The India China Institute is excited to announce a new edited book from former ICI Fellow Jonathan Bach, along with Mary Ann O’Donnell and Winnie Wong: Learning from Shenzhen: China’s Post-Mao Experiment from Special Zone to Model City. The book is published by the University of Chicago Press (2017) and is available now. Here is the book description from the publisher:
This multidisciplinary volume, the first of its kind, presents an account of China’s 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 China’s special economic zones, Shenzhen is today a UNESCO City of Design and the hub of China’s 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 world’s most dynamic metropolises, this collective history uses the urban case study to explore critical problems and possibilities relevant for modern-day China and beyond.
To learn more about this book, or to read excerpts and purchase a copy, visit the publisher’s website here.
The authors will be doing a book launch in Shenzhen on January 14th, so if you are in China near the city, check out the event in person. Details in the poster below and here.
