ABSTRACT
For all of its existence as an agrarian empire, China had a distinct urban culture and distinctive urban neighbourhood institutions. They were radically and irrevocably changed when under the People’s Republic of China (PRC), cities became the locations of industrialisation. They were then radically changed again during the high-speed urbanisation of China in the periods after Mao’s death, in which cities were rebuilt and expanded to house what was by 2010 more than half the population of what is now an industrial nation.
