Abstract:
At the dawn of the twenty-first century the attention of the world is absorbed in its observation of and reporting on a particular version of China, one of a country that collectively exposes (and imposes) itself as a re-emergent peaceful nation. The party-state media portrays China as a harmonious constellation, and it works to allot China a central position in the global geopolitical planetarium. At the same time, the gaze of both Chinese and world observers alike is transfixed by three megalopolises and their self-representations. These are cities that have been, and still are, undergoing prodigious socio-spatial transformations, all of which have been accelerated on the eve of mega-events: the Beijing Olympics (8-24 August 2008), the Shanghai World Expo (1 May-31 October 2010) and the Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou this year (12-27 November, 2010).
