31 results
Search Results
2. 'They did not allow me to enter the place I was heading to': being 'stuck-in-place' and transit emplacement in Nigerian migrations to China.
- Author
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Adebayo, Kudus Oluwatoyin
- Subjects
- *
AFRICANS , *NIGERIANS , *SOCIAL constructionism , *PRECARITY , *IMMIGRANTS - Abstract
How do African migrants become stuck-in-place and experience stuckedness in China? This article interrogates the concepts of stuckedness and social navigation to examine what it means to be 'stuck-in-place' using the stories of four Nigerians—a woman and three men—in Guangzhou City. Two modes of stuckedness were observed: 'truncational stuckedness' and 'identity stuckedness'. While the former resulted from being spatially stuck in Guangzhou on their way to South Korea and Hong Kong, the latter was a product of identity appropriation, where a migrant uses the passport of another country. Despite the constraint of stuckedness and the precarity that those without valid immigration papers faced, migrants managed to reinterpret their situations and stayed put while being opened to emplacement in Guangzhou—albeit a transitory kind. In calibrating their practice of 'moving on' in Guangzhou, however, economic integration, the local and transnational networks of migrants, hope, prolonging one's stay and management of micro-mobilities of the everyday were deployed singly or in combination with one another. The article advances debates in China-African relations and Afro-mobilities in East Asia while also contributing to discourses on migrant trajectories, stuckedness, and mobilities studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Explaining the sustained public participation of ENGOs in China's water governance: A case study of the 'civilian river chiefs' under the theoretical framework of 'double embeddedness'.
- Author
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Wang, Raymond Yu, Peng, Ying, and Liu, Yi
- Subjects
- *
NONGOVERNMENTAL organizations , *ENVIRONMENTAL organizations , *PARTICIPATION , *LEGITIMACY of governments - Abstract
Although essential to successful environmental governance, public participation has been sporadic and fragmented in China. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted in the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, this paper explores how environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) have carried out 'civilian river chiefs' projects as novel approaches to water governance. We propose a framework of 'double embeddedness', within which ENGOs have built political and social legitimacy, reciprocity, and networks that enable their sustained participation in water governance. Our findings suggest that new patterns of state–community–non-governmental organization relationships are key to understanding public participation in China's future environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Mining hourly population dynamics by activity type based on decomposition of sequential snapshot data.
- Author
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Shi, Qingli, Zhuo, Li, Tao, Haiyan, and Li, Qiuping
- Subjects
- *
POPULATION dynamics , *URBAN planning , *RESOURCE allocation , *TEST methods , *STATISTICAL correlation , *FISH populations - Abstract
The dynamic population distributions by activity type (e.g. working, shopping or in-home) are vital for resource allocation, urban planning and epidemic containment. Although studies have incorporated individual-level human mobility data to map population distribution by activity type, access to such data is hindered due to privacy issues and they rely on auxiliary data to provide priori activity knowledge. This paper presents a method for generating the population dynamics by activity type. We first introduce more readily available sequential snapshot data to construct the population mixture model, then decompose the population mixture, and finally estimate the dynamic population size for each activity. We test the method in the central districts of Guangzhou city, China, based on real-time Tencent user density data. Correlation analysis and accuracy assessment prove that our method can accurately estimate hourly distributions for populations engaging in working, stay-at-home, and socializing activities. The temporal distribution of the working population reproduces the regular work scenarios and socializing population displays complex spatial patterns. We also find that there is an underlying relationship between a region's function and its dynamic population structure. The presented method has great potential for application and could provide new insight for studying urban dynamic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Do urban carbon reduction practices under China's institutional arrangement go beyond "low-hanging fruits"? Empirical evidence from Guangzhou.
- Author
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Wei, Qianqian
- Subjects
- *
INCENTIVE (Psychology) , *CARBON , *FRUIT , *SEMI-structured interviews , *SOCIAL change - Abstract
There has been increasing interest in whether low carbon cities developed under Chinese institutional arrangements can facilitate a transformative change. Unlike their western counterparts, Chinese low carbon cities are mainly developed through a top-down approach characterized by strong regulatory influences and centrally-led pilots. Inspired by insights from institutional theory, this paper assessed the progress that has been made in Chinese low carbon cities through understanding urban actors' willingness and capacity to pursue more radical changes. Based on semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, it is found that due to the low recognition of the intrinsic value of carbon reduction, low carbon transition was largely represented as a practical discussion around national binding targets and local economic development. Following this, it is suggested that any attempt to speed up urban low carbon transition should consider strengthening incentive structures for cultural or paradigm change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. African student migrants in China: negotiating the global geographies of power through gastronomic practices and culture.
- Author
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Ho, Elaine Lynn-Ee
- Subjects
- *
FOREIGN students , *AFRICAN students -- Foreign countries , *FOOD & society , *STUDENT mobility - Abstract
This paper considers how African student migrants negotiate life in China through gastronomic practices and cultures. African migration to Chinese cities such as Guangzhou and Wuhan is part of internationalization processes that are transforming cities. A thoroughfare in Guangzhou known as Xiaobei is associated with the visible urban presence of African migration because of the ethnic restaurants and shops there. Such typecasting, however, masks more complex food practices that illuminate the social stratification contained within the category popularly referred to as “African.” Food practices also direct attention to migrants’ social interactions with Chinese residents in cities. This paper first highlights the impact of African migration on urban space in China and the social anxieties arising on the part of the Chinese state and residents. Second, the paper argues that even though the African students consume Chinese food as part of their lifestyle routines in China or African food that remind them of home, they also seek out “Western” food as a symbol of cosmopolitan identity to counter racialization in China. Their accounts of food signal colonial and postcolonial negotiations toward the wider global geographies of power in which African countries and the student migrants are situated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2018
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7. Dancing in public spaces: an exploratory study on China's Grooving Grannies.
- Author
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Lin, Minhui, Bao, Jigang, and Dong, Erwei
- Subjects
- *
DANCE companies , *OLDER women , *PUBLIC spaces , *SOCIAL alienation , *SQUARE dancing , *CHINA studies , *LEISURE , *WATERMARKS - Abstract
In contemporary China, public spaces are often sites for group leisure activities. In the last ten years, the most notable group leisure activity is Guangchangwu (广场舞) which translates as dancing in the public squares. It has become a unique leisure practice mainly for older women's participation in urban China. Guangchangwu (GGW) is a new form of daily leisure activity which has been overlooked by leisure scholars. By means of studying this unique leisure activity, this paper explores the spatial practice of older women engaged in GGW in the city of Guangzhou. Results reveal that older women engage in GGW to cope with the scarcity of public spaces, the commercialization of leisure spaces, the alienation of urban life, and the pervasive sense of meaninglessness amidst urbanization. Moreover, China's grooving grannies acquire many benefits from their participation in GGW, such as health benefits, self-actualization, intergenerational communication, and happiness; not to mention that, as a result of GGW's inclusivity, there is an increase on the sense of community, carnival atmosphere, and acceptance of diverse performers. Therefore, this study contributes to both leisure research and public research from a cross-cultural perspective, and shows that older women use GGW to practice and reconstruct their identities by embedding themselves within public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. African migrants in China: space, race and embodied encounters in Guangzhou, China.
- Author
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Liang, Kelly and Le Billon, Philippe
- Subjects
- *
AFRICANS , *CITIES & towns , *RACIALIZATION , *RACE relations - Abstract
This paper examines 'intimate geographies' of everyday social encounters between African migrants and Chinese residents in Guangzhou, China. Based on interviews in an urban area represented as an 'African enclave', we document some of the banal, everyday sensory and corporeal encounters relating to housing, mobility, food, gender and trade. We suggest that African migration does not easily constitute an economic and cultural 'bridge' facilitating comprehension and appreciation between ordinary Chinese and Africans. Rather, we find racialized 'Othering' of African migrants to be a prevalent feature of encounters. We also find that African migrants are not voiceless and passive but proactive in questioning these views and practices, and in seeking to expand and deepen economic and broader social ties. These findings point to the importance of sensory perceptions and corporeal practices shaping racialization in many spheres of life, but do not preclude some forms of cultural bridging and positive interactions, demonstrating the ambivalences of embodied encounters in a globalizing city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. Metro passenger's path choice model estimation with travel time correlations derived from smart card data.
- Author
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Zhang, Yongsheng, Yao, Enjian, Zheng, Kangning, and Xu, Hao
- Subjects
- *
SMART cards , *ROUTE choice , *TIME perception , *PUBLIC transit , *GAUSSIAN mixture models , *EXPECTATION-maximization algorithms - Abstract
Smart card data provides a new perspective for estimating a metro passenger's path choice model in a large-scale urban rail transit network with multiple alternative paths between origin-destination pairs. However, existing research does not consider correlations of path travel times among alternative paths when using smart card data for estimation purposes, leading to biased estimations. This paper proposes an approach to estimating the path choice model considering path travel time correlations. In particular, a simplified form of measuring path travel time correlations caused by shared links is proposed to improve estimation efficiency. Then a framework for a linking path choice model and smart card data is developed based on a Gaussian mixture model; an expectation maximization-based estimation algorithm is also provided. Finally, taking the Guangzhou Metro in China as an example, the superiority of estimations based on smart card data considering correlations is observed in both statistical terms and predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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- View/download PDF
10. Emerging digital environmental governance in China: the case of black and smelly waters in China.
- Author
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Hsu, Angel, Yeo, Zhi Yi, and Weinfurter, Amy
- Subjects
- *
ENVIRONMENTAL management , *FIXED effects model , *WATER quality , *WATER levels , *INFORMATION & communication technologies - Abstract
China is enlisting information communication technologies (ICTs) and citizens to address gaps in environmental management. In this paper, we empirically evaluate ICT-facilitated, citizen-generated data collection through China's "Black and Smelly Waters Program." Utilizing the app's citizen reports and water quality data in Guangzhou, we assess whether the reports led to significant improvement in four common water quality indicators. We found water bodies that received citizen reports had poorer levels of water quality than those that did not receive complaints. Through a fixed effects regression model, we find that COD levels decreased by 36.3% and 38.9% five and six months after reports were made. We did not observe a significant effect on other water indicators considered. We conclude that China's preliminary experience suggests ICT-enabled citizen engagement, combined with strengthening governance through political avenues, may enable governments to overcome challenges related to implementing top-down policies and fostering civic participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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11. Welcome to the club! An exploratory study of service accessibility in commodity housing estates in Guangzhou, China.
- Author
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Hendrikx, Martijn and Wissink, Bart
- Subjects
- *
PLANNED communities , *COMMUNITY services , *PRIVATE communities , *MUNICIPAL government - Abstract
In post-reform China, gated commodity housing estates play a crucial role in the provision of urban services. Such collective service provision is criticized in the urban studies literature, because ‘club goods’ are thought to exclude people that do not live in gated communities. This paper reflects on the global relevance of that argument with an exploratory study in Guangzhou, China. We argue that access to collective services is structured in local social practices, involving diverse actors and specific rules and resources. Discussions on the exclusionary effects of service provision through gated communities should therefore focus on the characteristics of these practices of access in specific cities. Employing this perspective, the paper shows that in Guangzhou at least two mechanisms partly ease the exclusion of non-residents from club goods. On the one hand, municipal government maintains a considerable role in service management, mediating exclusion from services for people who do not live in commodity housing estates. On the other hand, generally the management of services is separated from housing estate management, and service providers try to increase profits through service provision to non-residents. We discuss the consequences of such mediations for an adjusted research agenda on service provision by gated communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2017
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12. Geographies of temporary markets: an anatomy of the Canton Fair.
- Author
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Bathelt, Harald, Li, Pengfei, and Zhu, Yi-wen
- Subjects
- *
TRADE shows , *MARKETS , *INFORMATION sharing , *PRODUCT demonstrations - Abstract
While recent research on temporary clusters and temporary markets has emphasized the knowledge generation processes associated with trade fairs, little is known about the knowledge exchanges that are embedded in market relations at these events. This paper uses the case of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, the largest trade fair in China, to illustrate that such events do not operate as a single market, but that they generate multiple dynamic market configurations, which entail different flows of knowledge, goods and people. In a typical case study, four types of market configurations are identified that simultaneously develop at this event. The findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of market relations, knowledge and transactions in temporary spatial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
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13. Fragmented Bureaucracies in Built Heritage Conservation: The Case of Shamian Island, Guangzhou.
- Author
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Lee, Anna Ka-Yin
- Subjects
- *
CONCESSIONS (International law) , *ISLANDS , *CONSERVATION & restoration , *ASIAN studies - Abstract
Located in Guangzhou, Shamian Island was leased as a foreign concession to the British and French forces in the mid-nineteenth century. The island has been granted the highest heritage protection status. Through the lens of the Fragmented Authoritarianism framework, this paper examines the bureaucratic structure of the Chinese state, bargaining activities, and policy outcomes related to conserving Shamian Island. The following conclusions are drawn: first, coordinated conservation efforts have been hamstrung by the fragmented heritage management system that is tier-differentiated and jurisdiction-based; and second, the two most concerned agencies – the Planning Bureau and the Cultural Bureau – have not been able to agree on the appropriate approach to conserving heritage and historic buildings on the site. Deadlock has resulted, as no agency can really push for better, and more compatible, policies. Nor have sustained conservation practices for the site been viewed as politically significant enough to prompt higher-level government officials to step in and end the bureaucratic squabbling. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
14. Planning for Plural Groups? Villages-in-the-city Redevelopment in Guangzhou City, China.
- Author
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Chung, Him and Zhou, Su-Hong
- Subjects
- *
URBAN planning , *URBAN policy , *VILLAGES , *CITIES & towns , *SOCIAL groups , *MIGRANT labor - Abstract
This paper investigates how the plural needs of different groups are handled by redevelopment planning. Investigating the redevelopment of villages-in-the-city in Guangzhou, this paper examines how the differing interests of indigenous villagers are being considered and resolved through a local initiative – ‘one village one policy’. Case studies from three villages are drawn upon to examine how local conditions and concerns are being tackled in each village's respective redevelopment plan. Different degree of government intervention in the planning of the three villages suggests that local distinctiveness is defined by the authorities in accordance with their agenda. Further, the exclusion of migrant workers suggests their needs and interests are totally overlooked in the redevelopment process. The attempt to cope with the needs of different social groups, therefore, has remained insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
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15. The role of key stakeholders in the bottom-up planning processes of Guangzhou, China.
- Author
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Lin, Yanliu and De Meulder, Bruno
- Subjects
- *
CITIES & towns , *URBAN planning , *STAKEHOLDERS , *VILLAGES - Abstract
The interplay between key stakeholders in urban development is one of the key concerns in contemporary international theory on urbanism and planning. This paper seeks to contribute to this concern, addressing the interplay between three key stakeholders (the state, the market and society) in the bottom-up planning processes of Tangxia Village, a typical 'village in the city' in Guangzhou, China. The mosaic spatial structure of Tangxia Village has been produced and overlapped by different planning processes, each created by various key stakeholders. The socio-spatial structure of the traditional rural settlement formed the basic layer of Tangxia Village, while newly added layers have resulted largely from the intertwining of regulated city development and unregulated self-development. Recently, a bottom-up process has generated a wide range of attention, as it has functioned very well in reshaping the space in Tangxia Village. This paper concludes that the integration of bottom-up processes and micro-strategies would strengthen the performance and efficiency of redevelopment strategies for Tangxia Village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
16. Neighbourhood and Neighbouring in Contemporary Guangzhou.
- Author
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Forrest, Ray and Yip, Ngai-Ming
- Subjects
- *
URBANIZATION , *CITIES & towns , *SOCIAL change , *SOCIAL interaction , *SOCIAL surveys - Abstract
There is now a substantial literature on various aspects of contemporary Chinese urbanization. There are, however, few recent studies of Chinese cities which examine social change and social interaction at the level of the urban neighbourhood. This paper seeks to fill some of this gap in current knowledge. It draws on a social survey of three contrasting neighbourhoods undertaken in Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta, one of the most economically dynamic and rapidly urbanizing areas in the world. The paper explores inter alia the meaning of neighbourhood, sense of local belonging and community, and patterns and incidence of mutual assistance. The paper reflects on the extent to which market reforms are transforming patterns of local social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
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17. A Study of Job Preference and Work Ethics in Guangzhou.
- Author
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Mok, Ka-Ho and Chan, David
- Subjects
- *
WORK ethic , *ECONOMIC development ,ECONOMIC conditions in China - Abstract
'Guangdong is the province one step ahead in China and Guangzhou is the city one step ahead in Guangdong.' Being one of the most economically active cities in China, Guangzhou citizens have generally experienced improved living standards and a better quality of life since the economic reform started in the late 1970s. What is also true is that economic modernization has changed the social structure, allowing far more social mobility in the post-Mao society. Nowadays, people living in Guangzhou have more job choices in a relatively free labour market. This paper is set in such a socio-economic context to examine the job preferences and work ethics of Guangzhou citizens, with particular reference to what changes have taken place in people's work values after the adoption of a market economy in the mainland. The paper is based on our current research projects conducted in the Guangzhou area to examine how socio-economic changes have affected people's value orientations and is confined to discussion of whether people living in Guangzhou have changed their attitudes towards work in the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2001
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
18. Entrepreneurship and interracial dynamics: a case study of self-employed Africans and Chinese in Guangzhou, China.
- Author
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Zhou, Min, Xu, Tao, and Shenasi, Shabnam
- Subjects
- *
FREELANCERS , *AFRICANS , *ENTREPRENEURSHIP , *CHINESE people , *BUSINESS enterprises , *TWENTY-first century , *ECONOMIC history ,RACE relations in China ,EMIGRATION & immigration in China ,ECONOMIC conditions in China - Abstract
Guangzhou is the most popular gateway city for African migration to China. Unlike stereotypical international migrants, Africans in Guangzhou are predominantly self-made entrepreneurs, doing business face-to-face with Chinese entrepreneurs who are mostly internal migrants with truncated citizenship rights. African-Chinese encounters in local markets and residential neighbourhoods offer a rare opportunity for studying interracial dynamics beyond the classic black-white dichotomy and traditional paradigm of ethnic entrepreneurship. In this paper, we draw from in-depth interviews and field observations to examine how interacting social forces shape interracial relations and mobility pathways for migrant entrepreneurs in an emerging city of opportunities. Our analyses suggest that interactions between African and Chinese entrepreneurs are economically interdependent and socioculturally contentious processes, and that these processes shape a myriad of intersecting identities and create room for cooperation that transcends race, class, and migrant status. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
19. Institutional Capacity on Water Pollution Control of the Pearl River in Guangzhou, China.
- Author
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Yu, Yuan, Ohandja, Dieudonné-Guy, and Bell, J. Nigel B.
- Subjects
- *
WATER pollution prevention , *WATER quality , *ENVIRONMENTAL organizations , *SOCIAL norms - Abstract
This paper analyzes the role of the prevalent formal and informal institutions in Guangzhou in alleviating deteriorating water quality in the Pearl River. In addition to the dominating role of the local government, it examines the influences of other relevant factors such as the role of environmental non-governmental organizations, the media, and the impact of social and cultural norms. It concludes that the current institutional framework is not sufficiently competent to handle water pollution problems and that a multi-dimensional and cross-sectoral approach is necessary for water pollution control in the Pearl River in Guangzhou. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
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20. Micro-narratives in Contemporary Chinese Art: A Case Study of Cao Fei's Pearl River Delta Anti-heroes.
- Author
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Fok, Silvia
- Subjects
- *
21ST century art , *CHINESE art , *CULTURAL policy , *ANTIHEROES - Abstract
This paper investigates the representation of micro-narratives in contemporary Chinese art by examining the multi-layered narratives in Cao Fei's Pearl River Delta Anti-heroes performed at the opening of the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial in 2005. I consider Cao's work as a hyper-realistic portrayal of the micro-narratives of the Pearl River Delta region in a mediated form highly influenced by the media, entertainment industry and popular culture of the region and Hong Kong. Theatricality, kitsch and the distinctive local essence of South China are revealed in the form of a TV soap opera and the use of colloquial Cantonese throughout the performance, along with occasional Putonghua or Mandarin. Language as a signifier of cultural politics has been deployed as an indispensable tool to empower the region within the broader body politic of the People's Republic of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
21. Homeowners United: the attempt to create lateral networks of homeowners' associations in urban China.
- Author
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Yip, Ngai-ming and Jiang, Yihong
- Subjects
- *
HOMEOWNERS , *PROPERTY rights , *PROTEST movements , *SPECIAL interest groups (Associations) , *URBAN life , *SOCIETIES - Abstract
Under the slogan of 'weiquan' (defending our rights), homeowners in urban China are increasingly prepared to stand up for their rights of ownership, often through non-confrontational actions organized by homeowners' associations (yeweihui). There is also a growing concern for the need to create collective platforms on which homeowners' associations can support one another, muster their collective resources against powerful developers and lobby for status as legitimate organizations. The activists involved in this work are well aware of its political sensitivity in a regime that is antagonistic towards autonomous organizations, which are seen as posing a threat to its hegemony. Based on a case study in Guangzhou, this paper traces the tactics that housing activists have employed to create horizontal cooperation among homeowners' associations to defend their rights and devise 'boundary-spanning' strategies that exploit divisions within the state apparatus. The Guangzhou union of homeowners' associations can be regarded as an experiment in organizational infrastructure which has far-reaching implications. This study sheds light on the complexities as well as the institutional fluidity of state-society interactions in contemporary urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
22. Negotiating place and identity after change of administrative division.
- Author
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Zhu, Hong, Qian, Junxi, and Feng, Lei
- Subjects
- *
SOCIAL change , *GROUP identity ,CHINESE politics & government - Abstract
Place identity is a fluid construction that is in a constant dynamics of re-imagination. Changes in economic, social, cultural and political conditions lead individual and groups to re-imagine and rebuild their place-based identity. One major force that causes people's interruption in place identity is the rationalizing spatial process that reduces place into abstract space that is open to reorganization. In this paper, we investigate the interruption, reconfirmation and renegotiation of the place-based identity of local residents of the former municipal district of Dongshan, Guangzhou, China, after the official administrative establishment of Dongshan was cancelled by the Guangzhou municipal authority in 2005. Thirty-six in-depth interviews were conducted, and it is found that local Dongshan residents' place identity had generally been enhanced, rather than vitiated, after the 2005 change of administrative division, while discourses about interruptions in their place identity fill up their narratives. Although sensing obvious interruption in place-based identity, local Dongshan residents re-imagined the meanings of the place of Dongshan to build up culturally delimited borders that were conditioned by the name Dongshan, and this re-imagined place-based identity results from the local residents' renegotiation about what the place of Dongshan is and how their identities are connected to the place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
23. Mortgage Loan as a Means of Home Finance in Urban China: A Comparative Study of Guangzhou and Shanghai.
- Author
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Li, Si-ming
- Subjects
- *
HOUSING finance , *MORTGAGE loans , *HOUSEHOLD surveys , *COMPARATIVE studies - Abstract
This paper examines home financing in China, using data from household surveys conducted in Guangzhou and Shanghai. The nationwide Housing Provident Fund is still of minor importance. The majority of homebuyers continue to rely heavily on personal savings and parental contributions to finance home purchase. Mortgages are gaining importance, with slightly less than one-third of the purchases employing this means. Demographic attributes have relatively minor effects on mortgage loan utilisation. Socio-economic status is of somewhat greater significance; however, it exhibits contrasting effects in Guangzhou and Shanghai, which may be attributed to the difference in local housing market conditions. Migrants are discriminated by their hukou status. The findings show hukou status affects access to mortgage primarily through its impacts on the job market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
24. Oceanic manifestation of global changes: satellite observations of the atmosphere, ocean and their interface.
- Author
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Levy, Gad and Gower, Jim
- Subjects
- *
CONFERENCES & conventions , *REMOTE sensing , *FISHERIES conferences , *ATMOSPHERIC circulation , *OCEAN circulation , *SYNTHETIC aperture radar , *SOCIETIES - Abstract
Information about several papers discussed at the Ninth Biennial Pan Ocean Remote Sensing Conference (PORSEC) in Guangzhou, China in December 2008 is presented. Topics include fisheries and biological activity, atmospheric and oceanic circulations and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) applications. The conference also examined the potential use of level set algorithm in SAR ocean operations.
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
25. Negotiating homosexual identities: the experiences of men who have sex with men in Guangzhou.
- Author
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Li, Haochu (Howard), Holroyd, Eleanor, and Lau, Joseph T.F.
- Subjects
- *
GENDER identity , *IDENTITY (Psychology) , *HOMOSEXUALITY - Abstract
This paper reports on an ethnographic study of male homosexuality in contemporary Chinese society. The study focused on how men negotiated with the mainstream Chinese heterosexual society and in so doing constructed their sexual identities. The factors found to inform sexual identity were: the cultural imperative of heterosexual marriage, normative family obligations, desired gender roles, emotional experiences and a need for social belonging. The four types of sexual identities constructed included: establishing a deliberate non-homosexual identity, accumulating an individual homosexual identity, forming a collective homosexual identity and adopting a flexible sexual identity. For the men interviewed, sexual identity was both fluid and fragmented, derived from highly personalised negotiations between individualised needs and social and cultural constructs. The analysis is set against the background of China's rapid and recent economic development, shifting national and international social environments and improved access to the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
26. Evaluating the Temporal and Spatial Urban Expansion Patterns of Guangzhou from 1979 to 2003 by Remote Sensing and GIS Methods.
- Author
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Fan, Fenglei, Wang, Yunpeng, Qiu, Maohui, and Wang, Zhishi
- Subjects
- *
URBANIZATION , *TRANSPORTATION , *GEOGRAPHIC information systems - Abstract
China has experienced and is experiencing expeditious urban expansion in the recent decades, especially in the coastal areas and big cities. Rapid urban expansion and dramatic changes of landscape have caused great economic, environmental and social impacts consequently. It is crucial to understand urban temporal, spatial expansion patterns and their related effects. In this paper, urban expansion of Guangzhou, a rapid growing city in south-east China, from 1979 to 2003 is studied temporally and spatially. Four time ranges including 1979-1990, 1990-1995, 1995-2000 and 2000-2003 are designed and the urban expansion area, expansion rate and the spatial expansion pattern are discussed by using remote sensing data and Geographical Information System (GIS) tool. Two transects are designed along two axes of Guangzhou expansion and the structural of urban expansion patches at different orientations are compared in order to quantitively understand the urban expansion of Guangzhou during the past 24 years. The gradient analysis integrating multi-temporal data is performed in order to analyze and compare the spatial and temporal dynamics of urban expansion. Two indices of compactness and fractal dimensional index are used to describe the urban developing pattern in the study time durations. And the influence of different types of traffic roads to urban expansion is evaluated using the buffer analysis of GIS. The results show that: (1) temporally, urban area of Guangzhou increase 296.54 km2 from 141.15 km2 in 1979 to 437.70 km2 in 2003 and the increasing rate is up to 210.08%; (2) spatially, Guangzhou has different urban expanding directions in different stages and the general expanding directions are towards northeast, north, southeast and north in four studied time ranges; (3) transportation lines play a very important role in urban expansion of Guangzhou, but different types of road have different impacts. National roads and highways exhibit stronger control to urban expansion than provincial roads; and (4) expansion of Guangzhou has gradually changed from a compact pattern to leapfrogging and disordering patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
27. The 'third tier' of globalization.
- Author
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Lyons, Michal, Brown, Alison, and Li, Zhigang
- Subjects
- *
MIGRANT labor , *CITIES & towns , *ECONOMICS , *COMMERCE ,EXPORTS & economics - Abstract
In recent years, China's major trading cities have witnessed rapid social, cultural and physical change which has accompanied the country's boom in manufacturing and exports. A small but increasingly significant element of this growth has been the China-Africa trade in small-scale manufactured goods. The opening of China's economy has created new spaces for migrant entrepreneurs capturing a share of international value chains, transforming social and business relations, and reconfiguring urban space. This paper draws on a pilot study by the authors of African migrants in Guangzhou in 2007, active in the exports to the African sub-continent. Findings challenge established models of global city growth, identifying the collective importance of individual entrepreneurs in promoting a trade which has significant impacts on African cities, while creating new interactions with identifiable, distinctive and unanticipated impacts on this dynamic host city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
28. An integrated evaluation of landscape change using remote sensing and landscape metrics: a case study of Panyu, Guangzhou.
- Author
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Yu, X. and Ng, C.
- Subjects
- *
LANDSCAPES , *REMOTE sensing , *AEROSPACE telemetry , *LAND use - Abstract
The 'reform and openness' policy applied in China since the late 1970s has shaped the landscape of the country, and has resulted in various environmental and ecological impacts. However, very few investigations of land use changes from a landscape perspective have been conducted so far. In this paper, remote sensing data and landscape metrics are used to investigate the changes in land use and landscape pattern in Panyu, Guangzhou over a study period from 1988 to 2002. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images are processed using ERDAS IMAGINE, and landscape metrics are calculated at landscape and class levels using FRAGSTATS. A land use transition matrix shows that land use patterns in Panyu have been undergoing rapid changes over the past two decades. Changes were mostly due to the conversion of cultivated land and orchard to urban built up area, which in 2002 had increased by more than three times that in 1988. An integrated evaluation of landscape pattern based on landscape metrics analysis indicates that a mixture of cultivated land and orchard could serve as a matrix in 1988. Due to rapid economic development and urbanization, the landscape became more fragmented and heterogeneous from 1988 to 1998. Since 1998, the landscape had been dominated by a mixture of urban and cultivated land, and became more homogenous and aggregated in 2002. This study highlights that a landscape matrix should also be synchronously investigated when landscape matrix change is of concern, especially in a rapidly developing area. The study demonstrates that landscape metrics can be a useful indicator in land use change analysis and are vital for integrated landscape evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
29. The case of the disorderly graves: contemporary deathscapes in Guangzhou.
- Author
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Teather, Elizabeth Kenworthy
- Subjects
- *
SOCIAL aspects of death , *LANDSCAPES , *CAPITALISM - Abstract
The first part of this paper describes three agendas that are shaping contemporary deathscapes in Guangzhou: the modernist planning agenda; the market economy; and the Chinese Communist Party ideology and resistance to it. The second part interprets three significant aspects of these deathscapes: first, the survival of an old tradition (fengshui); second, the appearance of a new spatial practice (storage of ashes in landscaped cemeteries); and, third, the contemporary reinterpretation of the grave as a symbol of individual rather than lineage status. Finally, these deathscapes are analysed as 'deathspace', a symbolic system that represents a stage in an ongoing process of conflict and compromise involving the traditional and the modern, the personal and the political, and the sacred and the secular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2001
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
30. HOME PURCHASE IN CHINA - A case study of Guangzhou from in-kind allocation to cash subsidy.
- Author
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Hui, Eddie Chi-Man
- Subjects
- *
HOUSING development , *HOME ownership - Abstract
In China, promotion of home purchase has since 1979 been one of the major housing policies. Guangzhou is in the vanguard of housing reform. In 1997 the Guangzhou government announced an innovative housing initiative - the Housing Allowance Scheme (HAS). To enhance home ownership, this scheme endeavours to eliminate completely the existing welfare 'in-kind' allocation system. Civil servants appointed after 30 September 1997 no longer receive state housing. Instead they are provided monthly housing allowances 'in cash'. This paper examines the feasibility of the HAS against its objective of 'home purchase'. It reviews welfare housing development in Guangzhou in the context of policy development, housing need, and housing investment and provision. It then gives a systematic account of the key features of the HAS in Guangzhou and discusses its possible shortcomings as well as offering recommendations. The concluding section gives further suggestions for policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2001
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
31. Residential Mobility and Urban Restructuring under Market Transition: A Study of Guangzhou, China.
- Author
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Li, Si-Ming, Si-Ming Li, Siu, Yat-Ming, and Yat-Ming Su
- Subjects
- *
RESIDENTIAL mobility , *HOUSING , *PUBLIC spaces - Abstract
Residential mobility can be conceptualized as an outcome of a choice process exercised under complex institutional and personal constraints. China's rather unique pattern of housing market segmentation under market transition impinges directly on residential location and relocation. Drawing upon data from a sample survey, this paper analyzes the pattern of residential moves resulting from commodity housing construction in a major Chinese city, Guangzhou. Most moves are of short distance, although the general direction is towards the urban periphery. Danweisand the municipal housing bureau, rather than the market per se, are the primary driving forces behind suburbanization in China today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2001
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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