The Sage Handbook of Urbanization in China (Sage Handbooks of Modern China)

The Sage Handbook of Urbanization in China is a pioneering handbook that reframes our understanding of China's extraordinary urban transformation-a demographic shift of unprecedented scale and speed that has seen two-thirds of its population becoming urban dwellers.Moving beyond conventional narratives, editors Hoffman, Hubbert, and Liu develop an innovative conceptual approach that emphasizes distinctiveness without exceptionalism, global connections without universalism, and complex interrelationships beyond binary oppositions. Through twenty-eight meticulously researched chapters of critical literature reviews, leading scholars explore China's cities and urbanism not simply through top-down state directives but also through intricate negotiations among diverse actors, interests, and histories.Deploying the concept of "accompaniment," the editors argue the chapters reveal how state socialism and market mechanisms, rural traditions and urban aspirations coexist in dynamic tension rath