Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City

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Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City

by Philipp Demgenski

University of Michigan Press, 2024

ISBNs

Cloth: 978-0-472-07637-6

Paper: 978-0-472-05637-8

eISBN: 978-0-472-90376-4 (OA)

About the Book

Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City examines the complexities and changing sociopolitical dynamics of urban renewal in contemporary China. Drawing on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in the northeastern Chinese city of Qingdao, the book tells the story of the slow, fragmented, and contentious transformation of Dabaodao—an area in the city’s former colonial center—from a place of common homes occupied by the urban poor into a showcase of architectural heritage and site for tourism and consumption. The ethnography provides a nuanced account of the diverse experiences and views of a range of groups involved in shaping, and being shaped, by the urban renewal process—local residents, migrant workers, preservationists, planners, and government officials—foregrounding the voices and experiences of marginal groups, such as migrants in the city. Unpacking structural reasons for urban developmental impasses, it paints a nuanced local picture of urban governance and political practice in contemporary urban China. Seeking a Future for the Past also weighs the positives and negatives of heritage preservation and scrutinizes the meanings and effects of “preservation” on diverse social actors. By zeroing in on the seemingly contradictory yet coexisting processes of urban stagnation and urban destruction, the book reveals the multifaceted challenges that China faces in reforming its urbanization practices and, ultimately, in managing its urban future.

About the Author

Philipp Demgenski is Assistant Professor in Anthropology within the Department of Sociology at Zhejiang University.

Reviews

2025 Francis L. K. Hsu Book Prize Winner

— Society for East Asian Anthropology

“Seeking a Future for the Past is a sensitively written and comprehensively researched ethnographic study of the sociopolitical dynamics of urban redevelopment and renewal, charting the transformation of a small, poor, and socially marginalized neighborhood located in the center of Qingdao’s old city into a showcase for Qingdao’s heritage celebration of its modern history. I hope it becomes a major text in studies of urban transformation in China and of urban anthropology in general.”— Harriet Evans, Westminster University/LSE

“Seeking a Future for the Past builds on a decade of fieldwork in order to examine how different groups invest meanings in place and how they think about preservation and redevelopment. It is the most comprehensive study on redevelopment in Qingdao and will appeal to readers in urban studies, China studies, and heritage studies.”— Xuefei Ren, Michigan State University

"Research topics on urban redevelopment and renewal are often dominated by scholars from the architecture and urban design fields, so Demgenski's ethnographic approach is refreshing and unique. His book will appeal to readers not only from the field of Chinese studies in general, but also those from different disciplines including urban studies, urban planning, heritage preservation, sociology and law." — The China Quarterly

The author's careful attention to local voices and interpretations captures nuances often missed in broader discussions of urban development. The work will be valuable to scholars of heritage studies, urban anthropology and contemporary China, offering fresh insights into how heritage shapes – and is shaped by – local power dynamics and social relations from the past, the present and the future.

— Hua Yu, International Journal of Heritage Studies

The anthropological approach adopted by the study, together with the rich empirical evidence, makes it a valuable resource for anyone wishing to deepen their understanding of the complexities and changing socio-political dynamics of urban renewal in contemporary China.

— Hangli Zeng, Urban Studies

"The book offers a fascinating and well-illustrated account of urban life in Qingdao's degraded inner-city alleyways, with photographs, maps and documents that help the reader get an idea of Dabaodao's local sense of place. Overall, this beautifully written, well-illustrated ethnography makes a major contribution to China studies, urban studies, cultural anthropology and heritage studies." — Judith Audin, Asian Anthropology

“Superbly researched, theoretically sophisticated, and fluidly written, Demgenski’s monograph sets a new benchmark for anthropological studies of urban China.”

— Taoyu Yang, Journal of Urban Studies

"For readers ourselves who might be involved in similar urban renewal processes, this is a thought-provoking case study to explore the basic theme of public history about ‘whose public?’ and ‘whose history’ and to seek our future for our past."

— Yushi Liu, The Public Historian