Understanding China through the Urban Construction of Beijing by Prof. Jialing Luo

This talk explores the concept of the ‘civilisation state’ through the building of imperial Beijing as the national capital in the 13th century according to the principles of “ruler’s city” (wangcheng) construction established in ancient China. Following the founding of New China, however, the 1950s and 60s witnessed the reconstruction of Beijing as a socialist city, characterised by the rise of ‘work unit’ compounds surrounding the old city centre. In the era of Reform and Openness, Beijing has taken on a modernistic look, with skyscrapers and examples of avant-garde architecture towering above the vanishing low-lying old-town neighbourhoods. Through discussing the rationale behind such dramatic spatial changes at pivotal historical moments, this talk draws attention to external influences, which have contributed to China’s urban transformations. It offers a new perspective on understanding the civilisation state of China in the contexts of intercultural transmission since imperial
times.

Jialing Luo, Professor of Social Anthropology of China, School of Culture & Social Development Studies, Southwest University, China, fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, UK and associate member of St Hugh’s College, Oxford. Prof. Luo is currently visiting the University of Oxford China Centre to work on her book project. Her research areas and interests include urban spatial and social transformations, urbanisation and community building, state-society relations, and the forms and norms of modernism. She has given a number of talks, lectures and seminars on her work, and has published several articles and book chapters with Routledge and Leiden University Press. She earned her doctoral degree at the University of Cambridge, and previously taught briefly at Oxford as a research associate at the China Centre. Prior to her training and work overseas from 2004 to 2014, she had held a university lectureship, while being intensively involved in a number of high profile World Bank, DFID, and UN development projects in rural China, through which she gained insights into contemporary China from different angles.