Shenzhen’s Urban Villages: Surviving Three Decades of Economic Reform and Urban Expansion Da Wei David Wang Master of Arts in History 2008 San Diego State University School of Social Sciences This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Western Australia 2013 Abstract The Chinese urban village, or chengzhongcun, is a unique urban communal entity that emerged since the economic reform in the early 1980s and the subsequent rapid urbanisation. The formerly agrarian villages were quickly absorbed by expanding cities, or emerging new cities as in the case of Shenzhen, and transformed into urban villages. In Shenzhen, the urban village is a zone of ambiguity because the urban villagers are warranted by the Chinese Land Administration Law to maintain their collective ownership of land, which is a special privilege not granted to the average urban citizen whose property ownership in fact takes the form of long-term leases of up to seventy years. The urban villagers were able to quickly adapt to the their urban surroundings and capitalise on their unique legal status to generate rental income through self-constructed dense rental apartment buildings, which have housed most of Shenzhen’s migrant population for the last thirty years. In addition, the urban villagers’ collective identity and organization, such as the village joint stock company, have made the villages semi-autonomous zones in the city. Due to the original villagers’ attempts at self-government and the great difficulty in regulating the migrant population who largely resides in the urban villages, the urban villages are a favorite target for local government which regards the zone of the urban village as an eyesore. Hence, from the start, the urban village’s very existence is at odds with the high modernist aspiration of the local government. They represent chaos in an otherwise well-zoned and centrally planned city where population and buildings are tightly controlled. In a high modernist city there is no room for random self-constructed apartment buildings and their migrant tenants who, according to the high modernist ideology of the authorities, only belong in massive barrack like dorms located on major transport routes. This thesis will present the urban villages of Shenzhen as self-governing urban communities with flaws but are overall beneficial for their residents of original villagers and rural-to-urban migrants. It seeks to explore the various aspects of Shenzhen’s urban villages, such as, the original villagers, their history, the settlement of rural-to-urban migrant population, and various topics crucial to the continuous existence of the villages. It will shed light on the original villagers’ relations with the migrants, the local government and wider society. This thesis has a very limited scope focusing only on the urban villages within the Shenzhen central business districts. It has gathered interviews largely from original villagers and rural-to-urban migrants living in the urban villages. In addition, it includes interviews with businessmen and local officials with interests in the urban villages. The second hand sources of this thesis included government documents, local county annals and various forms of local paper and electronic media. i Acknowledgement For this thesis, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Gary Sigley and Dr. Stephen Dobbs for their tireless efforts. I would like to thank Dr. Frank Palmos for his comments on my drafts. I would also like to thank the University of Western Australia for giving me the opportunity to embark on this thesis project. I would dedicate this thesis to my parents who have supported me both financially and in encouragement. Most definitely, I would dedicate this thesis to the urban villages’ residents both the original villagers and the migrants who made my research possible. It is their warm welcoming voices that draw me time and time again back to the urban villages, supposedly the ‘dangerous’ parts of the town.’ Da Wei David Wang 2013 ii Contents Abstract i Acknowledgement ii Photographs iv Glossary and Abbreviations vi Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Literature Review and Global Perspectives 14 Chapter Three: Villages on the Border through Chaos, Fervour, and Changes 29 Chapter Four: Shenzhen City and the Emergence of Urban Villages 52 Chapter Five: Migrant City and Migrant Villages 74 Chapter Six: Urban Village Inc. 99 Chapter Seven: Urban Renewal and Rise of Shenzhen’s Real Estate Developers 121 Chapter Eight: Urban Villages in China: A Regional Comparison 144 Chapter Nine: Villages as Imagined Communities 167 Chapter Ten: Conclusion 190 Bibliography: 201 iii Photographs Photo 1: Urban Villages Seen from My Home’s Balcony 3 Photo 2: View of Shenzhen from its tallest building Kingkey 101 31 Photo 3: Shenzhen River and its borderland with Hong Kong 31 Photo 4: Fortified town in Nantou 34 Photo 5: The former East River Column headquarters 35 Photo 6: Bronze Mural of Yumin Village 36 Photo 7: The Citang of Zhuang Clan in Huanggang Village 39 Photo 8: Religious activities by villagers in Huanggang Village 40 Photo 9: The Citang of Jian Clan at Xinzhou Village 40 Photo 10: Huanggang village’s history museum 42 Photo 11: ‘Building Shenzhen’, an exhibit at Shenzhen Museum 58 Photo 12: A historical photo of Huanggang Village 58 Photo 13: Statues depicting historical village scenes in Xiasha Village 60 Photo 14: Modern Caiwuwei Village 62 Photo 15: Shenzhen Exhibition Centre 68 Photo 16: Three generations of urban village housing 69 Photo 17: honouring dagongmei female workers at Shenzhen museum 79 Photo 18: Migrant life in Nantou Village 83 Photo 19: Inside Nantou Village 83 Photo 20: Migrant restaurant scene in Shangsha village 89 Photo 21: A migrant restaurant in Da Chong Village 90 Photo 22: Dafen Village and Oil Paintings 91 Photo 23: Lineage festival in Xiasha Village 105 Photo 24: Community library in Huanggang Village 105 Photo 25: A community-based book-rental machine in Huanggang Village 106 Photo 26: Huanggang Real Estate Holding Company Office 116 iv Photo 27: Huanggang shangwuzhongxin commercial centre building 116 Photo 28: New Year rice for original villagers in Huanggang 117 Photo 29: Huanggang urban village company headquarters 117 Photo 30: The “Chai” Mark in Gangxia village’s chaiqian zone 122 Photo 31: Qiangjian in process 129 Photo 32: Chen Hua’s company headquarters 133 Photo 33: A slogan banner at Gangxia’s chaiqian zone 135 Photo 34: A dingzihu nail resident building in Gangxia 136 Photo 35: Chaiqian zone at Gangxia, a contrast 137 Photo 36: A building undergoing the qiangjian process in Gangxia Village 138 Photo 37: Yangji Village of Guangzhou 147 Photo 38: Dengfeng Village of Guangzhou 153 Photo 39: The urban village scene in Wenzhou 157 Photo 40: The famous ant tribe village of Tangjialin in Beijing 160 Photo 41: Shajin Village of Xi’an 164 Photo 42: Narrow divide between buildings Yixiantian 170 Photo 43: One example of an untidy urban village street in Shenzhen 170 Photo 44: Universiade 2011 Shenzhen 172 Photo 45: Attempts to redecorate the urban villages along the main roads 173 Photo 46: Huanggang Village Square 182 Photo 47: The security monitoring room Huanggang village 186 Photo 48: Premier Wen joining Huanggang Villagers in an exercise of Taichi ball 189 Photo 49: Blueprint of Huanggang Village in Future 199 v Glossary and Abbreviations Glossary of Chinese and Other Non-English Terms Banzi 班子 Leadership circle Bao Gong Tou 包工头 Construction team leader Bei Piao 北漂 Floating north, commonly referred to young migrants seeking works in Beijing Chai 拆 To demolish Chaiqian 拆迁 Demolition and Relocation Chaiqianhu 拆迁户 Homes to be demolished Chengzhongcun 城中村 Urban Village Chengbiancun 城边村 Villages on city borders Chengguan 城管 City administrative units Chengshibing 城市病 ‘Urban Disease’ a metaphor in Mainland China describing problems in urban planning and zoning in China Cheng Xiang Er Yuan Hua 城乡二元化 Urban Rural Dualization Chuang da hai 闯大海 ‘Bravely explore the sea’, a Cultural Revolution era slogan encouraging fishermen to increase production Chuangyeban 创业板 A stock exchange for start-up technology companies in Shenzhen Chun yun 春运 Mass migration of migrants back to their rural homes often by train Chuantong Xiaonong Yishi 传统小农意识 ‘Small peasant mentality’, an ideological stereotype of peasantry Citang 祠堂 Ancestral hall Cun 村 Village Cungufengongsi 村股份公司 Village owned joint-stock companies Cunluo danwei zhi 村落单位制 Village work unit system Cunji 村籍 Village origin or identity vi Cunwei Banzi 村委班子 Cadre governing body or leadership team Cunweihui 村委会 The village committee Cun Jiti 村集体 Village Collective Daoban 盗版 A pirated copy Dachengshilun 大城市论 Big City Theory Da dao niugui sheshen 打倒牛鬼蛇神 ‘Defeat the ox and snake demons,’ a popular political slogan during the Cultural Revolution Dagongmei 打工妹 Working sister Desakota Indonesian term for Village-City Dingzihu 钉子户 Nail Residents, tenants or property owner who refuse to evacuate during urban renewal process Ernai 二奶 ‘Second wife’ or concubine Er Shi Zu 二世祖 Someone who is good for nothing and lives off family wealth Fa Bu Ze Zhong 法不责众 ‘The law cannot punish people en masse’, A common Chinese expression Feidi 飞地 Exclave Fen 分 One cent, one hundredth of one Chinese yuan. In addition, it is sometimes used as a measurement unit of land area as one tenth of one Chinese Mu (660 square metres) Gao Suzhi 高素质 ‘High quality’ as in personals Gemeinschaft German term for the tightly-knitted village-like