Urban China In Transition

Using an innovative approach, this book interprets the unprecedented transformation of contemporary China's major cities. It deals with a diversity of trends and analyzes their sources.
Offers a multi-dimensional analysis of urban life in China
Highlights a diversity of trends in the areas of migration, criminal victimization, gated communities, and the status of women, suburbanization, and neighbourhood associations
Each chapter includes input from both an expert on urban life in China and an 'outside' expert from the fields of sociology, geography, economics, planning, political science, history, demography, architecture, or anthropology
An alternative theoretical perspective comparing the Chinese experience with other urban settings in the United States, Poland, Russia, Vietnam, East and South East Asia, and South America

Dr. John R. Logan is Professor of Sociology and Director of the initiative on Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences at Brown University. Founder of the Urban China Research Network, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Dr. Logan is also a member of the editorial boards of Journal of Urban Affairs and City and Community. He was chosen Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University at Albany, SUNY, as well as Director of the Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research. In April 2003 he was selected by American Demographics magazine as one of five social demographers whose work has most influenced his field in the last 25 years.

“On the whole, this collection offers undergraduates an accessible introduction to contemporary urban developments in China and to a wide range of qualitative and quantitative analyses commonly used in the social sciences. Summing Up: Highly recommended.” (CHOICE, February 2009)
These essays on recent Chinese urban developments--particularly trends in migration, labor economics, housing, economic and sociospatial inequality, and governance--offer macro and micro perspectives through analysis of nationwide patterns or developments in specific cities, thus capturing the regional diversity and types of cities in China. Editor Logan is careful not to present the Chinese instance as exceptional, but to situate it within a wider context through comparative analysis. He pairs up scholars from different disciplines and areas for each essay in order to set up comparison between Chinese urban developments and those in the US, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Logan asked the contributors to view their data through four theoretical lenses: modernization (Simon Kuznet's model), dependency/world system, developmental state, and market transition. By doing so, contributors discover meaningful differences that reveal trends unique to the Chinese context. On the whole, this collection offers undergraduates an accessible introduction to contemporary urban developments in China and to a wide range of qualitative and quantitative analyses commonly used in the social sciences. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries. -- L. Teh, University of Chicago (Choice, February 2009)
"Chinese cities are changing in incredibly complex and fascinating ways, and this volume presents a very impressive set of research studies of a wide range of aspects of such changes, written by first rate scholars. Anyone interested in changing urban social patterns in the world's most dynamic and populous society will want to consult this volume."
–Martin K. Whyte, Harvard University
"John Logan’s kaleidoscopic collection offers diverse perspectives on urban dynamics in China, while simultaneously setting China’s cities in a comparative context that ranges from Russia to the United States. Globally oriented urbanists and China specialists alike will find it a valuable new resource."
–Peter Evans, University of California, Berkeley

Notes on Contributors.
Series Editors’ Preface.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction: Urban China in Comparative Perspective (John R. Logan, Brown University and Susan S. Fainstein, Harvard University).
Part I: Market Transition in Work Units and the Labor Market:.
1. Two Decades of Reform: The Changing Organization Dynamics of Chinese Industrial Firms (Shahid Yusuf and Kaoru Nabeshima, World Bank).
2. The Myth of the ‘New Urban Poverty’? Trends in Urban Poverty in China, 1988--2002 (Simon Appleton and Lina Song, Nottingham University).
3. Class Structure and Class Inequality in Urban China and Russia: Effects of Institutional Change or Economic Performance? (Yanjie Bian, University of Minnesota and Theodore P. Gerber, University of Wisconsin-Madison).
4. Gender and the Labor Market in China and Poland (C. Cindy Fan, UCLA and Joanna Regulska, Rutgers University).
Part II: Changing Places:.
5. Urbanization, Institutional Change, and Spatial Inequality in China: 1990-2001 (Michael J. White, University of Cardiff; Fulong Wu, Brown University; and Yiu Por (Vincent) Chen, DePaul University).
6. Growth on the Edge: The New Chinese Metropolis (Yixing Zhou, Peking University and John R Logan, Brown University).
7. Mirrored Reflections: Place Identity Formation in Taipei and Shanghai (Jennifer Rudolph, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Hanchao Lu, Georgia Institute of Technology).
8. Is Gating Always Exclusionary? A Comparative Analysis of Gated Communities in American and Chinese Cities (Youqin Huang, University at Albany and Setha M. Low, CUNY Graduate Center).
Part III: Impacts of Migration:.
9. Urbanization in China in the 1990s: Patterns and Regional Variations (Zai Liang, University at Albany; Hy Van Luong, University of Toronto; and Yiu Por (Vincent) Chen, DePaul University).
10. Trapped in Neglected Corners of a Booming Metropolis: Residential Patterns and Marginalization of Migrant Workers in Guangzhou (Min Zhou, UCLA and Guoxuan Cai, Sociology Institute of Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences).
11. Migration and Housing: Comparing China with the United States (Weiping Wu, Virginia Commonwealth University and Emily Rosenbaum, Fordham University).
Part IV: Social Control in the New Chinese City:.
12. Economic Reform and Crime in Contemporary Urban China: Paradoxes of a Planned Transition (Steven Messner, University at Albany; Jianhong Liu, Rhode Island College; and Susanne Karstedt, Keele University).
13. Migration, Urbanization, and the Spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Empirical and Theoretical Observations in China and Indonesia (Christopher J. Smith, University at Albany and Graeme Hugo, University of Adelaide).
14. The State’s Evolving Relationship with Urban Society: China’s Neighborhood Organizations in Comparative Perspective (Benjamin L. Read, University of Iowa and Chun-Ming Chen, Shih Hsin University).
Subject Index.
Author Index.