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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2021

Toby Lincoln
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
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Summary

This book is a history of Chinese cities from their origins to the present. Despite being an agricultural society for thousands of years, China had a dynamic imperial urban civilization. This consisted of a complex empire-wide urban system linking cities, towns, and villages. Although there was variation across the empire, there was a recognizable Chinese urban form, especially in imperial capitals. At the same time, cities were managed by a mixture of Chinese officials and organizations such as migrant associations. Finally, a vibrant urban culture developed that distinguished cities from the countryside that surrounded them. Then, over the past century, because of a number of historical forces, including industrialization and the emergence of governments committed to urbanization, this urban civilization was transformed into the world’s largest modern urban society. Indeed now, with some of the largest cities and most densely populated and networked cities in the world, China is shaping what it means to be a modern urban society. Like those throughout China’s history, these cities are connected to others around the world, and by highlighting these links, this book writes China into the history of how the world has become a modern urban society.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Clark, Peter, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewan, Shane. What Is Urban History? Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Sit, Victor. Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development. Singapore: World Scientific, 2010.Google Scholar
Steinhardt, Nancy S., ed. Chinese Architecture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Von Glahn, Richard. The Economic History of China from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiping, Wu and Gaubatz, Piper. The Chinese City. London: Routledge, 2013.Google Scholar

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  • Introduction
  • Toby Lincoln, University of Leicester
  • Book: An Urban History of China
  • Online publication: 29 April 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108164733.001
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Save book to Dropbox

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  • Introduction
  • Toby Lincoln, University of Leicester
  • Book: An Urban History of China
  • Online publication: 29 April 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108164733.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Toby Lincoln, University of Leicester
  • Book: An Urban History of China
  • Online publication: 29 April 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108164733.001
Available formats
×