Abstract
This chapter focuses on the history of urban villages. These places were once agrarian villages that, in spite of the stereotype, have a history of their own. The villages saw dynasties come and go. They saw wars and revolutions. Since the emergence of new China, they were communized and formed into work brigades. The political chaos in the late 1960s and 1970s forced many local villagers to flee to Hong Kong. Yet the villages remained. They urbanized themselves along with the new Shenzhen City.
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Notes
- 1.
The legend of Mazu was popular along the Fujian coast. It told the story of a peasant girl named Lin Miaoniang who had the mythical power of foretelling weather and sailing conditions. According to folklore, she helped many sailors with her abilities. She was later declared a saint by local authorities. Today, the worship of Mazu is widespread among coastal communities of Chinese in China and Southeast Asia.
- 2.
All my original villager interviews were conducted by appointment. Interviewees are given a codename in capital letters, to protect their anonymity. To further protect their identity, their village name is also coded in capital letters.
- 3.
The sijiu (four old things) are old Customs, Culture, Habits, and Ideas.
- 4.
The Ox and Snake demons were political symbols of remaining capitalist and feudal reactionary elements in Chinese society. ‘Da daoniuguisheshen’ (‘Defeat the ox and snake demons’) was a common political slogan during the Cultural Revolution.
- 5.
This is a term referring to the whole generation of educated urban youth were sent to the rural areas and frontiers by Chairman Mao to work and learn from the peasants.
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Wang, D.W.D. (2016). The Villages and Shenzhen City: History, Transition, and Coexistence. In: Urban Villages in the New China. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50426-5_3
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