Shanghai Gone

Domicide and Defiance in a Chinese Megacity

By (author) Qin Shao

Not available to order

Publication date:

20 February 2013

Length of book:

326 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442211339

Shanghai has been demolished and rebuilt into a gleaming megacity in recent decades, now ranking with New York and London as a hub of global finance. But that transformation has come at a grave human cost. This compelling book is the first to apply the concept of domicide—the eradication of a home against the will of its dwellers—to the sweeping destruction of neighborhoods, families, and life patterns to make way for the new Shanghai. Here we find the holdouts and protesters, men and women who have stubbornly resisted domicide and demanded justice. Qin Shao follows, among others, a reticent kindergarten teacher turned diehard petitioner; a descendant of gangsters and squatters who has become an amateur lawyer for evictees; and a Chinese Muslim who has struggled to recover his ancestral home in Xintiandi, an infamous site of gentrification dominated by a well-connected Hong Kong real estate tycoon. Highlighting the wrenching changes spawned by China’s reform era, Shao vividly portrays the relentless pursuit of growth and profit by the combined forces of corrupt power and money, the personal wreckage it has left behind, and the enduring human spirit it has unleashed.

To see the author's blog post on Asia Society, please click here.

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Woman of a Thousand-and-one Petitions
Chapter 2: Nightmares: Old and New
Chapter 3: Waving the Red Flag
Chapter 4: A Barrack-room Lawyer
Chapter 5: Mr. Lincoln’s Lane
Conclusion
Bibliography

The nexus between relocation, destruction, and development is one of the most contentious in contemporary China. Qin Shao’s book makes a critical contribution to the topic. . . .[She] adds a crucial voice, by focusing on the stories from below. . . . Embedded in these tales is a profound exploration into some of the tensions that underlie contemporary China’s high-speed urbanization. . . .The book is organized around fascinating character sketches, rich in detail. . . . What makes the book so important, however, is that it focuses, as well, on the powerful changes that are being led from below.