Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5. h
ames Town Sign. Photo by Simon Sadler
are literally carbon copies of the same housing development in Rancho Santa
Fe in San Diego, and in Shanghai, built by the same developer. But Chinese
suburbanization is no mere echo of its American cousin. Chinese suburbani-
zation is motivated less by racist antiurbanism and fear of crime than by the
particular national context of real estate speculation.
One critic suggests that h ames Town “stands in stark contrast to what it is
not. It is not the arterial multilane roadways or the congested, polluted urban
sprawl. It is in the realm of make believe, a utopian town that off ers its residents
. . . an exclusive living space to begin a life of happiness and bliss.”
20
Its unreal-
ity contrasts with the Song Jiang district's rich history as one of the main ante-
cedents to contemporary Shanghai, one of the original sources of the region's
“pure” Shanghai dialect and identity. When the Taiping Rebellion reached
Song Jiang, the city was protected, not by a Chinese-led army, but by the ragtag
Ever Victorious Army, led by the American Frederick Townsend Ward. In 1927,
