Uncorking the neoliberal bottle: neoliberal critique and urban change in China

Abstract

Neoliberalism’s theoretical ascendancy within urban geography coincided with the rapid growth of scholarly attention to Chinese cities. Therefore, it is unsurprising that neoliberal causality has been a widely used tool for interpreting China’s spatial transformation. This paper critically reviews some of the most prominent debates on neoliberalism in the Chinese context. China’s Leninist political hierarchy and Dual Structure, crucial institutions for the management and regulation of society and economy under Mao, are now reduced to the quirks of “actually existing neoliberalism.” Neoliberal critique applied to China, however, fails to adequately explain China’s spatial development because it assigns causality for social and economic inequality to globalized processes of capital accumulation while ignoring the continued importance of Maoist institutions in China’s present-day political economy. Uncritical acceptance of neoliberalism’s explanatory power for spatial change has led to flawed and inaccurate portrayals of the development and future trajectories of Chinese cities, and misrepresents the sources of social injustice in Chinese society.

Keywords:

• China
• neoliberalism
• urban geography
• development
• socialist institutions

Notes

1. Hsing (2006, 2010), for example, has documented the tensions between governments and what she calls “socialist land masters,” agencies, party and military offices, universities, and state-owned enterprises with direct access to large quantities of urban land. Additionally, there are sharp conflicts over land disposition among the Bureau of Land Management, Urban Planning Bureaus, townships, and municipalities. The transformation of land and real estate development is not simply a story of linear privatization; that is, the transfer of public goods into private hands. Instead, Hsing identifies a complex mix of multiple state actors, private and foreign owners, and socialist land masters who cause urban growth to be organized around competition and coalitions within the state.

2. There are outstanding exceptions including Ong (2011) on reactions to Rem Koolhaas’ CCTV headquarters building in Beijing.