Recently, Mukta Naik of Ramblinginthecity has turned her gaze on Shenzhen. Her curiosity and eye for detail situate the experience.
Our first few hours in Shenzhen were a gentle transition into the city’s messier spaces, its urban villages, which were the staple fare for our week-long exploration.
Source: Click-click under the Flamboyant trees: An afternoon in OCT, Shenzhen
for more.
I am a freckled and pinkish, slightly overweight female. I have soft hands and I play at manual labor rather than work to earn a living. However, I am increasingly aware that this body does not obey. It aches and bursts, creams desire, flinches, hungers, sweats and thirsts. This body itches and yearns, screams and wobbles, swells and grows lumpy. It grumbles and leaks and trundles forward. But, it does not obey. Fortunately my bathroom door hides the work necessary to appear as if I were an ethereal, delicate being unencumbered by the body’s needs and its (increasing) failures. I close the door, drop my pants, piss and wipe, scour away grime and smooth my eyebrows as I squint at the face in the mirror; clear eyes, small ears, heavy cheeks, and wrinkled neck. I straighten my blouse and return to the party. Continue reading
How many people actually live in Shenzhen? The numbers vary. Current Shenzhen Party Secretary Ma Xingrui says 20 million. However, the administrative population supposedly hovers at 18 million, while the city itself has never admitted to more than 15 million. Rough estimates suggest only 4 million people have Shenzhen hukou, another 8 million have permanent residency, and another 5-8 million “float” unofficially within the city
These statistics obscure how Shenzhen’s urban villages spatially organize these three administrative classes. For example, Shi’ao (石凹) Villagehas a local population of 4 to 500 people and a renter population of 20,000, making the ratio of local to renters residents 1:40. The ratio of local to renter populations in Baishizhou is an astonishing 1:77. Moreover, it is clear that renters–even floaters–aren’t actually leaving the city. Instead, they are finding newer (and often) narrower niches within the village.
Much like US American suburbs which manage inequality through distance, Shenzhen’s urban villages do the hard (and socially productive) work of managing inequality within the city. The majority of floaters and a large percentage of permanent residents live in the villages and tend to work in service and the semi- and informal economies, while hukou residents and wealthier permanent residents occupy “official” housing estates and tend to work in the formal economy.
握手302驻村招募 The Handshake 302 Urban Village Artist Residency
Disciplines: Drawing and Painting; Film; Literature; Media art; Music and sound art; Performing arts; Sculpture
Founded: July 2016
Duration: 1 to 2 months
Description: The Handshake 302 Baishizhou Artist Residency program invites artists and writers to explore Baishizhou, a large, centrally located urban village in Shenzhen. The idea behind the residency is simple: Handshake 302 has been working in Baishizhou since October 2013. To date, many of our projects have taken place inside our space. Now, we’re turning the space into an efficiency apartment—an urban village launchpad—for artists who would like to come and create site-specific works in Baishizhou. In addition to producing one site-specific work or performance, we also ask that visiting artists hold weekly salons to meet with local residents, artists, and curious Shenzheners.
Paid by host: Handshake 302 provides visiting artists with an efficiency apartment in Baishizhou and a monthly stipend that is sufficient to meet daily living expense. There are limited funds for materials, which will be distributed based on availability.
Paid by artist: Visiting artists pay for transportation to and from Baishizhou.
Application guidelines: to apply for the Baishizhou residency, please submit the following materials via email to: handshake302@126.com.
1. Letter of interest
2. Project proposal
3. Curriculum vitae
4. Work samples
About Handshake 302: “Handshake 302” is located at 302, Building 49, Shangbaishi Block 2 in Baishizhou. “Handshake” buildings stand so closely together that it is possible to shake hands through the windows of adjacent buildings. In fact, “Handshake 302” is a repurposed, 12.5 m2 efficiency apartment on the third floor of a sterwotypic “handshake building”. It has a kitchen and a bathroom. There are 9 rooms on this floor. Handshake 302 is an independent art space. A core group of five people curates the space, but participation in any project is open to anyone through public announcements. Project participation ranges from using the space ans an exhibition space to living quarters. Since its opening in October 2013, Handshake 302 has curated 8 exhibitions and over 75 public events. We believe that art belongs to everyone who contributes to our city.
Today while walking Baishizhou, I stumbled upon surveyors from the Nanshan District government. The were beginning the measurements for compensations and consequently for the first time in roughly two years the buildings were open.
The China*Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins has just published results of three years of research on how Chinese Investment in Africa is Not What You Think. The site is a great jumping off point for thinking about new forms of globalization and China’s increasing international presence. Shenzhen keeps showing up in all of this as the desired result…
Baishizhou in the early evening: buying vegetables, walking home, waiting for the demolition of the old industrial area, which will begin after the elementary schools have closed and children relocated…
A week in Delhi, thinking about globalizing urbanization and its proliferating urbanisms with the wonderful team at the Centre for Policy Research and colleague Fu Na from Shenzhen Center for Design. Currently, untangling so many thoughts about infrastructure, waste generation, generosity, desire and inequality, heat, color and spice, traveling impressions of china, gender, aggression, and the mental barbed wire necessary to construct “Delhi” out of a few days walking tour. This trip also has me noticing the stories that I notice, some documented, below.
This week I am visiting the Centre for Policy Research to learn about their Cities of Delhi project and the politics, history, and morphology of urban villages in the National Capital Territory and neighboring Gurgaon. The trip is something of an urban village bootcamp, punctuated with visits to tourist sites and intense conversation. Continue reading
The other day, I walked the streets of Old Shatoujiao, just near the entry to Zhongying Street (中英街). Traces of the past appear fragile: early 80s work unit housing, previously fashionable architecture, pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets, the lingering remains of tourism before border restrictions loosened, and clusters of mom and pop shops. Redevelopment presses in on this small bit of history, “Be farsighted and demand development,” a developer’s banner exhorts homeowners, “the faster renovation takes place, the faster you benefit.”
Shenzhen Noted 