Understanding the Chinese City

摘要

The book Understanding the Chinese City by Prof. Shiqiao Li is one of the most useful reference books of its kind in that it elaborates upon historical, cultural and traditional philosophical rationales underlying the development discourse associated with Chinese cities. The author has collected abundant amount of evidence from various sources and has expertly interrelated cultural traditions and philosophies with specific examples from ancient times to the present, from individual literati to state development strategy, from individual identity preferences to urban renewal, and from the Chinese writing system to bureaucratic state functional categories. The author has clearly distinguished the unique and powerful Chinese traditional dynamics from the development discourse associated with Western cities.