Learning from Shenzhen: China's Post-Mao Experiment from Special Zone to Model City

ISBN: 022640112X

Author: O'Donnell, Mary Ann

Condition: New

This multidisciplinary volume, the first of its kind, presents an account of Chinas contemporary transformation via one of its most important yet overlooked cities: Shenzhen, located just north of Hong Kong. In recent decades, Shenzhen has transformed from an experimental site for economic reform into a dominant city at the crossroads of the global economy. The first of Chinas special economic zones, Shenzhen is today a UNESCO City of Design and the hub of Chinas emerging technology industries.Bringing China studies into dialogue with urban studies, the contributors explore how the post-Mao Chinese appropriation of capitalist logic led to a dramatic remodeling of the Chinese city and collective life in China today. These essays show how urban villages and informal institutions enabled social transformation through cases of public health, labor, architecture, gender, politics, education, and more. Offering scholars and general readers alike an unprecedented look at one of the worlds most dynamic metropolises, this collective history uses the urban case study to explore critical problems and possibilities relevant for modern-day China and beyond.