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 3 # 网 ## Infrastructure And Planning Networks #### 10 Feb 2026 --- class: inverse, center, middle ## Character of the week # 网 [Purple Culture](https://www.purpleculture.net/dictionary-details/?word=网) / [Hanziyuan](https://hanziyuan.net/) / [CUHK dic](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=网) --- class: inverse # What we will cover today - any questions about the Made in China assignment? - Theory: "infrastructure thinking" - Examples: how to think about infrastructure in China - Case study: the Shenzhen SEZ / Pearl River Delta --- class: inverse, middle, center # Introduction ### Infrastructural Thinking in China --- # Thinking about Infrastructure ### (Rippa & Oakes) - Infrastructure is not an inert or stable basis, but rather **unstable assemblages** of human and non-human agencies - Infrastructure has hidden **techno-political dimensions** through which intended and unintended outcomes emerge from material dispositions and effects - Theorizing infrastructural basis of China's approach to development and statecraft ### Key Questions - What novel understandings can be had by "thinking infrastructurally" about China's development over the past few decades? - In what sense is state power in China infrastructural? .footnote[ Rippa, Alessandro and Tim Oakes. "Infrastructural Thinking in China: A Research Agenda." The China Quarterly 255 (2023): 547-559 ] --- # Infrastructure / State Power - China's ability to deliver infrastructure **"against all odds"** - Examples: Wuhan hospitals (COVID-19), SARS hospital (2003), stimulus packages, high-speed rail response to Wenzhou crash - Infrastructure speaks to a very particular way in which **state power is deployed, enacted, mediated and experienced** in China ### Infrastructure with Chinese Characteristics (Oakes) - Chinese infrastructure as **distinct geographical formation** - **State-led infrastructure development model** - Infrastructure as **territorial strategy** .footnote[ Oakes, Tim. "Geographies of infrastructure III: Infrastructure with Chinese characteristics." Progress in Human Geography 46, no. 4 (2022): 1009-1020 See also: [China Made Project Briefs](https://chinamadeproject.net/china-made-briefs/) for empirical case studies ] --- class: inverse, middle, center # Part 2: Examples ### Ancient and new --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/yu-the-great.jpg) # Yu the Great Controlling Water ## 大禹治水 - Yu the great ### Foundational infrastructure thinking in ancient China - Connection to water management and flood control as state responsibility - Mythological for state-led infrastructure governance --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/grand-canal.jpg) # The Grand Canal ## 大运河 ### Historical significance and engineering achievement - 1760km, completed in 609 AC - Ibn Battuta's account (14th century traveler's perspective) .footnote[ see [maps](https://www.citedelarchitecture.fr/fr/article/grand-canal-and-its-national-cultural-park) image from [MET](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/72326) ] --- # Other Ancient Infrastructure - **Great Wall** - defensive infrastructure - **Ancient irrigation systems** - water management networks - **Historical transportation networks** - connecting regions --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/wuhan-bridge.jpg) class: inverse # Demonstrative role of infrastructure ### the Wuhan bridge ### Today: Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge --- # Three Gorges Dam ## 三峡大坝 ### Symbol of modern infrastructure ambition - Project since Republican era - in service since 2003 - Social and environmental impacts: movie [Still life 三峡好人](https://youtu.be/6kIWx0e_VKQ?t=489) by Jia Zhangke --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/china-engineer.jpg) class: inverse # The Dream of the Red Engineers ### Engineering culture in governance - Technical solutions to social/economic problems - Infrastructure as development strategy - Connection between technical expertise and state power - Engineers in the Politburo .footnote[ Andreas, Joel. Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China’s New Class. Stanford University Press, 2009. http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=16889. ] --- # High-Speed Rail Networks - World's largest HSR network (40,000+ km) - ex. annual CNY migration used to be by train (春运) ### "Chinese Speed" (中国速度) as Imaginary - Socialist era: hierarchical, semi-military, focused on punctuality and discipline - Post-1978: embrace of high-speed development as technoscientific achievement ### Historical Context - **1978**: Deng Xiaoping's Shinkansen ride - foundational moment ("I just felt it is so fast, as if someone was whipping at the back") - Speed as manifestation of **technoscientific rationale**, focus on acceleration - **7.23 Wenzhou crash (2011)**: challenged the speed narrative, led to safety reassessments .footnote[ Xiao, Zhongxian. "Conceiving Chinese Speed: Sociotechnical Imaginaries of High-Speed Rail in Post-1978 China." Made in China Journal, December 22, 2023. ] --- # Digital Infrastructure ### Digital infrastructure as territorial strategy - Digital platforms becoming foundational systems - Techno-nationalist regulation and cyber-sovereignty - Infrastructure thinking beyond physical systems - Platform infrastructuralization .footnote[ Plantin, J-C. "WeChat as infrastructure." LSE, 2018 ] --- # Geopolitical Strategy ### Belt and Road Initiative Context - Infrastructure beyond domestic use, projection of power globally - State-owned developers (Cosco, China Merchants) - Constellations of relationships, not just physical infrastructure - Connection to SEZ model export ### An alternative to walls and fortress policies ? - Historical context: concessions, Hong Kong prototype, SEZs as border typologies - "Port-Parks-City" model (China Merchants) .footnote[ Hilgefort, Jason. "Belt and Road initiative: infrastructure as foreign policy." Domus, 2019 ] --- class: inverse, middle, center # 3 - The Pearl River Delta ### From SEZ to Greater Bay Area --- class: bg-contain background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/delta-riviere-perles-corridor-innovation-carte.png) # The Pearl River Delta --- class: bg-contain background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/map-grumbach-renaud.png) --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/PRD_history.jpg) # Legacy of a Global History .footnote.small[ A trade port in Guangdong at the end of the 19th Century - source: [Wright, Arnold (1908)](https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentury00wriguoft) - [Charting the Pearl River Delta](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bill-Jeffery/publication/337533141_Charting_the_Pearl_River_Delta/links/5ddcd51b92851c1fedb1ecb6/Charting-the-Pearl-River-Delta.pdf) ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/computing-china.jpeg) # The Cultural Revolution ## (1966-1976) ### Background --- class:inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/great-exodus-hk.webp) ## The Great Exodus to HK ### Looking for a new heaven .footnote[ Four "freedom swimmers" are led away by police for questioning at Tai Po Kau in May 1971. Photo: Chu Ming-hoi (source : [SCMP](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1126786/forgotten-stories-huge-escape-hong-kong)) ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/xizhongxun.jpeg) # 经济特区 .footnote[ 早春 - 大潮起珠江 (40年展，中国国家美术馆) <small>(g) Hu YaoBang, Ye Jianying, Deng Xiaoping (d) Yang Shangkun, Gu Mu</small> ] --- class: background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/shenzhen_shangu_map.png) ## The Special Economic Zone .footnote[ 早春 - 大潮起珠江 (40 年展，中国国家美术馆) ] --- class:inverse # "We should dare to experiment and break a new path. That is the important lesson to be learned from Shenzhen." [Deng Xiaoping](https://dengxiaopingworks.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/excerpts-from-talks-given-in-wuchang-shenzhen-zhuhai-and-shanghai/) - Jan 20, 1992 in Shenzhen during the Southern Tour .col-one-half[ [](http://www.china.org.cn/china/CPC_90_anniversary/2011-04/19/content_22392494.htm) ] --- background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/shenzhen-planning-1996-2010.jpg) class: inverse ## Shenzhen Master Plan (1996) .footnote[ Shenzhen Municipal Government in O'Donnell ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/talks/mythologie/img/dagongmei.jpeg) # 打工妹 ### Migrant workers .footnote.inverse[ image: Shenzhen News, 1987 ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/xia_hai.jpeg) # 下海 ### Going into business .footnote[ image: Taiwan Mobile (大哥大) ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/baishizhou.jpeg) # Urban villages ### Housing infrastructure .footnote.inverse[ source: O'Donnell, 2021 Note: Urban villages are covered in detail in Week 6 (Migrations) and Week 1 (Ancient to New) ] --- class: background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/third_front.jpeg) # The Third Front ### Industrial relocation --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/ZHOU-The-PLA-engineering-corps-entering-Shenzhen-1980.jpeg) # The Engineering Corps (1980) ### Creation of the SEZ .footnote.inverse[ source: Zhou, 2021 ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/duwang.jpg) # Hong Kong (and Taiwan) ### Cultural and economic influence .footnote[ Very strong cultural influence ] --- background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/longhua.jpg) # Longhua Industrial District ### Manufacturing infrastructure .footnote[ Home of Foxconn/Hon Hai Longhua plant. Incorporated in the SEZ in 2010 .small[(Zou, 2014)] ] --- background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/shenzhen-map.jpg) class: inverse # The planning of Shenzhen > *"Chinese urban planning is not top-down but rather operates from small [projects] to large [plan]"* --- Huang Weiwen, Shenzhen Center for Design Director .footnote[ .small[ quote from O'Donnell, 2016 - map : Ng and Tang, 2004 ] ] --- background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/shenzhen-2010-2014-plan.jpg) class: inverse # Shenzhen Master Plan (2010) .footnote[ (Shenzhen Municipal Government 2010) [Shenzhen master plans - ISOCARP](https://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/2162.pdf) ] --- # "Shenzhen Speed" (深圳速度) - Shenzhen International Trade Centre (国贸大厦) - 163-meter-tall building started on November 1st 1982. - Completed early 1985 - "Deng’s Speech Hall" (邓公厅) --- background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/massive-flyover-before.jpg) # The "Shenzhen speed" ### Work started Jan. 29. ## --- class: inverse background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/massive-flyover-after.jpg) ### .and was completed by Feb. 6 .footnote[ source : [Eye Shenzhen - Massive flyover dismantled at Shenzhen Speed ](http://www.eyeshenzhen.com/content/2019-02/13/content_21404674.htm) ] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/bitcoin-mine.jpeg) # Real-time technology making .footnote.small[Source : Vice] --- class: inverse background-image: url(/talks/shenzhen-the-making-of-technology/img/cny-robodance.gif) # Growing and nurturing giants .footnote.small[ 2017 Chinese New Year TV show featuring a ballet of robots by Shenzhen company *UBTech* dancing with the famous singer Sun Nan - source: CCTV ] --- background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/Shenzhens-BYD-taxi-fleet.jpg) # New industries .footnote[ BYD Taxis in Shenzhen ]