City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2017 Making the Gigantic Suburban Residential Complex in Beijing: Political Economy Processes and Everyday Life in the 2010s Pengfei Li The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2063 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] MAKING THE GIGANTIC SUBURBAN RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX IN BEIJING: POLITICAL ECONOMY PROCESSES AND EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE 2010S by PENGFEI LI A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2017 © 2017 PENGFEI LI All Rights Reserved ii Making the gigantic suburban residential complex in Beijing: Political economy processes and everyday life in the 2010s by Pengfei Li This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Psychology to satisfy the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Setha Low Date Chair of Examining Committee Richard Bodnar Date Executive Officer Setha Low Michael Blim David Chapin Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract Making the gigantic suburban residential complex in Beijing: Political economy processes and everyday life in the 2010s by Pengfei Li Advisor: Setha Low Suburbanization is an ongoing development process in China. Hundreds of thousands of construction projects are being undertaken in outskirts of most Chinese cities, despite the increasing domestic and international concerns over China’s housing oversupply (Xu, 2010; Gough, 2015; Li, 2015). The suburbanization of China, however, is fundamentally different from the suburbanization of most Western countries, especially the United States, whose massive post- war suburbanization took place as a continuation of its pre-war industrialization and urbanization movements. In the Chinese context, suburbanization is the process of urbanization as well— urbanization and suburbanization have been promoted simultaneously since the 1990s. It is an urban expansion movement copying the existing urban form—the revised Le Corbusier’s Towers-in-the-Park model with a socialist legacy—rather than a suburban leapfrog development following a new urban format, such as the low-density single-family house form in the American suburb. As China evolves from its imperial past to the socialist period and then to the current state-led integration into the global economy and the international community, its urbanization approach embraces practices from multiple eras and even multiple cultural traditions. Moreover, iv China’s suburbanization is part of its modernization process which is heavily tailored by the state and overly marketized as well—hypermarketized state capitalism with a pre-modern authoritarian mind-set. In addition to these historical and political economy themes, my 14-month fieldwork in a suburban community in Beijing also indicates that Chinese suburbanites’ move to the suburb is mainly a socio-economic movement without an independent cultural and political invocation or inspiration. Nonetheless, this acultural and apolitical suburban movement has profound psychological impacts on the suburbanites and results in severe spatial segregation and social stratification, although these outcomes are not the Chinese suburbanites’ original motivation. v Acknowledgements I owe thanks to so many people. Without their institutional and personal assistance, this dissertation project cannot be completed. First, I need to thank my advisor and mentor, Prof. Setha Low, who helped me throughout my field-work in Beijing via emails and skype talks and throughout my dissertation-writing journey via numerous office visits. The nick name of my field site, “Beverly Hills Towers,” was coined by Setha as well. It is a name that truly reveals the nature of my field site and smartly covers the identity of the site as well. I also appreciate Prof. David Chapin’s help throughout my graduate training in the Graduate Center, CUNY. It is David Chapin who encouraged me to use more visual figures, rather than merely words, to express my abstract thoughts in the dissertation. Prof. Michael Blim, I truly appreciate your comments during our series of discussion in your office. It is you who made me sharpen my political economy argument and statements in the dissertation. Special thanks to my architect and urban planner friends in Beijing, including Bin Wang, Youcong Wu, Xu Xiao, and Xun Zhang. Without your help, many of my interviews in Beijing could not be scheduled and conducted. Especially Mr. Bin Wang, your introduction to Beijing City University not only enriched my academic career but also let me know many brilliant and hard-working urban planning students in Beijing. In addition to these academic supports, I also thank many of my close friends in Beijing, including Bicheng Wang, Ting Xia, Yan Xing, and Bo Zhu. You made my 14-month field-work and life in Beijing less miserable and more home- like. Thank you to the members and colleagues at the Graduate Center, including Prof. Roger Hart, Prof. Kyoo Lee, Prof. Michael Sorkin, Amy Beth, Scott Lizama, Dr. Bijan Kimiagar, and vi Troy Simpson. Your academic and personal supports in the last few years made my study and life in New York City more colorful and enjoyable. And finally thank you to all of my Li family, especially my parents Zhangfu Li and Xiaoping Wang, cousin Yuwei Li and Xiaocan Wang, and my life-long family friend Ping Liu. Your persistent supports and understanding made me brave enough to study in the United States, a country and a foreign state which I barely had any knowledge in the first 22 years of my life. vii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction—Beijing’s Suburbanization In The Background Of The Chinese Urbanization Process 1 A historical framework: Whose history? 7 Hypermarketized state capitalism: China’s “neoliberal” shift 10 Modern or pre-modern 17 A hodgepodge 24 Ethnography and being a foreign trained Chinese 26 Chapter 2: The Design And Development Of A Chinese Suburban Community—“Beverly Hills Towers” 35 Modernity and the X Village 41 Three waves of urbanization of the X Village 45 The developer and the plot for the projected “Beverly Hills Towers” 55 Architects’ pen controlled by the developer 61 Chapter 3: The Construction Of A Residential Community—The Hierarchical Pyramid And Sweat Labor 71 Securing a construction site access 75 The basic living condition of a construction dormitory 80 The construction pyramid 84 Migrant workers’ morning routines 90 Being safe and saving money 94 A younger generation’s more ambitious aspirations 100 viii Chapter 4: Moving Into The Community—Economic Considerations Versus The Way Of Life 106 “Oversupply” in a highly controlled market 108 Apartment hunting and fancy pre-sale buildings 115 Buying an apartment, you have to buy one 122 Representation of space 126 Chapter 5: The Community Where We Live In—“High-End” Community And Decent Residents 134 The “Beverly Hills Towers” in the neighbors’ eyes 137 The home-making process of the “Beverly Hills Towers” 140 The “Beverly Hills Towers” residents’ perception and attitude of their community 149 Doormen, cleansers, and property management personnel as our servants 152 Forming a Homeowners’ Committee 158 Chapter 6: Daily Life And Conflicts In The Community—Childrearing, Dog Walking, Community Management, And Family Life 166 Renting an apartment in the “Beverly Hills Towers” 168 Absent young homeowners and omnipresent grandparents-children groups 179 Public space users and child-rearing in the community 186 The invisible walls in the “Beverly Hills Towers” and the apolitical homeowners 195 The remote Residents’ Committee and conflicts in the community 204 Chapter 7: Concluding Remarks 215 Social fractures and social stratification in contemporary China 220 References 227 ix List of Tables Table 1.1. Land and property ownership structure in China 3 Table 1.2. Historical evolution of cities, China and the West 9 Table 2.1. Housing policy or law in China 47 Table 4.1. Beijing’s housing market from 2007 to 2015 110 Table 6.1. Number of households who participated in the lottery of buying an underground parking lot 197 x List of Figures Figure 1.1. A sanguine picture of China’s urban evolution 10 Figure 1.2. The world history of urban development 11 Figure 1.3. Two gated communities in suburban Beijing 21 Figure 1.4. A gated community that was built in the 2010s in a north Beijing suburb 23 Figure 2.1. The three stages of erecting a residential community in contemporary China 36 Figure 2.2. The spatial layout of the Municipality of Beijing excluding its four northern suburban districts/counties 43 Figure 2.3. The map of New York City 45 Figure 2.4. The main planning map of Beijing Urban Master Plan (2004-2020) 57 Figure 2.5. Internal mechanism between developers and district officials 59 Figure 2.6. A gated community with a foreign name “The Lincoln Park” 63 Figure 2.7. The appearance of a hyper-modern residential community designed by China’s largest developer—Vanke 68 Figure 3.1. My room with five other workers on the construction site 81 Figure 3.2. Spatial layout of the construction site 84 Figure 3.3. Some workers choose buy their own breakfast 90 Figure 3.4. Laying the foundation of a giant residential community in early 2015 98 Figure 3.5. Miss Little Rich, a female crane driver lived with her boyfriend on the jobsite 101 Figure 4.1. Beijing’s housing market from 2007 to 2015 111 Figure 4.2. A lavish pre-sale exhibition center in south Beijing 119 Figure 4.3.