ABSTRACT
The chapter contributes to the post-political scholarship by examining the interaction between state and society in urban heritage practices. Based on various examples of recent city developments and civic activities in Xi’an, this chapter examines how cultural heritage has been used as a soft but powerful tool for urban governance, and how different social groups assert their own meaning and sense of place as a response to the rapid changes of the urban landscape and official regulations. Whilst state-led practices of city transformation can be regarded as social engineering projects aimed at managing and modelling urban populations, they still allow for multiple unofficial channels to negotiate the hegemonic urbanism of the state. However, the rise and acceptance of shared values in narratives of cultural heritage, in the name of beauty, fun, and pride, leads to political consensus that makes it difficult for people to articulate dissent or resistance. Consequently, the manifestations of public spheres have transformed from being sites of resistance to spaces of temporary, fragmentary, and self-interested activities.
