Description
Book Synopsis"An engaging ethnography of the very different ways in which individuals, families, and social strata in China are affected by the experience of homeownership."—Luigi Tomba, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Trade ReviewChina's rapid urbanisation process and an emerging real estate market have become an eye-catching phenomenon in academic research. It not only greatly transformed the landscape of Chinese cities, but greatly altered the way urban Chinese live and think about their private space, public space and their traditional communities....Overall, this book is easy to read. It can be used as a textbook for undergraduate or postgraduate students to understand the spatialisation of class. It can also provide rich information to academics seeking to understand how individuals, the state, corporations, homeowners and other social groups reposition themselves during housing regime change in China.
-- Yawei Chen * International Journal of Housing Policy *
This book is an excellent ethnography of urban middle-class living in the midst of rapid transformation in China's postsocialism. The validity of Zhang’s ethnography is enhanced by its frankness, her willingness to be honest about those with whom she mingled so closely in her hometown.... Especially given the difficulty in gaining access to the lives of middle-class people, who prefer the privacy of living in gated communities, this book is ethnography at its best. It will be of interest to scholars working in Chinese market transition, class and social stratification, state-society relations, and urban studies, as well as those who are interested in empirically-grounded social and cultural theories.
-- Seio Nakajima * Journal of Asian Studies *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Farewell to Welfare Housing
2. Unlocking the Real Estate Machine
3. Emerging Landscapes of Living
4. Spatializing Class
5. Accumulation by Displacement
6. Recasting Self-Worth
7. Privatizing Community Governing and Its Limits
EpilogueNotes
References
Index
