the effect of containerization on shenzhen and hong kong (and coffee beans)

I’ve been trying to map the emergence of the Pacific Rim from the perspective of Shenzhen. It’s an easy rabbit hole to fall into: neolithic navigation (from Peninsular Southeast Asia to littoral South China), the Austronesian diaspora, trade links between the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, the emergence of Quanzhou as Asia’s most important port, colonial incursions, the discovery of silver in Mexico and the establishment of the Acapulco-Manila silver route, piracy and privateers, and then containerization…so many rabbit holes!

A local magazine asked me to write an essay on the containerization part of the story, so I did. However, the editorial board kicked it back as being “too academic.” In the meantime, I’m uploading that essay and working on something more “popular.” Also, the essay focuses on trade, rather than militarization. I’m trying to get that timetable in order and braid it into the container trade story… If you have thoughts and/or insights please reach out — the topic is vast and fascinating and needs dialogue to refine.

the-impact-of-containerization-on-shenzhen-and-hong-kong-1Download

interview with caixin new media vice president zhou zhichen

Last week’s interview with 财新新传媒副总周智琛 is now up on the Caixin website as part of their 龙中对 series of interviews. “为城市立心” is about 35 minutes (no commercials) and gives a good sense of how the public debate on urban villages is now being framed, or more accurately how I’m now framing the conversation in terms of my own sojourn. To view the interview, ether use the VR code in the poster or follow this link.

langkou homecoming

A bit of housekeeping. In “Langkou Homecoming: Art Sprouts, the P+V Gallery and Future Shenzheners,” Zhang Kaiqin and I reflect on our practice at Qianzhen Girls’ School, 2016-2018. The Chinese citation is “乐把他乡变故乡——“艺术童萌”与虔贞⼥校艺展馆的未来深圳⼈”, 发表于《鹤湖⽂史辑刊》（第⼀辑），⽂物出版社，2022年11⽉。

langkou homecomingDownload

wtf huanggang?

These past few days we’ve been “eating melons,”–the colloquial expression for watching other people’s drama. This time, its an internecine melodrama starring the Shuiwei and Huanggang Zhuangs.

shake hands with 302

More publicity about Handshake 302.

shake hands 302Download

where in shenzhen is mary ann odonnell?

Today, I’m in an English language reader for Chinese elementary and middle school students! I’m in the People Power section along with Zou Hongtao (who came to Shenzhen in 1979 with the Corps of Civil Engineering) and Frank Wang Tao (汪滔), the founder of DJI. It’s true, China’s Foreign Language and Teaching Press is putting out a series of graded readers for young students and I’m in the Shenzhen book, City of Miracles.

The series, Reading China has already put out 19 collections of readers.

This picture of Zou Hongtao was taken by Zhou Shubin in 1984. It became one of the most famous photographs of the era.

a path out of shenzhen…

In 2023, we said, “Let’s see what happens after COVID.”

By April 2024, we were asking, “Where are you headed?”

shenzhen’s population, circa october 2022

What is the population of Shenzhen? This question remains tough to answer because there is the official hukou population, the official long-term population, and the population of everyone who lives here or is here… Anyway, according to the Shenzhen Statistics bureau website, in 2022 the city’s population was 17.66 million. However, according to journalist Nan Zhaoxu, who does wonderful work ferretting out those bureaucratic nooks and crannies where alternative truths might be found, on Jan 1, 2022, the city processed 22.19 million covid swabs, making the difference between the official and resident populations about 4.5 million souls. Long story short: Since the mid 2010s, I have thought of the city as home to 20 million people. I am now bumping that figure up to 22 million.

This may mean that ways of counting people are finally catching up to the city’s actual number of residents because both population turnover and growth seem to have significantly slowed. However, it may also be the case that different bureaus have different forms of legitimacy as well as quite different relationships to the city. Public health, for example, was tasked to test everyone in the city. In contrast, education bureaus are only responsible to official youth. In this sense, the city’s “population” is the result of bureaucratic actions (such as registering people), rather than a group that exists as such.

handshake 302: a baishizhou retrospective

I wrote an article about the awkwardness of Handshake 302’s Baishizhou praxis. It came out in 碧山 14, January 2024.

20尴尬·美学握手 302 的艺术实践Download

a look back

You may remember the 2013 UABB the Value Factory, which aimed to place Shekou once again at the heart of Shenzhen culture. Well, today I went back, and its all real estate, complete with a horse-riding practice area. So, first post of 2024 is just a note that changes changes and more. Changes.