | | ------------- | ------------------------ | ------------- | | Traditional | Differential association | Embedded | | Danwei | Neo-traditionalism | Totalised | | Urban village | Transience | Informal | | Xiaoqu | Property interests | Separated | --- # Next week ### Land: Governance and Territorial Reforms - How did China's land system shape urbanization? - Local Government Financing Vehicles (LGFV) - Case study: The Shenzhen SEZ ### To do - Start thinking about your "Made in China" object - Read: Ong, Lynette H. "State-Led Urbanization in China" --- class: inverse, middle, center # Questions? --- # References and further reading - Wu, Fulong. _Creating Chinese Urbanism._ UCL Press, 2022. - Ang, Yuen Yuen. _How China Escaped the Poverty Trap._ Cornell UP, 2016. - Graezer Bideau. "Planning: From Model to Modules" in _Realtime_, 2020. - Mars, Neville. _The Chinese Dream: A Society Under Construction_ - McGetrick & Jiang Jun. _Urban China Work in Progress_ ### Films / Documentaries - _Black Coal, Thin Ice_ (白日焰火) - Diao Yinan, 2014 - _The Chinese Mayor_ - Zhou Hao, 2014 .footnote[ [urbantransitions report on China's New Urbanisation](https://urbantransitions.global/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/China%E2%80%99s_New_Urbanisation_Opportunity_FINAL.pdf) ]