How to make sense of Shanghai? The colonial city model versus the postmetropolis paradigm

Résumé du document

Shanghai never ceased to exert a strong fascination, from the "Paris of the East" of the late nineteenth century to today's showcase of China's economic power. It has also become a global symbol of the "prowess of capitalism" and of cosmopolitanism, as a huge revenge on China's turbulent contemporary history. However it is a well-known fact, notably among many academics in urban studies, that such Asian "mega cities" in general are not easy to study. Indeed, for those who consider that size still matters, a term has been coined to designate cities with a population over ten million people : "mega cities". According to Scott, Shanghai can even be considered a "major global city-region" (Scott, 2008). With a total population exceeding 17,8 million inhabitants and 23,7 million taking into account the whole municipality, it is now the largest city proper in the world. Shanghai is also a peculiar city in the sense that it has never been a "classic (Chinese) city", due to its relatively late development in the 13th century and the fact that, in spite of its size, it has never been an imperial or a political capital. Hence our willingness to study Shanghai's urban development. However, which model should be used to make sense of this fascinating, but elusive city?

Extraits

[...] and Fox, S. (2009) Cities and Development, Routledge Bergère, M.-C. (2005) Le développement urbain de Shanghai : un “remake”? Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'Histoire 45-60 Bergère, M.-C. (2009) Shanghai: China's Gateway to Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press Cady, J.F. (1942) The Beginnings of French Imperialism in the Pacific Orient. The Journal of Modern History 71-87 Danielson, E. [...]

[...] Following the end of the First Opium War, several “unfair treaties” were signed between the victorious foreign powers and the Qing government, starting with the Treaty of Nanking between China and Great-Britain in 1842. Those treaties notably allowed the British and other Western nations to set up settlements in several port cities, including Shanghai. Those extraterritoriality provisions established Shanghai's semi-colonial regime. A. The impact of the International Settlements on issues of domination and segregation From the late 1840s, the International Settlement was wholly controlled by foreign authorities, including staff from Great-Britain, France, the United States, Danemark and Germany. [...]

[...] (1985) Undoing the Colonial City? Geographical Review 335-357 Zhang, L. (2010) In Search of Paradise: Middle-Class Living in a Chinese Metropolis. Ithaca: Cornell University Press Patrick Le Galès' course at SciencesPo Paris on “Cities and the Global Experience in Globalizing Times”, fall semester (session 5 on 30 September 2013) According to the Shanghai Municipal Population and Family Planning website, “Current Demographic Situation of Shanghai (2012)”, [http://www.shrkjsw.gov.cn/spfpen/dr/data/2013110/0000066040660434698136.htm l?openpath=spfpen/data], accessed on 10 October 2013 According to website Geohive, “Cities : largest (without surrounding suburban areas)”, [http://www.geohive.com/earth/cy_notagg.aspx], accessed on 10 October 2013 Patrick Le Galès' course at SciencesPo Paris on “Cities and the Global Experience in Globalizing Times”, fall semester (session 5 on 30 September 2013) “History of Shikumen” (anonymous article), on the website “English Eastday”, [http://english.eastday.com/e/shmb/u1a4018862.html], accessed on 15 October 2013 Patrick Le Galès' course at SciencesPo Paris on “Cities and the Global Experience in Globalizing Times”, fall semester (session 6 on 7 October 2013 According to the World Shipping Council website, “Top 50 World Container Ports”, [http://www.worldshipping.org/about-the-industry/global-trade/top-50-world- container-ports], accessed on 15 October 2013 Patrick Le Galès' course at SciencesPo Paris on “Cities and the Global Experience in Globalizing Times”, fall semester (session 6 on 7 October 2013) Patrick Le Galès' course at SciencesPo Paris on “Cities and the Global Experience in Globalizing Times”, fall semester (session 6 on 7 October 2013) Ibid. [...]

[...] (2004) Shanghai and the Yangtze Delta, Times Editions Davis, M. (1992) City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, Vintage edition Hannigan, J. (1998) Fantasy City: Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis. London and New York: Routledge Hannigan, J. (2003) Symposium on Branding, the Entertainment Economy and Urban Place Building: Introduction. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 352-360 Henriot, C. et Zu'an Z. (2002) Les divisions de la ville à Shanghai (19e- 20e siècles). In C. [...]

[...] In this part, we saw that Shanghai has indeed been considerably shaped by its colonial experience. Analyzing the historical developments of Shanghai through the “colonial city” model indeed provided interesting insights to make sense of this city full of colonial vestiges and marked by issues of segregation and domination. Our study demonstrated to what extent “the city and its institutions were major instruments of colonization” (King, 1989) and its “architecture and infrastructure” powerful instruments of “domination” (Beall and Fox, 2009). [...]