George C.S. Lin

China’s urban growth is unparalleled in the history of global urbanization, and will undoubtedly create huge challenges to China as it modernizes its society. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this book presents an overview of the radical transformation of China’s urban space since the 1970s, arguing that to study the Chinese urbanization process one must recognize the distinctive political economy of China. After a long period as a planned socialist economy, China’s rapid entry into the global economy has raised suggestions that modernization in China will inevitably result in urban patterns and features like those of cities in developed market economies. This book argues that this is unlikely in the short term, because processes of urban transition in China must be interpreted through the lens of a unique and unprecedented juxtaposition of socialism and the market economy, which is leading to distinctive patterns of Chinese urbanization. Richly illustrated with maps, diagrams and in-depth case studies, this book will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars of urban economics and policy, geography, and the development of China.

China’s urban growth is unparalleled in the history of global urbanization, and will undoubtedly create huge challenges to China as it modernizes its society. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this book presents an overview of the radical transformation of China’s urban space since the 1970s, arguing that to study the Chinese urbanization process one must recognize the distinctive political economy of China. After a long period as a planned socialist economy, China’s rapid entry into the global economy has raised suggestions that modernization in China will inevitably result in urban patterns and features like those of cities in developed market economies. This book argues that this is unlikely in the short term, because processes of urban transition in China must be interpreted through the lens of a unique and unprecedented juxtaposition of socialism and the market economy, which is leading to distinctive patterns of Chinese urbanization. Richly illustrated with maps, diagrams and in-depth case studies, this book will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars of urban economics and policy, geography, and the development of China.

In the first systematic documentation of the pattern and processes of land development taking place in China in the last two decades George C.S Lin advocates a fresh and innovative approach that goes beyond the privatization debate to probe directly into the social and political origins of land development. He demonstrates the special and paradoxical nature of China’s land development and challenges the perceived notion of a causal relationship between property rights definition, efficient land use, and sustained economic growth. In contrast to the existing literature in which changes in urban and rural land are treated separately, the rural-urban interface is shown to be the most significant and contentious locus of land development where competition for land has been intensified and social conflicts frequently erupted.Theoretically provocative and empirically well-grounded, Developing China provides a systematic, insightful, and authoritative account of the enormous development of China’s precious land resources. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars, students, and professional practitioners in the fields of development studies, political economy, regional political ecology, planning, economics, geography, land use management, and sustainable development with a special focus on contemporary China under market transition.

In the first systematic documentation of the pattern and processes of land development taking place in China in the last two decades George C.S Lin advocates a fresh and innovative approach that goes beyond the privatization debate to probe directly into the social and political origins of land development. He demonstrates the special and paradoxical nature of China’s land development and challenges the perceived notion of a causal relationship between property rights definition, efficient land use, and sustained economic growth. In contrast to the existing literature in which changes in urban and rural land are treated separately, the rural-urban interface is shown to be the most significant and contentious locus of land development where competition for land has been intensified and social conflicts frequently erupted.Theoretically provocative and empirically well-grounded, Developing China provides a systematic, insightful, and authoritative account of the enormous development of China’s precious land resources. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars, students, and professional practitioners in the fields of development studies, political economy, regional political ecology, planning, economics, geography, land use management, and sustainable development with a special focus on contemporary China under market transition.

This book describes the dramatic economic and spatial transformationin China's Pearl River Delta region over the past decade. Reformsintroduced by the Chinese government since 1978 were the cause of thistransformation. The Pearl River Delta has had the highest recorded rateof economic growth in East Asia and has done so through a pattern ofdevelopment which differed significantly from that found in otherregions of fast growth. George Lin reviews the processes by which this remarkabletransformation was achieved and discusses the implications of suchchange. Red Capitalism in South China looks at theories ofregional development and the patterns of spatial and economicrestructuring in the Delta, and provides three case studies which focuson the transformation of the peasant economy, transport development,and the influence of Hong Kong. This book represents the best account yet available of theimplications of change in South China. It examines a phenomenon ofparticular importance not only because the speed, and magnitude ofchanges taking place in the region are truly fascinating but alsobecause its patterns of growth and development are distinct from thoseof the Western capitalist world or the former Soviet Union and EasternEurope.

This book describes the dramatic economic and spatial transformation inChina’s Pearl River Delta region over the past decade. Reformsintroduced by the Chinese government since 1978 were the cause of thistransformation. The Pearl River Delta has had the highest recorded rateof economic growth in East Asia and has done so through a pattern ofdevelopment which differed significantly from that found in otherregions of fast growth. George Lin reviews the processes by which thisremarkable transformation was achieved and discusses the implicationsof such change. Red Capitalism in South China looks attheories of regional development and the patterns of spatial andeconomic restructuring in the Delta, and provides three case studieswhich focus on the transformation of the peasant economy, transportdevelopment, and the influence of Hong Kong.