Chinese Urban History: State of the Field

This article surveys the development of Chinese urban history as a field of scholarly inquiry in China and the US and outlines some of the major research emphases in the study of late imperial and modern Chinese cities. In the People’s Republic of China, urban history has been institutionalized in academies of social science and universities. The primary emphasis is on the economic functions of cities and related topics, including the development of regional urban networks and the changes in the organization of commerce. In the US, Chinese urban history is not well grounded institutionally. Scholars there tend to focus on Chinese experiences of urban modernity, including technological, economic, political, social, and cultural transformation in the 20th century. The article introduces many of the most significant studies in Chinese urban history from the 1980s to the present.