Publisher's Synopsis
The development of modern urban housing in China over the past 160 years is examined in this volume. From the beginnings of China's modernization after the Opium Wars to the latest trends adopted after the market reforms of the 1980s, this publication offers a broad overview of the developments in buildign construction and design. Urban housing in China is one of the most important components of China's modernization, industrialization and urbanization. The period from 1840 to 2000 saw great changes in Chinese policy and society and is discussed here in three stages: the modernization of China's semi-feudal, semi-colonial society, the rise of publicly owned housing under socialism in the People's Republic of China, and the rapid growth of a new market economy under Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s. When examing changes in urban housing types, the authors take into account not only conventional architectural history, but also underlying political, economic, social, technological, and cultural forces.
