Category Archives: Life style

Outdoor activities in gated communities

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The development of gated communities in Chinese cities has been studied by several researchers such as Pow Choon-Piew1. In a recent article, Wu, Wei and Wang chose to focus on the use of outdoor open space in these communities, choosing a gated community in Xiamen for their case study2. This community contains several different housing types (low-rise, medium-rise and high-rise buildings) surrounded by different designs for green spaces. They conducted their research by distributing a questionnaire to the residents gathering information on their outdoor activities within their gated communities (walking, practising sports, walking their dog, swimming…) and correlated their answers with their profile (age, gender, education, job, family income).

According to these findings, children, housewives and retirees benefited most from outdoor spaces. This study also shows that residents living in communities with large open spaces, and have a high annual income, are not more likely to take advantage of this feature and do not necessarily practise more outdoor activities. Therefore, we can argue that residents see green space more as an indicator of social status rather than something that meets a real need for outdoor activities.

  1. POW, C.-P. (2009). Gated communities in China: class, privilege and the moral politics of the good life. Abingdon and New York: Routledge [↩]
  2. WU Caiwei, WEI Yongping, and Mark Y. WANG (2014). Planned gated communities in urban China : outdoors activities and designed leisure spaces. In Mark Y. WANG, Pookong KEE, and Jia GAO. Transforming Chinese cities. London UK and  New York NY: Routledge [↩]

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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Megacities of Asia

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Collingridge, Vanessa (2014). Megacities of Asia, part I-III. South China Morning Post. Post Magazine. 15, 22, 29 June. Retrieved from: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/ (accessed 30 June 2014)

  • Megacities of Asia Part I: The rise and rise of the Asian megacity (and why ‘metacities’ are the next big thing)

Asia’s rapid urbanisation is changing the very shape and nature of what we think of as a city.

Read more at: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1530748/larger-life-rise-and-rise-asian-megacity

  • Megacities of Asia Part II: Perils of the concrete jungle

Unprecedented levels of migration from rural areas have led to a host of logistical and environmental problems.

Read more at: Carticle/1536089/perils-concrete-jungle

  • Megacities of Asia Part III: The rise of the ‘Megaregion’

Urbanisation is changing the face of Asia but what’s next for the continent’s city dwellers?

Read more at: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1540813/megacities-asia-part-iii-grey-areas

 

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Germany’s renewables paradox: a warning sign for China

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Overdorf, Jason. Germany’s renewables paradox a warning sign for China. Chinadialogue.net. 25 June, 2014. Retrieved 30 June, 2014, from: https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/7085-Germany-s-renewables-paradox-a-warning-sign-for-China

From the hay field behind his house, Gunter Jurischka points out the solar panels glittering from the town’s rooftops and the towering wind turbines spinning lazily on the horizon.

Thanks to Germany’s now famous Energiewende (or “energy transition”) programme, this tiny village of 800 souls produces enough electricity to supply 15,000 households from wind, solar and biogas.

But in what should come as a warning signal to countries like China that are rapidly rolling out renewable energy projects, a ruling by the state government earlier this June promises to uproot these villagers. Proschim’s green dream will be bulldozed to make way for a 2,000-hectare, open-cast coal mine.

“We don’t have time for energy from the Middle Ages anymore,” said Jurischka, a weather-beaten former agronomist with piercing eyes and longish salt-and-pepper hair.

It’s beginning to look like he might be right.

Read full story on Chinadialogue

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Shanghai street stories = 上海街头故事

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Shanghai street stories = 上海街头故事. Retrieved 24 June, 2014,  from http://shanghaistreetstories.com/

The pace of urban development in Shanghai is as swift as it is unrelenting and its impact is far-reaching in both the positive and negative.

I photograph and collect stories in Shanghai, seeking to capture the lives of ordinary Shanghainese and 外地人 or “waidiren” in the city, as well as the process behind the city’s rapid urbanisation.

My work is a mix of photojournalism and street photography. The former allows me to cover a wider gamut of topics such as old architecture, individual stories, lifestyle, while the latter is indicative of a style of photography I sometimes prefer. 

For interviews I have given about photography, blogging and Shanghai in general can be found on the Published Work page.

To learn more about how the website is set up and the plugins that run the blog, read “The Anatomy of My Blog: An Amateur’s Tale (and Tips!)“.

Read the blog : http://shanghaistreetstories.com/

More information about the author and the blog itself

 

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Jiaju, a remote Tibetan village confronted with tourism

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This picture was taken at the entrance of the Tibetan village Jiaju, located near Danba in the mountainous region of western Sichuan. A seeing spot has been set up with a glass railing so that visitors could admire, safely, the amazing view of the Tibetan village from above. The woman in the picture, dressed in a traditional Jiarong style, came two minutes after I, and three other Chinese visitors in their SUV, arrived. She gave a tight smile and started to pose, to the joy of some, and the unease of others…

Why all this orchestration in this remote and peaceful village?

In 2005, Jiaju was selected as the most beautiful village in China by the Chinese National Geographic Magazine.

A journalist wrote:

The village of Jiaju has no doubt benefited as a result of tourism – there are few signs of poverty and many villagers own new cars and sports utility vehicles. But tourism has also impacted the surrounding environment and changed the fabric of the village. Indeed, Jiaju embodies many of the issues China’s minority regions face as the country’s internal tourism industry grows.

He Ming, the director of Yunnan University’s Research Centre of Ethnic Minorities in China’s South-west Frontier, says increased tourism helps foster development of minority regions and increases local incomes. For Han tourists, the experience of visiting minority regions provides a valuable cultural exchange that promotes goodwill between China’s different ethnic groups.

But He says that governments at the federal and local level must take steps to protect the rights and interests of the minority cultures, rather than exploiting them to accommodate Han tourists.(( Mitch Moxley, Inter Press Service, 2010 ))

Thus, the local government’s choices will shape Jiaju’s future. However, it will also depend on the ability of the communities to make their own choices: to develop the image of the “most beautiful village of China” and spread it over the world, or to keep a slice of authenticity by preserving their local identity, practices and architecture from mass tourism and exploitation. Furthermore, if they decide to preserve the authenticity of this place, the next step is to define a way to proceed. Should the UNESCO intervene and impose its Western rules in terms of heritage conservation? Or should the local government create an new system, which combines some Western practices in terms of heritage conservation with new Chinese ones?

 

 

Oriane Pillet

Intern at the CNRS, UrbaChina project. M.A. in urban local development (IEDES, Paris); M.A. in international development studies (Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris - Utrecht University); B.A. in geography and law (Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris).

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Beijing attracting less tourists?

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Last year, the number of foreign visitors to China dropped, including in Beijing, which attracted fewer international tourists. Last month, the China Daily published an interesting article on this slowdown1 in which the author presents three main reasons for this decline.

The first, and most important, reason, according to this article, is the pollution and bad air quality in Beijing. We at UrbaChina have already highlighted the possible damage of pollution on China’s global aspiration. Foreign visitors have seen the grey skies of Beijing on TV and simply do not want to experience it in reality.

The second consists of the economic crisis and Yuan appreciation. China has become more expensive to visit for foreign visitors, especially those coming from Europe.

The third reason raised by this article is that Beijing is no longer exotic. China is not as “mysterious” as it was a few years ago, and Beijing is no longer a dream destination. Although this argument should seem inadequate, the demolition of many “hutong” and the rapid modernisation of the city have negatively influenced foreign tourists, who prefer romantic destinations with fewer skyscrapers and more traditional districts.

However, there may be other reasons for this slowdown. Several articles rightly pointed out that the decline of tourism in China could also be caused by political tensions between China and her neighbours. Heather Timmons from Quartz2 showed that this decline mostly concerns tourism flows from Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia, countries involved in maritime disputes with China. The slowdown is much less significant with tourists from Europe and North America.

If Beijing and Shanghai want to become global tourist destinations, they must make attracting visitors from neighbouring countries a priority, as they are more likely to pick them as week-end destinations. It should be noted that in the case of Paris half of international visitors actually come from Europe.

This means that, for China to host more inbound tourists, more integration is needed in Asia. Since 2003, Japanese tourists can visit China (up to 15 days) without a visa, but this is not enough. There need to be more campaigns targeted at the Japanese and other nations explaining that China welcomes every visitor. This will help Beijing attract more foreign tourists while waiting for grey skies to turn blue once again.

  1. Zhang Yuchen (2014). The city that’s not forbidden, just avoided. China Daily, 13 May 2014, accessed 30 May 2014 from http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-05/13/content_17502797.htm. [↩]
  2. Heather  Timmons (2014). Pollution isn’t the only thing killing tourism in Beijing. Quartz, 14 January 2014, accessed 30 May 2014 from http://qz.com/166554/pollution-isnt-the-only-thing-killing-tourism-in-beijing/. [↩]

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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City of smiles

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Chongqing market, Elosua Miguel

Photo taken at a local market in Chongqing in November 2013.

Sichuan province is known in China as a land of abundance (tianfuzhiguo－天府之国), particularly the fertile plain of Chengdu. This has probably contributed to its fame as a place for leisure. Chongqing lost this label when it was separated from the province to become a municipality in 1997. However, the promotion does not seem to have changed the identity of Chongqingers. It is indeed a place that prizes recreation. The city teems with mahjong parlors (see previous photo of a mahjong parlor in Chongqing) and teahouses. In the evenings, family and friends gather in restaurants, creating a cheerful atmosphere that is hardly matched in megacities like Shanghai. The historical isolation of the region due to its geographic barriers ended at the stroke of a pen with its urbanisation. The city has been completely re-engineered, particularly since it joined Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai as the only cities not under the thumb of a regional government: bridges, tunnels, a light train system with a planned total network of 18 lines, a high speed train reaching Chengdu in two hours, and the expansion of its international airport, have all succeeded in  “flattening” the mountain city. Although the GDP per capita has almost quadrupled in the last ten years, it still lags behind the other big urban agglomerations of the East. In 2012, the GDP per capita was roughly RMB 40,000, less than half that of Beijing (one of the reasons for this disparity lies in the fact that the municipality of Chongqing is still eminently rural, as we will discuss next week). Nevertheless, residents do not seem to be excited about moving to these cities. Having asked the same question many times, whether they would move to a richer city or not, I have often encountered a lack of interest. People do not seem willing to sacrifice family or friends for better work opportunities.

Happiness is something that could be measured by the number of free smiles that residents offer to the passer-by. If some are reluctant to visit the city after learning about nicknames such as “city of rain” or “fog city” (the city gets more than 100 days of fog per year), all these preconceptions suddenly vanish when they are met with a smile like the one in the photo. As the Spanish saying goes, “al mal tiempo buena cara” (put on a brave face for bad weather).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miguel Elosua

Spanish qualified lawyer; PhD in Chinese Law. UrbaChina Research Officer. Has lived in China since 2006.

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Bringing sustainable infrastructure to urban areas

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Grangé, Jérémy and Petitet, Sylvain (2014). For cities of a different nature : bringing sustainable infrastructure to urban areas. Translated by Oliver Waine. Metropolitics, 26 March 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2014 from: http://www.metropolitiques.eu/For-cities-of-a-different-nature.html

City-dwellers want to see more of their metropolitan areas turned over to nature and urban public spaces; however, our cities today are still structured by a network of roads that were primarily built to manage motor traffic flows. Sylvain Petitet and Jérémy Grangé show how implementing sustainable urban infrastructure could provide city-dwellers with easy and convenient access to the places that generate most of their journeys, revealing a new form of network-based public space.

 

 

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Labour day: Let’s go shopping!

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南京东路2

Photo taken on May 1st, 2014 in Nanjing East Road, Shanghai.

On Labour day (laodong jie － 劳动节), the streets of Shanghai teem with shoppers. In spite of the fact that it’s a festive day dedicated to workers, the retail industry won’t give up such a good day for business. An enduring proof of the consumer society, particularly on this side of China.

 

Miguel Elosua

Spanish qualified lawyer; PhD in Chinese Law. UrbaChina Research Officer. Has lived in China since 2006.

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“The flying Chineseman”

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Two weeks ago, a conference and exhibition on private jets was held in Shanghai. This event was widely reported by the media, which put the spotlight on China’s business jet market.

According to these articles, successful Chinese businessmen are more and more interested in acquiring private aircrafts, with a particularly high demand for the most luxurious ones.

However, as noted by Joe Sharkey1, these jets are not often seen in Chinese skies, but instead sit on tarmacs, due to tight control from the government. It is not easy, even for the richest tycoons, to make their latest Gulfstream fly because air transportation is under strict military supervision.

Although these planes are presented as business tools,  they should rather be considered expensive toys. China has already built adequate transport infrastructure (airports, high speed train networks) that make these business planes unnecessary. Moreover, virtual technology makes the use of private planes unnecessary. These jets are often bought to reflect the success of the owner; they are more symbol of social status than a means of transportation.

Still, it seems that China will have to relax airspace transport regulations (several provinces have already started this process)2 because of the rising demand for private jets, especially from members of the upper-middle class who are passionate aboutplanes.  Although the media focuses mainly on Chinese tycoons’ luxury jets, it is easy to imagine that many others will want to learn how to pilot small planes by themselves, if only for leisure.

The USA and then Europe had to adapt their infrastructure to these aviation aficionados by opening small private use airports. Some of the most passionate amateur pilots even chose to live in fly-in communities where they could park their small jet next to their house3. With the development of private aviation in China, similar projects may soon start there as well.

  1. Joe Sharkey (2014, April 15). Rich Chinese flaunt success with big luxury jets. The International New York Times, p.16 [↩]
  2. Lan Xinzhen (2014, March 3). Up, up and away. Beijing Review. Retreived April 20, 2014 from http://www.bjreview.com.cn/business/txt/2014-03/03/content_600495.htm [↩]
  3. Judith S. Wordsworth (2011, September). European residential airparks in the context of local sustainable rural development. European digital landscape. Retrieved April 20, 2014 from http://www.euroga.org/system/1/assets/files/000/000/181/181/6b436e72f/original/European_Airparks_and_Local_Sustainable_Development.pdf [↩]

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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Newsstand

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书3

Newsstand in Chaotianmen (朝天门), near the confluence of the Jialing river (嘉陵江) and the Yangzte (长江). Photo taken during a field trip to Chongqing in March 2014.

In the age of smart phones, e-books, personal digital assistants, tablets, and a long train of etcetera, paper books seem to be doomed to disappear from the streets. This outcome, which has been attempted by emperors and envisioned in science fiction, might eventually happen due to technology. Perhaps it was happening already, before the arrival of these electronic devices, which in most cases are used for anything but reading. At any rate, the passer-by is captivated once more by traditional newsstands that bring a whiff of nostalgia. The one in the photo offers a library service as well. Readers may borrow books from the collection available for 1 yuan a day. There is no need to register or ask for a reader’s card. Trust is taken for granted, and it seems to work. According to the seller, never has a reader forgotten to return a book.

Miguel Elosua

Spanish qualified lawyer; PhD in Chinese Law. UrbaChina Research Officer. Has lived in China since 2006.

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Farmer smoking a pipe (Guizhou province)

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烟斗2

Farmer smoking a “smoking pole” (hanyan gan – 旱烟杆) in Anshun city, Guizhou province, December 2013.

The smoking pole is becoming rare in China. In the provinces of Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou, it is still quite common to see villagers puffing at this long pipe. The smoking pole is usually made out of bamboo while different materials such as copper, iron, tin, or jade are used to create the bowl and the mouth. The length of the pole varies. For example, the Tujia ethnic group uses two-meter poles. The traditional smoking ritual involves roasting dried tobacco leafs, which are then crushed and pressed into the bowl. Only then can the smoker slowly start to inhale the smoke from the pipe.

To read more, click here:  www.tobacco.china.com.

 

 

 

Miguel Elosua

Spanish qualified lawyer; PhD in Chinese Law. UrbaChina Research Officer. Has lived in China since 2006.

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The current dilemma and future path of China’s electric vehicles

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Zhang, X.; Rao, R.; Xie, J.; Liang, Y. (2014). The current dilemma and future path of China’s electric vehicles. Sustainability, 6, 1567-1593. DOI:10.3390/su6031567 [Retrieved 24 March 2014]

China had set an ambitious development target of electric vehicles (EVs) to mitigate the environmental pollution. However, the actual situation of EVs far lagged behind the goals. This paper analyzes the elements impeding EVs’ development, which are identified into four contributors, including deficient EV subsidy policies, embarrassed EV market, local protectionism, and unmatched charging infrastructure. Based on the actual situation of China, this paper discusses corresponding policy suggestions and explores the alternative roadmap of EVs. In the initial development stage of EVs, it is important to select the appropriate charging mode for EVs according to different characteristics across users. Moreover, the development of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) may open the EV market faster than battery electric vehicle (BEV). In addition, the low-speed EVs may be a good choice for the rural market and should be well developed. With the promotion of EVs, China central and local governments should make rational policies to promote EVs’ development, which is the crucial force to drive the uptake of EVs.

Download full text article (PDF)

 

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Marriage entry and real estate

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Newlywed photo session at Haikou beach, Hainan, Goulard Sébastien

In September 2013, the Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan released a research report on how the factors for marriage entry in China have evolved1.

The authors, Jia Yu and Yu Xie, explore the determinants of marriage age in China and the changes caused by economic reforms.

Their study, based on the 2005 mini-census, reveals that in urban China people marry later and are more selective in their choice of partner than in the past.

This paper suggests that the timing of marriage is related to employment status, education and real estate prices. In the pre-reform era, people with less education tended to get married earlier. However, this has changed with the economic reforms. People (and especially men) with less education have become undesirable as marriage partners, as they lack financial resources to support a family.

The most interesting part of this study regards the impact of real estate prices on when people get married. Because of privatization and marketization, real estate prices have increased dramatically since the early 1980s, and young couples need to save first to afford to live together and get married. In cities with high housing prices, marriage is often delayed, but graduates get married earlier, as they have a higher social position and earn more. People in poverty or without stable jobs face many challenges if they wish to get married.

  1. Jia Yu & Yu Xie (2013). Changes in the determinants of marriage entry in post-reform urban China. PSC research report No. 13-802. September [↩]

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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In China, ‘Once the villages are gone, the culture is gone’

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Johnson, Ian. In China, ‘Once the villages are gone, the culture is gone’. The New York Times, February 1, 2014. [Retrieved February 28, 2014]. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/world/asia/once-the-villages-are-gone-the-culture-is-gone.html?_r=0

BEIJING — Once or twice a week, a dozen amateur musicians meet under a highway overpass on the outskirts of Beijing, carting with them drums, cymbals and the collective memory of their destroyed village. They set up quickly, then play music that is almost never heard anymore, not even here, where the steady drone of cars muffles the lyrics of love and betrayal, heroic deeds and kingdoms lost.

The musicians used to live in Lei Family Bridge, a village of about 300 households near the overpass. In 2009, the village was torn down to build a golf course and residents were scattered among several housing projects, some a dozen miles away.

Now, the musicians meet once a week under the bridge. But the distances mean the number of participants is dwindling. Young people, especially, do not have the time.

“I want to keep this going,” said Lei Peng, 27, who inherited leadership of the group from his grandfather. “When we play our music, I think of my grandfather. When we play, he lives.”

Across China, cultural traditions like the Lei family’s music are under threat. Rapid urbanization means village life, the bedrock of Chinese culture, is rapidly disappearing, and with it, traditions and history.

“Chinese culture has traditionally been rural-based,” says Feng Jicai, a well-known author and scholar. “Once the villages are gone, the culture is gone.”

Read more on The New York Times

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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