end of an era? periodizing shenzhen urban villages
A few months ago, I published an essay that periodizes the development of urban villages in Shenzhen. It provides a more nuanced context of how we arrived at the public shaming of Shatou during the...
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formalizing boundaries within the city
One of the results of grid management (see Covid Among Us for details) has been the hardening of the city’s informal boundaries. However, this process has been ongoing for several decades in part via...
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where have all the young folks gone…
no time passing… The melody is Pete Seeger’s, but the context is Shenzhen. Last night I was talking with friends, older friends of many years who have lived in Shenzhen since the early 1990s. We ended...
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baishizhou, January 2023
Photos from Baishizhou, Dec 31, 2023. Three notes: 1, the Baishizhou mural has been replaced with a Shahe mural, suggesting that the area’s rebranding is proceeding apace; 2, the covid regulation...
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baishizhou village: a return of the repressed-what’s in a name mash-up
Most are aware that the area we once knew as “Baishizhou” was located north of Shennan Road, comprising four villages–Shangbaishi, Xiabaishi, Tangtou and Xintang. The neighborhood’s name derived from...
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baishizhou blues
Demolishing an urban village, especially one as large as Baishizhou is a long and surreal process. Different sections of the village are at different stages of demolition, and while some buildings are...
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同组: unified rentals
A few weeks ago, there were protests in Baimang (白芒) Village about the new “unified rental” plan. (Perhaps “consolidated” would be a better translation?) In a nutshell: the government will become the...
View Articlethe cultural geography of xixiang
The number 1 subway line stops at Pingzhou (坪洲), which once upon a time was a sandbar near the coast of the Nantou Sea. The station is at the edge of Qianhai, but near the former center of restored...
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chegongmiao to xinzhou (another futian)
The walk from Chegongmiao to Xinzhou used to be a walk from the factories to Xiasha and Shangsha, urban villages where workers and their families lived. Then there were upgrades and a spurt of...
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bogang, shajing, bao’an, shenzhen
Shajing is a large subdistrict in northern Bao’an. Until the road system took shape and the second line ceased to operate as a strict boundary (both circa 2003-4), most locals went to Changping, a...
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