Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts dicussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines Brief History of Malls, is, more accurately, a critique of the shopping mall's history. Eastern Promises, explores the locations within which architectural production of the hybrid shopping mall now prevalent in urban China initially took place. A New Breed, turns to the production of the Chinese shopping mall itself. China's extant urban conditions are initially discussed as a means of understanding the more generalized spatial. The book explores how divergences between the communist and capitalist ideologies that guide China's development attempt a degree of resolution in the space of the shopping mall. Chinese shopping malls where business is truly booming. City Reified, looks at the spatialization of China's nascent class structure throughout the whole urban field. Going Down to China town, discusses architectural form itself as an object of consumption.