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 10 # 外 ## Abroad: The Export Of The Chinese City #### 14 Apr 2026 --- class: inverse, center, middle ## Character of the week # 外 [Purple Culture](https://www.purpleculture.net/dictionary-details/?word=外) / [Hanziyuan](https://hanziyuan.net/) / [CUHK dic](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=外) --- class: inverse, middle # Today Part I — China Abroad (1h15) 1. China becoming global 2. Shenzhen: the model 3. Exporting the SEZ — from Shekou to Djibouti 4. The counterflow — Xiaobei, Guangzhou Part II — Biography of a Solar Panel (~25 min) --- class: inverse, middle # The export of the city --- background-image: url(/talks/atlas-of-data/img/UABB_CARTOGRAPHIES-OF-PLANETARY-URBANISATION_Topalovic.jpg) .inverse[ # Planetory Urbanisation ] .footnote.inverse[ Schmid, Brenner & Topalovic, 2018 ] --- background-image: url(/talks/atlas-of-data/img/gravity-shift.jpg) .inverse[ # Shift in Global Economic Gravity Center ] .footnote.inverse[ McKinsey / Quah, 2011 ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/deng-cowboy.png) # China's Changing International Posture ### Transition from regional to global power .footnote[ - used to be "lay low", now change of tone (wolf wariors) - [Jiang Shigong - _Empire and World Order_](https://www.readingthechinadream.com/jiang-shigong-empire-and-world-order.html) - [Ren Jiantao on diplomacy](https://www.eastisread.com/p/moral-idealism-the-political-logic) ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/chongqing.jpg) # Cities as platforms for international influence ### 19 city clusters, 9 mega urban regions .footnote[ - private club of "global" cities - Pic of Chongqing - [source](https://www.behance.net/gallery/101384565/ChongQing-the-New-World-Habitat?locale=fr_FR) ] --- class: inverse, middle # Shenzhen: the model ### from Shekou to the "Shenzhen Model" --- # The Minghua: the revolutionary backstory ### Zhou Taomo (2021): _Revolution Offshore, Capitalism Onshore_ - From Minghua (明华) to Sea World (海上世界) - 1970s: carrying revolution, anti-colonial support across the Global South - 1978: from Vietnam to Japan - 1980s: repurposed as floating hotel in Shekou, Shenzhen's first SEZ - symbol of change of political economy from Mao to Deng > BRI corridors follow Cold War-era shipping routes. Geography is inherited, ideology changes. .footnote[ Zhou, Taomo. "Revolution Offshore, Capitalism Onshore." _Made in China Journal_, 2021. ] --- # China's accession to WTO (2001) ### "Shenzhen, Who Has Abandoned You?" (Jan 2003) - Dec 2001: China joins World Trade Organization after 15 years of negotiation - Get rid SEZ special conditions is part of the deal - immediate effect: tariff reductions, market access, foreign investment rules for Coastal cities - Shenzhen and the SEZs move from domestic experiment to global export platform .footnote[ context: this is the subject of the book I'm currently writing ] --- # "Shenzhen Model" as ideological device ### Chen Siyu (2024) not just infrastructure — a narrative - 2019: "Shenzhen Model City Initiative" - Shenzhen as proof: authoritarian governance + market reform = rapid development - travels through BRI as legitimation device, not blueprint > "if Shenzhen can do it, so can you — with Chinese partners" ### what exactly is in the box? - physical form (zoning, infrastructure, factories..) - governance logic (SEZ legislation, fast approvals, etc) - the story — top-down planning works .footnote[ Chen, Siyu. "The Soft Power of Hard Tech — The 'Shenzhen Model' as an Ideological Device." _Journal of Urban Technology_, 2024. ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/Cities-of-the-GBA.png) # Regional integration ### The Greater Bay Area --- class: inverse, middle, center # Belt & Road Initiative ### Global networks of cities --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/xi-plane-pakistan.jpg) # The Belt and Road Initiative (2013) ### 一带一路 — the vehicle for exporting the model --- # BRI urban exports ### what gets packaged and shipped? .row[ .column[ - 150+ countries, 60% of global population, 30%+ of world GDP - announced Kazakhstan (Sept 2013) and Indonesia (Oct 2013) - hard infrastructure (2013–16) → energy + digital (2016–19) → green + health (2019–24) - not a single plan — a branding umbrella for diverse bilateral deals ] .column[ - **Hard infrastructure & transit-oriented development (TOD)** - Roads, bridges, ports, utilities - **Planned urban areas** - Special Economic Zones (SEZs) - Urban megaprojects (like new capitals) - Eco-city and low-carbon zones - **Governance & policy transfer** - Planning systems, zoning laws - **Technology & surveillance** - Smart city platforms (Huawei, ZTE, Alibaba) - Surveillance networks (AI, facial recognition) ] ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/silk-road-ancient.webp) # The Silk road .footnote.small[  ] .footnote[ - very early on, China had "global" cities: ancient times, Shanghai 20s ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/silk-road.jpg) # The NEW Silk road  --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/bri-china-from-pole.svg) # Nodes in global networks ### City networks along economic corridors .footnote[ - 20th century ["Networked city"](https://www.atributosurbanos.es/en/terms/networked-city/) - [Fukuyama - exporting the Chinese model](https://www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/china-one-belt-one-road-strategy-by-francis-fukuyama-2016-01) ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/footprint-global-ports.png) # Exporting infrastructures --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/huawei-campus.jpeg) # Chinese standards becoming global norms .footnote[ ## The Huawei campus in Longhua, Shenzhen source: The Atlantic ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/china-city-johannesburg.jpg) # New spaces around the world ### Post-Chinatown .footnote[ China city in Johannesburg - source: Quartz ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/Merics_Digital-Silkroad-Tracker_RGB_final_web_0.jpeg) # Digital Silk Road ### Cables, smart city platforms, etc .footnote[ - Smart city platforms (Huawei, ZTE, Alibaba) deployed across 80+ countries - Wakabi & Roberts (2026): Chinese AI surveillance mapped across 11 African countries ] --- class: inverse, middle # Exporting the SEZ ### from Shekou to Djibouti — what happens when the model travels? --- # Exporting the SEZ model - 100+ zones across Africa, Asia, Latin America - "Going Global" strategy — government-to-government agreements - fast setup, manufacturing focus — replicating the Shenzhen playbook - but: local conditions, land rights, political systems resist direct transplant ### Huang & Pollio (2023) > not replicas — sites of negotiation where Chinese industrial logic meets local political economy. Always a hybrid. --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/gwadars-zonal-master-plan.png) # Gwadar, Pakistan .footnote[ - deep-sea port, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - $1.62 billion; new city masterplan, smart city ambitions - environmental & community concerns ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/colombo-port-city.webp) # Colombo Port City, Sri Lanka .footnote[ - $1.4 billion land reclamation, China Harbour Engineering Co. - 269 hectares new urban land — financial city, green spaces, TOD - ["new Dubai or a Chinese enclave?"](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59993386) ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/aiib-founding-members.png) # Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ### Financing the export .footnote[ - founded 2015, HQ Beijing — alternative to World Bank / ADB - $100 billion capitalization; China largest shareholder (~26.5%) - 106 members (2024), including most European countries - project loans + co-financing with World Bank, ADB, EBRD - gives BRI projects a multilateral veneer — not just bilateral Chinese loans ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/Africa-SEZs.png) # SEZs in Africa .footnote[ [UNDP comparative study](https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/cn/UNDP-CH-Comparative-Study-on-SEZs-in-Africa-and-China---ENG.pdf) ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/ethiopia-IEZ.jpg) # Ethiopia's Eastern Industrial Zone --- # Ethiopia's Eastern Industrial Zone ### Bräutigam & Tang (2011); Giannecchini & Taylor (2018) near Addis Ababa — earliest Chinese SEZ in Africa (2007) - https://english.news.cn/20240311/bd944b1b8f5f40ffafcd253c144853e7/c.html [pics](https://en.planning.org.cn/belt/view?id=1371) - developed by Jiangsu Qiyuan Group (private, from Jiangsu — not a state giant) - anchor tenant: Huajian Shoes — relocated production from Dongguan - 3,500+ Ethiopian workers at peak - making shoes for Nine West, Guess, Naturalizer - initial struggles: infrastructure gaps, recruitment - Giannecchini & Taylor: catalyst for development, or enclave with limited spillover? .footnote[ Bräutigam & Tang. "African Shenzhen." _Journal of Modern African Studies_ 49(1), 2011. Giannecchini, Philip, and Ian Taylor. "The Eastern Industrial Zone in Ethiopia: Catalyst for Development?" _Geoforum_ 88, 2018. ] --- # Ethiopia: unpacking the enclave ### Fei & Liao (2020) - beyond the "enclave" framing — the zone is not static, it evolves - adapted to Ethiopian labour law, local supply chains over time - Ethiopian government used the zone for its own industrial policy (GTP — Growth and Transformation Plan) - China provides template and capital - a negotiated tool for Ethiopian state-led industrialization - the zone works — but not as a replica of Shenzhen .footnote[ Fei, Ding, and Chuan Liao. "Chinese Eastern Industrial Zone in Ethiopia: Unpacking the Enclave." _Third World Quarterly_ 41(4), 2020. ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/lekki-free-trade-zone.jpg) # Nigeria's Lekki Free Trade Zone --- # Nigeria's Lekki Free Trade Zone ### Bräutigam & Tang (2011); António & Ma (2015) Lekki peninsula, east of Lagos — largest Chinese SEZ project in West Africa - joint venture: CCECC + Lagos state government + Lekki Worldwide Investments - 60% Chinese ownership, 40% Nigerian — governance is shared - 16,500 hectares planned; masterplan by Chinese planners - original plan substantially modified: land claims, environmental concerns, community resistance [masterplan](https://api-ir.unilag.edu.ng/server/api/core/bitstreams/67d2b70f-997f-443d-9219-8680f6278a8e/content) also check [land](https://nigeriapropertycentre.com/for-sale/land/lagos/lekki/lekki-free-trade-zone/showtype) .footnote[ António, Nelson, and Ma Shaozhuang. "China's Special Economic Zone in Africa." _African Studies_ 74(3), 2015. ] --- # Lekki: the Lagos context - Lagos already has its own SEZ tradition (export processing zones since 1990s) - Lekki competes with Dangote's private refinery zone next door - Nigerian federal/state politics shape what China can actually do - result: Chinese capital + Nigerian political economy = hybrid governance - now a functioning zone — a co-design, not a transplant > "These are not outposts of China. They are spaces where China and the host country negotiate what development means." — Huang Zhengli .footnote[ Bräutigam & Tang, "African Shenzhen," 2011. ] --- # Lekki: land, compensation, resistance ### Tagliarino et al. (2018); Lawanson & Agunbiade (2017) - land expropriation under Nigeria's Land Use Act (1978) — state governor can revoke "rights of occupancy" - Lekki communities (Ibeju-Lekki) lost farmland, fishing access, ancestral land - compensation inadequate: lump-sum payments, no relocation plan, no livelihood restoration - protests, court cases, community organizing against both Lagos state and Chinese developers - Tagliarino et al.: Nigeria's expropriation law fails international standards (FAO Voluntary Guidelines) - SEZ as dispossession — not just a technical planning tool .footnote[ Tagliarino et al. "Compensation for Expropriated Community Farmland in Nigeria." _Land_ 7(1), 2018. Lawanson, Taibat, and Muyiwa Agunbiade. "Land Governance and Megacity Projects in Lagos." _Area Development and Policy_ 3(1), 2017. ] --- # Djibouti: "deviation" of the Shekou model ### Wan, Zhang, Xue & Xiao (2020) ~1 million people, postcolonial city-state, mouth of the Red Sea - 2013: China Merchants Group (same company as Shekou, 1979) wins concession ### The pitch - replicate Shekou — SEZ + port + logistics hub - adjacent to French military base - Somali refugees - no industrial hinterland | > $3.5 billion across port, rail to Addis Ababa, free trade zone .footnote[ Wan et al. "Djibouti: From a Colonial Fabrication to the Deviation of the 'Shekou Model'." _Journal of Urban History_ 46(1), 2020. ] --- # Djibouti: what deviated from the plan? ### Shekou assumed: 1. manufacturing hinterland (PRD) — Djibouti has none 2. cheap migrant labour — tiny labour market 3. domestic market (1bn consumers) — Djibouti is transit only 4. gradual institutional learning — built fast, from above ### what emerged - logistics and military node, not manufacturing cluster - China's first overseas military base (2017) next to the free trade zone - geopolitical asset, not industrial incubator > the model traveled but became something unplanned: a military-logistics platform in a multi-power game .footnote[ Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway (759 km, $4bn, electrified) — 3 days to 12 hours. Who benefits? ] --- # Three zones, three deviations ### the model never arrives intact | | Djibouti | Ethiopia | Nigeria / Lekki | | --------------------- | ----------------------------- | ---------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | who drives | China Merchants Group | Jiangsu private firm | CCECC + Lagos state JV | | what the host does | plays China off vs. France/US | co-opts zone for GTP | community resistance rewrites the plan | | what the zone becomes | military-logistics platform | state industrialization tool | contested co-design | | type of deviation | geopolitical mutation | state co-optation | democratic friction | ### Ang Yuen Yuen: "directed improvisation" - China's own development was never a fixed blueprint — local governments improvised within broad central directives (Ang, 2016) - the same logic applies abroad: the SEZ template is a starting point, not a script - host countries do their own "directed improvisation" — adapting, resisting, co-opting - the "enclave" framing misses this: zones are porous, negotiated, evolving > the variable is not China's model — it's the host political system .footnote[ Ang, Yuen Yuen. _How China Escaped the Poverty Trap_. Cornell UP, 2016. Ang, Yuen Yuen. "Directed Improvisation in Administrative Financing." 2017. ] --- # Bypassing Municipal Government ### Ding Fei (2026) — Cornell - Today: 267 projects, 6 cities - $37 billion in Chinese infrastructure financing across Addis Ababa, Kinshasa, Lagos, Luanda, Lusaka, Nairobi (2000–2021) - 74% completion rate, most within 2–3 years — impressive speed - but: none of the 267 deals financed through municipal governments - all negotiated via national ministries or state agencies - cities implement and operate the infrastructure — but have no say in planning it ### the urban governance problem > "no external partner can substitute for strong city institutions, transparent financial systems, and coordinated planning" .footnote[ Fei, Ding. ["China Is Helping Build Africa's Cities, but Its Approach Sidelines Local Urban Planners."](https://theconversation.com/china-is-helping-build-africas-cities-but-its-approach-sidelines-local-urban-planners-and-residents-278209) _The Conversation_, March 2026. Same author as "Unpacking the Enclave" (Ethiopia case). ] --- class: inverse, middle # 4. The counterflow ### "low-end globalization" and the city as two-way space --- # Chinese traders in Addis Ababa ### Huang Zhengli (2019): Rwanda Market - Chinese migrants in Addis Ababa created Rwanda Market — only food market for Chinese products - serving construction workers, engineers, entrepreneurs - informal urban infrastructure mirroring Xiaobei — but in reverse > BRI projects top-down connectivity. Actual human geography of China-Africa is informal, messy, two-directional. .footnote[ Huang, Zhengli. "Rwanda Market in Addis Ababa." _Journal of Current Chinese Affairs_ 48(3), 2019. ] --- # China's Second Continent ### Howard W. French (2014) - ~1 million Chinese migrants moved to Africa — not as state envoys but independently - small entrepreneurs, construction workers, farmers, traders - French (former NYT bureau chief) traveled across the continent interviewing them - not the BRI narrative: these are individual decisions, personal risk, informal networks .footnote[ French, Howard W. _China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa_. Knopf, 2014. ] --- # Xiaobei (小北): "Chocolate City" ### African enclave in Guangzhou - Xiaobei district (Yuexiu), 100,000–200,000 African traders at peak (2000s–2010s) - sourcing manufactured goods for Africa — textiles, electronics, small commodities - mosques, African restaurants, mobile money agents, freight forwarders - transnational urban space produced from below — no masterplan, no government agreement > Li, Ma & Xue (2009): "the making of a new transnational urban space" .footnote[ Li, Zhigang, Laurence J. C. Ma, and Desheng Xue. "An African Enclave in China." _Eurasian Geography and Economics_ 50(6), 2009. ] --- # "Low-end globalization" ### Mathews & Yang (2012) - small capital, semi-legal channels - personal networks, not state agreements - copy goods, bulk buying, container shipping ### what happened - visa restrictions after 2010 — sharp decline - COVID-19 (2020): targeted testing, evictions — international incident - today: Xiaobei diminished, trade networks shifted partly online ### planning question how did Guangzhou govern — and often ignore — this informal transnational urbanism? .footnote[ Mathews, Gordon, and Yang Yang. "How Africans Pursue Low-End Globalization in Hong Kong and Mainland China." _Journal of Current Chinese Affairs_ 41(2), 2012. Student work: Arsène, Ian Piolo & Yussif (2024–25) wrote an excellent final project on Xiaobei — see their paper for detail. ] --- class: inverse, middle, center # Case Study ## Biography of a Solar Panel ### 光伏：两座城市，一个产业 --- ### → [see slides](/chinese-cities/weeks/2026-03-17-solar-panel-biography)