Ruinscapes in Urban China

Ruins, abandoned buildings, decaying places, derelict architecture, produce a diversity of forms, meanings and practices, as well as very specific configurations of Chinese urbanities.

While Chinese ruins and decaying processes have been greatly studied in urban studies, this workshop aim at discussing ruinscapes in China from ethnographic perspectives, crisscrossing anthropology, sociology, and visual studies.

Residual parts of natural disasters, their preserved or left abandoned ruins, will be the entry point of this reflection, as we commemorate this year the ten – year anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake (12 May 2008, Sichuan).

Papers will show how they easily enter into enriching dialogue with other Chinese

ruinscapes outcome of various events and crises such as housing demolition, economic shrinkage, and failed architecture. The workshop will question categories of ruins and raise the complexity of their underlying representations and uses in China. The workshop is conceived in three parts: “traumatic” ruinscape, “ordinary” ruinscape, and visual representations of urban ruins.

By discussing from contrasting angles and different academic disciplines, this workshop introduces new insights on the texture, the spatiality, as well as the discourses and social practices of ruinscapes in urban China.

Workshop program

Organised by

Centre for China Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong &

The French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (CEFC)