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SUMMARY:Where is China’s Urbanisation Heading? - Yunlian Chen
DTSTART:20130130T130000Z
DTEND:20130130T140000Z
UID:TALK42734@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Meredith M. Hale
DESCRIPTION:The rapid pace of China’s urbanization since the 1980s has t
 otally changed the appearance\,  unban urban infrastructure and social str
 ucture of almost all the cities in China. Now\, after 30 years\, what are 
 these new\, modern cities like to live in? China’s urban redevelopment o
 utwardly appears to be extremely successful -- endless numbers of high-ris
 e buildings have been constructed\, completely transforming the skyline of
  China’s her cities. However\, what has really happened to these cities?
  How\, for example\, has the social structure in these cities been changed
  on account of sudden large-scale urbanization? This seminar attempts to a
 nswer these questions by exploring the following three points:\n\n1. Bulld
 ozing the past to build the future: Looking at China’s Main Cities\nChin
 a’s main cities today\, including Shanghai\, Tianjin\, Wuhan and Canton\
 , developed on the foundations of the former trading ports constructed by 
 Europeans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The urban infrastruct
 ure and facilities in these trading ports played important roles in the ec
 onomic activities and lives of the cities’ inhabitants of these cities f
 rom 1945 to the 1990s. Unfortunately\, most of these historic urban struct
 ures and buildings have been razed to the ground in the past 30 years\, an
 d in many cases Chinese architectural historians have not had the opportun
 ity to evaluate or record what was there in these historic trading ports o
 r their architecture.\n\n2. Tourism and Environmental destruction: Histori
 c Towns\nDue to the booming tourist industry of recent years\, thousands o
 f tourists have been rushing flooding into China’s famous historic towns
  every dayyear. In order to attract more tourists\, the local authorities 
 have renewed and repainted the most iconic buildings\, sometimes in a tast
 eless and gaudy style\, while little attention has been paid to town house
 s or the natural environment. In some riverside towns\, for example\, the 
 infrastructure is so poor that there are not even any adequate garbage dis
 posal facilities\, or not to mention legal regulations governing them\, an
 d both tourists and shop owners are forced to throw their garbage into the
  rivers\, which in fact has a detrimental effect on tourism. As a result\,
  the natural environment in these traditional towns is in decline\, while 
 the tourist industry is developing on such a large scale that it is out of
  control by the authorities\; the existing authorities do not have the ski
 lls they need to maintain the natural and historic environment of these to
 wns.\n\n3. Transformation of in the Social Structure: The Gap between the 
 Rich and the Poor\nIn order to acquire land for new development projects i
 n city centers\, a special eviction policy has been implemented in every a
 ll Chinese cities\, which forces millions of residents to move from the ci
 ty to countryside. At the same time\, many new\, fashionable mansions have
  been built in the city centers for investment the purposes of investment.
  Only the very wealthy can afford to buy these expensive mansions\, and th
 ey are the ones who now live in the cities\, instead of the former citizen
 s\, who are too poor. In this way\, China’s eviction policy has changed 
 the social structure of the cities. Recently\, many citizens have resisted
  the government’s eviction this policy. Moreover\, developers are increa
 singly unable to pay the expensive compensation requested by the citizens\
 ; thus\, behind the main commercial or residential areas\, many old and po
 or houses still remain\, and the situation cannot be easily resolved. When
  one compares the modern mansions of the rich to the dilapidated old house
 s of the poor\, one can easily sense the tension between the rich and the 
 poor.\n \nYunlian Chen is a researcher from the University of Nagoya\, Jap
 an. She came to Wolfson as a visiting scholar under the JSPS oversea visit
 ing program for young researchers of 2012-13. Her PhD thesis Research on U
 rban Growth Process of the Shanghai Foreigner Settlement: From the View of
  Urban Development Conducted by Britain and Japan (March 2010\, Kyoto Pref
 ecture University) focused on the process by which the Shanghai foreign se
 ttlement was formed from the beginning of 19th century to the early 20th c
 entury.
LOCATION:Combination Room\, Wolfson College
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