Durham E-Theses Politics between Public and Private: Land Ownership Transfer in Socialist Beijing (1950s - 1970s) LIU, CHAOQUN How to cite: LIU, CHAOQUN (2015) Politics between Public and Private: Land Ownership Transfer in Socialist Beijing (1950s - 1970s), Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11206/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Politics between Public and Private: Land Ownership Transfer in Socialist Beijing (1950s - 1970s) Chaoqun Liu Thesis submitted for the qualification of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography, Durham University June 2015 Abstract This research concerns the relations and tensions among the state as an institutional public power, the people congregating as a collective, and private individuals. It intends to investigate these relations through two land politics cases in the Socialist Beijing, set against the historical background of the city and Chinese conceptual contexts. Suggesting certain similarities to public/private demarcation, the thesis starts with a genealogy of the Chinese gong-si division, arguing the moral superiority of the abstract ideas of gong over si; it argues that changing understandings of gong/public and the intricate connections between various gong and si embodiments (i.e. state, collective, family, individual) contribute – and in some ways constitutes -- politics. Based on data acquired by archival work, in-depth interviews and literature reviews, the thesis then grounds the issue into two empirical cases: the land ownership nationalisation in the expansion of Tiananmen Square, and the struggles over property in the Bell&Drum Towers area from the 1950s to 1970s. The thesis argues that the significant power of the state, particularly the compulsory power to expropriate land, depends on moral and political authority attained by its status as a gong embodiment, is dependent on: its constant practice of constructing other bodies such as family and individual as si embodiments; constructing private property and private economy as flawed si; and also on its suppression of other public/gong entities, especially the collective and the city. However, it also argues, challenges from the private/si category and from other potential public/gong bodies always exist too. This is reflected in private people‘s strategic use of the normative gong in their daily practices related to property and in many collective practices. It is the divergence between gong and si and the simultaneous intimacy between them that generates politics. I Acknowledgement Great thanks to China Scholarship Council, without the funding of which I would not have started my PhD journey. An enormous debt of gratitude must be acknowledged to my supervisors Dr. Gordon MacLeod and Professor Lynn Staeheli. Without their guidance and advice, I would not have been able to pass the journey or complete this thesis. They have invested great amount of time, intelligence and heart in the project. I am grateful for their diligent comments with probing scepticism that stimulated my thinking and challenged me to articulate complicated ideas with greater clarity. I have been amazed by the great patience and faith that they have showed in me, even when there was little to justify. Their sincere support and thoughtful consideration helped me truly accept my own weaknesses and therefore could establish real self-confidence to be an independent researcher/person. For that I cannot thank them enough. Professor Stuart Elden also deserves a special thanks. He supervised me until August 2012 and it was under his supervision that my project took in shape. He influenced me on the selection of empirical cases and research methods, and I owe to him particularly for the academic enthusiasm that he has sparked for me. I also want to thank my examiners, Professor Ali Madanipour and Dr. Christopher Harker. They provided me insightful comments and constructive criticisms which not just have helped promote the quality of this thesis but also inspired me for further exploration in future. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my friends Serge Arkhipenko, Alex Wang, Ruoyu Zhang and Jay Wright of Imagine Club. Our salons every Sunday recharged and regenerated me. Our common passion on thinking, art and life gave me a sense of community and their generous friendship made me feel Durham like home. I am also indebted to Li Liang, Xuejin Zhuge and Zhuangzhang Song who have greatly assisted my fieldwork in Beijing, and to Bin Li with whom I have kept long and rewarding intellectual communication. I also thank my colleagues in Geography Department, especially Jonathan Silver, Mario Berti, Rob Shaw, Iman Sadrvaghefi, II Ankit Kumar, Boris Popov, Madhu Dutta, Abi Maniven, Michael Tan, Lucy Szablewska, Hanna Ruszczyk, Andrew Telford and Lara Bezzina who have encouraged me on different stages of the process. Special thanks to my mum Zhongxia Wang, for her unconditional support in the whole process and to Ruxi Wang, for his accompany in the darkest part of this long and hard journey. III Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................... I Acknowledgement ............................................................................... II Table of Contents ................................................................................. IV List of Figures ..................................................................................... VIII List of Tables ......................................................................................... X Declaration ........................................................................................... XI Statement of copyright ..................................................................... XII Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Context .............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Research theme ................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Situating the research in socialist Beijing ........................................................ 3 Chapter 2 Conceptual Framework ........................................................ 6 2.1 Public-private and gong-si: a parallel division? .............................................. 6 2.2 Ideas of gong and si in Chinese history .......................................................... 15 2.2.1 Etymology of gong 公 and si 私 ........................................................... 15 2.2.2 Following history: constructing gong-si opposition ............................. 25 2.2.3 A revolution?: slippery boundaries between gong and si ..................... 34 2.3 Conceptual Framework .................................................................................. 40 Chapter 3 Methodology ........................................................................ 45 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 45 3.2 Exploring conceptual contexts ....................................................................... 46 IV 3.2.1 History of ideas and genealogy .............................................................. 46 3.2.2 Etymology and semiotics ....................................................................... 51 3.3 Case studies .................................................................................................... 52 3.3.1 Case selection and the focus .................................................................. 52 3.3.2 Archival study ........................................................................................ 55 3.3.3 In-depth interviews ................................................................................ 56 3.3.4 Analysis and interpretation .................................................................... 61 3.4 Other methods and ‗spatial analysis‘ .............................................................. 63 Chapter 4 Case Study I: Spatial and Political Transformation in the Birth and Expansion of Tiananmen Square ................................ 65 4.1 Spatial characteristics of Beijing City: a city without public space? ............. 66 4.2 Pre-Tiananmen Square as a place of gong: palace square, administrative quarter and market place ...................................................................................... 73 4.2.1 A place dominated by gong functions ................................................... 74 4.2.2 Si (market & market place) as a part of gong ........................................ 79 4.3 Birth of Tiananmen Square and emergence of an integral city: foreign force, municipality,