Factory Towns of South China
Organized in part as a travel guide - with many colorful maps, photos and drawings - this book profiles a wide range of Chinese factory towns producing everything from cars to toys to circuit boards.
Reviews of Factory Towns of South China
“An in-depth guide to the changed and changing landscape of the PRD, adding all-important detail to what many experience only through media sound bites."
—Architectural Record
"Contributes a visual and cross-disciplinary approach to understanding the rapid urbanization and industrialization of South China."
—The China Journal
"This imaginative guide examines the nuts and bolts behind an astonishing economic story"
—Time Out Hong Kong
“Shows us both an academic perspective and an emotional one with harsh stories and pictures about the life as a Chinese factory worker — what they eat and wear, but also how they are dealing with daily suicides and strikes. A one-of-a-kind must-read.”
—The Pop Up City
“This indispensable and imaginative guide leads us into the ‘hidden abode of production’ in South China—the world’s most dynamic manufacturing center. Offering a bird eye’s view of one factory town after another, it beautifully weaves together photographs and narratives of workers, both past and present, and lays bare the nexus among architecture, space, time and living labor in all their everyday and historical richness!"
—Ching Kwan Lee, professor of sociology, UCLA
“In a series of expertly written and richly illustrated essays, this volume provides a critical overview of how South China’s Pearl River Delta, with its hard-working population almost equal to Japan’s, has become the ‘world’s factory’ over the course of a single generation. The price tag in environmental degradation and human exploitation has been steep, but the delta’s ‘restless landscape’ continues to evolve, What will it look like in another 30 years? Read this book for its many fascinating insights.”
—John Friedmann, professor emeritus, School of Public Affairs, UCLA
“It is very relevant to not only look at the growth of the PRD and its cities itself, but to try to understand what drove this growth. Next to the implementation of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and other political changes in China, the factories within the PRD were and continue to be among the main drivers. I congratulate [the editors] with this research and the outcome presented in this book.”
—Rem Koolhaas, professor of architecture and urban design, Harvard University
“An outstanding example of what visual geography can be. It is smart, creative, engaging, and provides a multifaceted look at one of the 21st century’s paradigmatic spaces of capitalism.”
—Trevor Paglen, artist, writer, geographer
Synopsis of Factory Towns of South China
Most consumer products come primarily from the Pearl River Delta, the "factory of the world" with the largest industrial region on earth. The delta has attracted millions of poor rural residents to settle in factory towns in hopes for a better life. Factory Towns of South China opens a window on these walled compounds, exposing the gritty establishments, crowded dormitories and monotonous labor carried out by workers.
Some function as self-contained cities, with their own fire brigade, hospital, bank, TV station and as many as half a million workers living within the compounds. Other factories are scattered in larger villages to mask their existence and evade governmental crackdowns on the production of fake consumer goods and illegal casino machines.
Table of Contents
Credits
Introduction: Factory Towns of South China: An Illustrated Guidebook, by Stefan Al
Urbanization
The Danwei: Socialist Factory Town in Miniature?, by David Bray
Genesis and Evolution of Chinese Factory Towns in the Pearl River Delta: From Hong Kong toward Shenzhen, by Laurence Liauw
The Side Effects of Unregulated Growth: Can the Pearl River Delta Reverse Thirty Years of Environmental Degradation?, by Claudia Juhre
Demographics
Migration without Integration: Workers between Countryside and City, by Eli Friedman
Strike, by Minnie Chan
Hukou: Labor, Property, and Urban-Rural Inequalities, by Jia Ching Chen
Economics
Divergent Workshops of the “World Factory” in the Pearl River Delta: A Comparison of Hong Kong and Taiwanese Manufacturing, by Chun Yang
From the Iron Rice Bowl to the Steel Cafeteria Tray, by Jia Ching Chen
Infrastructure
The Power of Factories, by Paul Chu Hoi Chan
Will Design Play a Role in “Postindustrial” PRD?, by Rex Wong
The Adwin Factory: The Design of Industrial Buildings, by Paul Lin
Hong Kong
Kwun Tong Industrial Town: Printing Factory
Shenzhen
Fuyong Town: Optoelectronics Factory
Shekou Industrial Zone: Toy Factory
Dongguan
Nancheng District: Car Factory
Huangjiang Town: Electronics Factory
Guangzhou
Liwan District: Shipyard Factory
Donghuanjie Town: Video Game Machine Factory
Foshan
Shiwan Town: Artistic Ceramic Factory
Shiwan Town: Ceramic Tiling Factory
Zhongshan
City Center
Factory Futures
Regional Map
Bibliography
Factory Towns of South China: An Illustrated Guidebook
EDITED BY Stefan al. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Paul Chu, Alexander Garvin, Claudia Juhre, Casey Wang
See here for a list of Stefan Al’s other books