Livelihood Strategies in China: Lessons Learned From Taiyuan
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Date
2020-12-08
Authors
Bachrach, David
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Studies of urban China often deploy top-down analyses and focus on tier-1 cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. This thesis contributes to a diversifying literature by using a bottom-up analysis to compare the livelihood strategies of peri-urban residents in Taiyuan, a tier-2 city, to those in tier-1 and other lower-tiered cities. The empirical findings elucidate a similar spectrum of livelihood strategies, but unlike tier-1 and some lower-tiered cities, there was an absence of renting to migrant workers in peri-urban Taiyuan. Additionally, social infrastructure, social reproduction, and socio-spatial practices, often overlooked in studies of Chinese livelihoods, are central to understanding livelihood strategies people in peri-urban Taiyuan. Lastly, this thesis suggests that similar comparative studies can produce sharper insights into how processes of urbanization are not bound to specific territories: Chinese and global urban studies are connected through analogous urbanization processes, while also having unique circumstances.
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Keywords
China, Livelihood Strategies, Political Economy, Shanxi, Taiyuan, Urban Studies