ABSTRACT
The journey of the cheapest of commodities, from factory to front room, could almost be seen as a classic story of our times – a modern morality tale for the age of austerity. The journey of the low-end commodity begins, and indeed often ends, in places of waste; places such as the pedlars quarters within large Chinese cities, or the so-called 'dump towns' which have emerged along the main manufacturing areas of the Pearl and Yangtze River deltas. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the tactics and spaces of Shanghai's waste and the ways in which these are being utilized by various forces in the furious race for economic growth. It follows the waste raw materials to the 'commodity city' of Yiwu, shadowing international wholesale buyers as they try to find profitable products and make their deals.
