Category Archives: Life style

Call for papers: Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies

Submissions are invited from graduate students for a special issue of the Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies (GJAPS): Urban Futures in the Asia-Pacific (Simon Opit, editor, University of Auckland, New Zealand).

Cities are centres of economic, social, political and cultural activity, but they can also be areas of intense poverty, unhealthy environments, dangerous spaces and captivity. With the current unprecedented rates of growth in the Asia-Pacific unlikely to abate it is of great importance that we maximise the potential of urban spaces while avoiding the multitudinous harm that cities can cause. The Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies is calling for papers that provide perspectives on the possible future of urban spaces in the Asia-Pacific.

Such a theme is open to both quantitative and qualitative perspectives on urban spaces and encourages artistic, empirical or theoretical contributions that relate to, but are not limited to any of the following major themes:

  • Examining urban policies that are argued to promote sustainable urbanism and create more resilient, liveable urban spaces.
  • Assessing the potential of future technologies and/or transport initiatives that offer solutions to urban problems.
  • Investigating layers of urban governance structures and how they impact on urban environments and their development, either as a constructive or restrictive force.
  • Analysing our understandings of urban spaces and providing critical review of the current values that underpin urban practices.
  • Detailing and evaluating methodological innovation in the field of urban studies, including new tools and technologies that provide novel ideas and a better of understandings of our urban world.

Contributions are welcome from all fields, including: social sciences and the humanities, architecture and planning, politics and policy analysis, or any other form of urban study.GJAPS interprets the designation “Asia-Pacific” in the broadest sense, to encompass East, Northeast and Southeast Asia, the Malay Archipelago, Australasia, Polynesia and Oceania, the West Coast of the Americas, including California, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, Central and South America.Submissions should be received by 1st of April 2014.

More info here

GJAPS website

Monique Abud

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

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Willingness to pay for the “Green Food” in China

Yu, Xiaohua, Zhifeng Gao, Yinchu Zeng (2014). Willingness to pay for the “Green Food” in China. Food Policy, 45, April, p.80-87. Prepublished February, 13, 2014, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.01.003

Traditional market in Kunming, Gipouloux François

With use of payment card survey data of willingness to pay (WTP) for the “Green Food”, a unique food certification in China, this study finds that age and income are important for the WTP for the Green Food in China. There are structural differences in consumer preference for Green Food between the large city and the small county. Consumers in China, on average, are willing to pay 47% more for Green vegetables and 40% more for Green meat than for their conventional counterparts.

Read full text on Science Direct [restricted access]

Monique Abud

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

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Poultry market

Poultry market, Elosua Miguel

Steaming a freshly slaughtered chicken to get the feathers out. Photo taken during a field trip to Chongqing in November 2013.

Live poultry markets have been shut down again this winter in many places in China as a new spate of  H7N9 human infections have been reported  (see last year’s article about this issue: http://urbachina.hypotheses.org/4492). Numerous experts have indicated that visiting live poultry markets may be the most likely source of infection. The Golden Triangle of the Yangtze, particularly Zhejiang province, and Guangdong province are the worst affected regions. Hong Kong has introduced stringent measures to keep the virus at bay, requiring mainland farms to operate under licence, and ordering the slaughtering and freezing of any available unsold poultry at the end of the day. Public concern might lead to a permanent closure of poultry markets. Experts advocate a change in people’s lifestyle, promoting buying frozen chicken instead of fresh.1 The most disturbing fact is that the drugs currently available seem to be ineffective. Therefore, the strategy is to deal with the virus at its source. The days of live poultry markets in China may well be numbered.

Poultry market 2, Elosua Miguel Live poultry market in Guanling county, Anshun city (Guizhou)  

  1. http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1425639/expect-more-human-h7n9-bird-flu-cases-if-live-poultry-sales-continue. Last visited on 13 Feb 2014 []

Miguel Elosua

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

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Extravagant

Extravagant, Elosua Miguel

A commercial sign in a luxury residence in Pudong, Shanghai. May 2013. Real estate commercial ads often lure potential buyers with messages and photos depicting a fantasy world of affluence, where social life revolves around glamorous soirées such as the one in the photo. When reading this ad one cannot also help but wonder what sort of influence the developer is referring to and how it can be gauged. This is especially puzzling when contrasting the photo where the models are all Western whereas target buyers are surely not. In any case, they must be running short of influential people, as sales have stagnated lately. However, this does not seem to be an isolated case but a general trend in large cities. This could indicate that the real estate market is losing momentum. The interesting (or troubling) point here is that the decrease in sales can be solely attributed to the invisible hand of the market, for there are no government tightening to control prices currently in place, nor plans to implement any.

Miguel Elosua

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

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Green apartments in Nanjing, China

Hu, Hong, Stan Geertman and Pieter Hooimeijer. (2014) Green apartments in Nanjing China: do developers and planners understand the valuation by residents? Housing Studies, 29 (1), 26-43. DOI:10.1080/02673037.2014.848268

The Chinese government promotes green construction as part of the strategy to reduce energy consumption. In practice, green construction can be impeded because various stakeholders valuate green attributes in different ways. This paper uses the analytic hierarchy process to analyse the extent to which developers and planners understand the valuation of green apartment attributes by residents in Nanjing. Results show that buyers of green apartments rank green attributes lower than safety and accessibility, and rank healthy construction materials and comfort much higher than thermal isolation or reduced energy costs. Green developers tend to focus on aspects that define their margin, such as green attributes and locational benefits and overlook the social needs, which are not addressed in building codes and not under their control. They have better understanding of green residents’ priorities with health issues; planners are more familiar with the social needs of residents and lack green marketing knowledge.

Read full text on Taylor&Francis Online (restricted access)

Hu, Hong, Stan Geertman and Pieter Hooimeijer. (2014) The willingness to pay for green apartments: The case of Nanjing, China. Urban Studies. Prepublished January, 7, 2014. DOI: 10.1177/0042098013516686

Faced with the challenge of developing sustainable cities, the Chinese government sets green construction as part of the national strategy to reduce energy consumption. However, the consumer market has shown limited response to such policies. To upscale green building, it is crucial to understand the market demands for green apartments. This article employs a conjoint model to estimate the willingness to pay for green dwellings versus accessibility to metros and jobs and neighbourhood quality by different socio-economic groups in Nanjing, China. Results show that the socio-economic status of homebuyers determines their willingness to pay for green attributes. Only the rich are prepared to pay for green apartments to improve their living comfort. To all, the notion of health is appealing as consumers are willing to pay for an unpolluted environment and for non-toxic construction materials used in buildings in good locations.

Read full text on SAGE Journals Online (restricted access)

Monique Abud

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

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Popcorn (baomihua – 爆米花)

Popcorn (baomihua - 爆米花), Elosua Miguel

This photo was taken in Guanling county (关岭县), Guizhou, in December 2013.

An explosion provoked by the opening of a Chinese kernel popper. This device made of cast-iron is powered by coal and swivelled by hand. According to Wikipedia, in the process of popcorn making “the maize expands from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Popcorn is able to pop because its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy interior. Pressure builds inside the kernel, and a small explosion (or “pop”) is the end result.

Popcorn2In the case of the Chinese popcorn-maker, all of the popcorn explodes at once when the cover of the canister in which the corn is heated is opened and a sudden depressurisation takes place, making the kernel swell, puffing as a result. The whole process takes about eight to ten minutes to complete. Popcorn poppers like the one in the photo are a common sight in the streets of many cities in China. The object captivates the passer-by, as it brings to mind a device from another era.

Chinese kernel popper, Elosua Miguel

Miguel Elosua

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

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Last of the bicycles?

Last of the bicycles?, Elosua Miguel

The increase of purchase capacity of urban residents has led to a massive increase in the number of cars in circulation within Chinese cities. The once ubiquitous bicycle yields to the (theoretically) more convenient car. In the space of seven years, the number of registered cars in the city of Beijing doubled, surpassing 5 million in 2011.1 By July 2012 there were about 72 million registered cars on the mainland, from just 10 million in 2003.2 At the same time, the city has greatly expanded. Its area spreads over 17,000 square kilometres (almost three times the size of Shanghai). However, although the city has experienced a distinct suburbanisation of the population, more than 60% of the total population lives in 8% of its total area, that is, in Central Beijing (within the third ring). Public transport has expanded in the same fashion. Of the total fifteen existing lines, thirteen were added to the network in the last ten years.

However, the quest for convenience and sustainability might mean the resurgence of bicycles. Commuting time and pollution has greatly increased and the government has started restricting car use to tackle pollution. Some residents might begin to consider it a good idea to dust off their old bicycle. Unlike some European cities, there is no need for added construction in China, since most of the main roads have dedicated bicycle lanes and most cities are flat like a pancake (this is not the case of Chongqing certainly, which is the reason why the motorbike industry developed rapidly there). Likewise, some cities have launched bike share schemes. In 2013, the Beijing municipal government funded a bike share with 14,000 bicycles distributed across 520 stations. According to the website Bikeshare.com, the program has not been very successful so far, with less than one rental a day per bicycle. It attributes part of this failure to the inconvenient location of the stations. Likewise, it reveals a change on the perception of bicycles. Owning a bike was a luxury just thirty years ago, but it became an undesirable, “common” means of transport. Car ownership is still a status symbol for many. The bigger the better, a philosophy which appears all over the world. Perhaps circumstances will make residents reconsider the bike as synonymous of convenience and simplicity, the ultimate sophistication according to Leonardo da Vinci. No doubt there would then be plenty of sophisticated riders commuting by bike and, consequently, air quality would be greatly improved.

Cycle rickshaw, Elosua MiguelCycle rickshaw in Wenchuan, Sichuan. Photo taken in March 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Source URL: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-02/16/c_122713279.htm, accessed on 15 January 2014. []
  2. Source URL: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1111021/growing-numbers-urban-dwellers-switch-convenience-carpools, accessed 15 January 2014. []

Miguel Elosua

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

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“No Smoking” for the nation: Anti-cigarette campaigns in Modern China, 1910-1935

Anti-Cigarette Campaigns in Modern China

A review of “No Smoking” for the nation: Anti-cigarette campaigns in Modern China, 1910-1935, by Wennan Liu.

This brilliant, meticulously researched dissertation by Wennan Liu, graduate from Fudan University in Shanghai and recent PhD from Department of History at University of California, Berkeley, considers three major anti-cigarette campaigns in modern China: the first initiated by American missionary Edward Waite Thwing (1868-?) in Tianjin in 1910, the second led by retired Qing official Wu Tingfang 伍廷芳 (1842-1922) in Shanghai on the eve of the Revolution in 1911, and the third major anti-cigarette campaign a part of the New Life Movement launched by Chiang Kai-shek between 1934 and 1935.

All three campaigns were unsuccessful. There is no historical evidence that these campaigns brought about significant, long-lasting changes in the consumption patterns of cigarettes across China. Wennan Liu argues that they were “weak in organisation and implementation, because there was no reliable social infrastructure and resources to sustain the campaigns, and also because the civil society and the government lacked co-operation” (p.2). These failures, however, do not diminish their historical importance — unsuccessful campaigns require at least as much sociological explanation as those which did obtain the desired outcomes. As Wennan Liu points out (p.13), the rhetoric, practices and contexts of these exercises in mass persuasion — why they were launched, how they were organised, which groups of actors were involved, what knowledge and evidence were marshalled, and so forth — can illuminate a host of important historical issues.

These issues, which Liu patiently dissects in her dissertation, include: the transnational circulation of medico-scientific discourses concerning smoking and tobacco use; late-Qing social elites, foreign missionaries and their reform agenda; styles of reasoning in mass persuasion and public relations in China; the activities of big companies such as British-American Tobacco around the world; taxation, economic protectionism, the establishment and struggles of the Chinese cigarette industry; the various dynamics and tensions between different levels of the Republican government. The style of writing of this dissertation is exemplary in its clarity and straightforwardness. There is a careful balance of historical detail and argumentation, making this rich and absolutely compelling study accessible to Chinese historians and non-specialists.

Being one of the most important commodities around the world in the twentieth century, the history of tobacco and cigarette-smoking has been covered by a wide range of scholarship. More recent studies in the English language include: Allan Brandt’s The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America (New York: Basic Books, 2009); Eric Burns’ The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007); Matthew Hilton’s Smoking in British Popular Culture, 1800-2000 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000); Cassandra Tate’s Cigarette Wars: The Triumph of “The Little White Slaver (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); Ashes to Ashes: The History of Smoking and Health edited by Stephen Lock, Lois Reynolds and E.M. Tansey (Amsterdam: Rodolpi, 1998); Jordan Goodman’s Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence (London: Routledge, 1994); and my personal favourite, Richard Klein’s Cigarettes are Sublime (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995).

For China specifically, there is Sherman Cochran’s classic Big Business in China: Sino-Foreign Rivalry in the Cigarette Industry, 1890-1930 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980); Carol Benedict’s brand new Golden-Silk Tobacco: A History of Tobacco in China, 1550-2010 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011); Timothy Brook and Zhou Xun’s contributions in Smoke: A Global History of Smoking edited by Sander Gilman and Zhou Xun (London: Reaktion Books, 2004);  and shorter treatments in Elizabeth Perry’s Shanghai on Strike: The Politics of Chinese Labour (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995, Chapter 7), Karl Gerth’s China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Centre, 2004); and Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China by Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann and Zhou Xun (London: C. Hurst, 2004, see pp.201-206).

Read the full text , review by Leon Antonio Rocha (accessed 30 December 2013)

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Chinese officials are asked to “take the lead” in adhering to the smoking ban in public spaces

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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Chinese officials are asked to “take the lead” in adhering to the smoking ban in public spaces

According to a circular from the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, officials are not allowed to smoke in schools, hospitals, sports venues, public transport vehicles, or any other venues where smoking is banned.

Government functionaries are prohibited from using public funds to buy cigarettes, nor are they permitted to smoke or offer cigarettes when performing official duties, the circular notes.

“Smoking remains a relatively universal phenomenon in public venues. Some officials smoke in public places, which does not only jeopardized the environment and public health, but tarnished the image of Party and government offices and leaders and has a negative influence,” reads the circular.

The sale of tobacco products and advertisements will no longer be allowed in Party and government offices. Prominent notices of smoking bans must be displayed in meeting rooms, reception offices, passageways, cafeterias and rest rooms.

Read the full text on Xinhuanet, (accessed 30 December 2013)

 

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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A well deserved break

A well deserved break, Elosua Miguel

A 104 year-old woman playing pai gow (paijiu – 牌九) with her friends in Kaiping, Guangdong, May 2013. Living standards in the Chinese countryside are improving steadily. The elderly are granted pensions (yanglao baoxian − 养老保险), provided there are no children to take care of them (zinü fuyang – 子女抚养). The monthly allocation is meagre, between 80 to 90 yuan per month, depending on the age of the beneficiary. In the province of Guangdong many villagers have been able to benefit from the economic development by an urbanisation model that is unique in many respects. By converting collectives into property companies that develop industrial zones (and residential property), farmers are able to generate profits and receive dividends in return. These ladies enjoy now a placid life and may spend more than three hours a day chatting and playing this game.

Miguel Elosua

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

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Striving towards ecocity: experience from Huainan

Xie, Pengfei (2013) Striving towards ecocity: experience from Huainan, China. Sustainable cities collective (28 October, 2013). Retrieved from http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/nature-cities/190911/striving-towards-ecocity-experience-huainan-china, 22 november 2013.

China’s rapid urbanization in the last 30 years has brought about many problems. The country is now facing a huge challenge to balance economic development with environmental conservation and social stability. Sustainable development is in the spotlight: how can we build a better city that can provide a better life for its citizens?

The ecocity seems to be one of the solutions. Since the concept of “Eco-Civilization” was advocated by China’s central government in 2007, local governments have responded actively to the appeal. By 2011, 90% of Chinese cities at the prefecture-level and above had proposed ambitious goals to build eco-cities (XIE and ZHOU, 2010). However, in China and throughout the world, the ecocity is still in its preliminary stage, without a mature theoretical basis and systematic exemplary practices. Local governments in China are encouraged to learn by exploring sustainable development models through ecocity construction.

Different people hold different opinions on the concept of an ecocity. By now, there has been no globally recognized definition for an ecocity. In China, a representative definition is: an Ecocity is a composite human settlement system combining balanced socio-economic development with healthy ecological objectives to achieve the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.

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Monique Abud

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

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A favorite pastime

A favorite pastime, Elosua Miguel

Mahjong (majiang - 麻将) parlor in a building about to be demolished in Chongqing. November 2013. The mahjong game is a favourite pastime in China. It often becomes an addiction. It is in Chongqing and Sichuan that mahjong rooms are ubiquitous (in Chongqing, they are frequently referred to as teahouses or chaguan - 茶馆, although nowadays the rooms are often fully dedicated to majiang tables). Mahjong parlors are run like a casino: every player needs to pay an entrance fee in order to take a seat and start playing. Once they start playing they can easily stay for more than four hours at the mahjong table. Many don’t have a formal job and play mahjong to earn extra money. However, it’s not rare to hear about players losing more than 20 thousand yuan in just one day.

Miguel Elosua

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

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Art and the city

Ai Weiwei’s work has been deeply influenced by China’s economic prosperity and urbanisation. This is also the case of other Chinese contemporary artists. Many photographers have captured the transformation of Chinese cities and the turmoil of a society that has lost its traditional lifestyle. In a paper published in Yishu1 Alice Schmatzberger highlights the intimate relation between Chinese cities and photography. She first looks at the symbols that structure Chinese cities, which have been challenged by the recent modernisation of Chinese society.

Cities are in motion, as illustrated by their expansion, both vertically in the city centre and horizontally at the outskirts, and their inhabitants have been transformed. The changes experienced in cities have modified their habits, their leisure and even their way of moving.

City dwellers have lost their bearings; they are discovering the city in progress. Facing this intense urbanisation, they and many artists feel “anxiety and hope”, which is, for example, illustrated in Weng Fen’s pictures. A new society is emerging and old cities fall apart and become ruins (see Jiang Zhi’s pictures). Values are also changing and for some artists, relationships among city dwellers are more conflicted, they appear under the form of a corpse, of blood in Xing Danwei’s pictures. It seems that cities are moving faster than their inhabitants, who have no time to adapt to these changes. In this short study, Schamtzberger insists on the frenzy depicted in China’s contemporary photography. She also notes that Chinese photographers do not all have the same feelings regarding urbanisation, but their pictures do all reflect the turmoil of Chinese cities. It is not a coincidence that it is in China that urban photographers seem to be the most active right now. Most of their artwork tries to tell us a story; they share with the audience a feeling of “inadequacy” between the city and its inhabitants, but, through these pictures, artists also want to question current urban policies in China and look to the future of Chinese cities.

  1. Schmatzberger A. (2012) Pictorial  city: Chinese urbanism and contemporary photography. Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art volume 10, no.6, http://www.science-art.at/fileadmin/media_data/pdfs/Pictorial_City.pdf, accessed November 10, 2013  []

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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Rooftop gardening: better environment and much more

From Dublin1 to Montréal, many cities around the world promote the development of urban rooftop farming. Some of these urban experiments are also conducted in China. Many of these urban farms are actually operated by specialised companies, which ensure that they are quite efficient. In our opinion, it would make sense if local residents were involved in these initiatives.

In a country like China, which is undergoing a massive and rapid urbanisation, a large part of the urban population actually comes from the countryside. Including rural migrants in this kind of project can create societal benefits in the city. There have been several studies focusing on the positive effects of these green rooftops on environment, but rooftop farms may also bring social advantages to urban communities. As noted by my colleague Ai Chi-Han in a previous post, community gardens strengthen relations among residents. Urban rooftop farms can play a similar function and an also improve intergenerational relationships. By gardening on rooftop farms, elders who spent a large part of their life in the countryside could share time and experience with youngsters, who are more and more interested in healthy products. This experience transfer could also continue at lower levels, in the kitchen, for instance, where the old generation will pass on their recipes to the younger generation with the vegetables they have produced together.

This positive effect of urban rooftop farms may seem anecdotic at first sight. Yet, in an urbanising China where traditional social reference points are being challenged, urban authorities should encourage these initiatives that smooth relations between generations and help bring rural elders respect.

  1. Alison Healy (July 17, 2013), Dublin rooftop Urban Farm showcases a growing movement ,The Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/dublin-rooftop-urban-farm-showcases-a-growing-movement-1.1465783, accessed October 23, 2013 []

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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Beijing’s rise as a global city

Wang, Feng (2013) Beijing as a globally fluent city. Washington, DC : Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy & Global Cities Initiative. 20 p. (accessed 28 October 2013)

Beijing is without any doubt already a global city. A symbol of China’s emergence as a global power, Beijing ranks among the world’s most influential cities. Beijing has developed into an important global city in a relatively short period of time. Beijing has benefited from efforts by the Chinese government and Beijing’s municipal government to elevate the city’s international reputation, and from Beijing’s legacy and position as China’s political and cultural center. There has also been massive investment in infrastructure to support business and innovation activities and to enhance Beijing’s global connectivity. However, Beijing’s rise as a global city is still incomplete.

Beijing’s global influence in terms of economic competitiveness and financial interconnectedness still do not measure up to the top cities in the world. In Beijing as a Globally Fluent City, Feng Wang examines four key questions on Beijing’s rise towards becoming a top tier global city:

  1. What kind of city does Beijing aspire to be?
  2. How can Beijing improve its governance?
  3. What does it take to build a more vibrant economy?
  4. How can Beijing’s global identity be further enhanced?
  • Wang Feng (Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy)

Monique Abud

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

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