And The Dragon Moves to the City:

 A Theoretical Perspective on the Relationship between Reform and Urbanization Movements in China.

China has been, for many years, a country “far away, behind the sets and unfamiliar” for the Eurocentric world and Turkey which has been historically getting closer to this world. It has reminded many of little more than “a crowded country with strange cuisine in which slant-eyed people are living”.

However, it is becoming increasingly clear today the concept of “a closed country far away” regarding China is no longer valid. The differentiation of the road map of political will in the post-Mao era, the economic dichotomy through reforms, and the creation of international capitalist ties have enlarged China’s influence to an extent that it has never been before. The experience of the Far East which is no more “far away” under its effects has left behind a spatial trail and many social patterns that need to be carefully analyzed.

Undoubtedly, the sum of these remarkable trails and patterns can be observable in the urbanization movements which are a result of the modernization project of the country.

The urbanization adventure of China is the story of small fishing towns that become the world’s trade centers for such a short time as 35 years, migrant workers whose numbers exceeded 130 million, and architectural-engineering wonders of the modern world, which monopolize many qualities such as “the highest” and “ the greatest”.

This book examines the most striking urbanization experience of the last thirty or so years with the political-economic reform movements of the country with a theoretical perspective.