The post-Mao urban reforms of the past decade have physically and psychologically transformed China's cities. Urban Spaces in Contemporary China explores how the character of city life changed after political-economic restructuring intensified in 1984, and how this change affected the creation of new physical, economic and cultural space in urban China. Drawing on a wide range of backgrounds, including economics, art history, law, and sociology, the authors bring personal insights to dimensions of urban Chinese life that are often misunderstood: China's large "floating populations," avant-garde art, labor movements, and leisure.

1 Multi-discipline perspective

2 Authors draw on a variety of sources: cinema, videos, sculpture, aerial photographs, painting, interviews, performance art, statistical surveys.

3 Each author has lived and worked in a Chinese city for an extended time in the late 1980s or early 1990s