Home>Course>[CHES3007/CCSS3700] Urban China>CHES3007/CCSS3700

This upper-level course will review classic works as well as cutting-edge research on urban China. How has rapid, sweeping urbanization transformed China, once a largely agrarian society, within the past few decades? How did economic reforms, global capitalism, and other institutional forces shape the country’s urban transformations, and how did the grand processes of urbanization, in turn, come to be experienced and negotiated by different groups of people? How do we understand continuity and change in other aspects of Chinese social life—from family to work, from consumption to class formation, from the sense of self to expectations of the future—in the light of urbanization and urbanism?

With these leading questions in mind, we will explore the complexities of urban China through reading different empirical studies as well as reflecting on their theoretical implications. Our discussions will be transdisciplinary in nature, bringing together insights from anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, and sociologists, among others. Together, we will examine critical urban issues including urban citizenship, land politics, spatial inequalities, homeownership, and urban governance. Students will learn not just how to approach these issues from a variety of perspectives but also how the research on urban China can contribute to a broader understanding of social change and development.

Introduction

Rural-urban Divide

Migration

Space and Citizenship

Construction and Destruction

State, Market, and Land Politics

Rural Urbanization

Class and Homeownership

Speculation and Aspiration

Suspension and Disillusion