Abstract
In recent years, many new college graduates in Chinese mega-cities have opted for affordable yet substandard housing in urban villages as a survival strategy in the increasingly commercialized and polarized cities, forming living quarters described in media as ‘ant tribes’. This chapter analyzes the spatial characteristics and effects of the ‘ant tribes’ using Tangjialing and Shigezhuang, Beijing, as case studies. The findings show that concentration of the low-income college graduates in a substandard built environment is a unique phenomenon associated with the particular stages of urbanization in China. The ant tribes are deeply rooted in China’s transitional process characterized by the interweaving pro-growth strategy via higher education expansion with the persisting socialist legacy of an urban-rural divide.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Chen A, Coulson NE (2002) Determinants of urban migration: evidence from Chinese cities. Urban Stud 39(12):2189–2197
Chen G, Gu C, Wu F (2004) Spatial analysis of urban poverty in Nanjing. Sci Geogr Sin 24(5):542–549 (in Chinese)
Chung H (2010) Building an image of villages-in-the-city: a clarification of China’s distinct urban spaces. Int J Urban Reg Res 34(2):421–437
Franklin B, Tait M (2002) Constructing an image: the urban village concept in the UK. Plan Theory 1(3):250–272
Gans H (1962) The urban villagers. Free Press, New York
Gu C, Kesteloot C (2002) Beijing’s socio-spatial structure in transition. In: Schnell I, Ostendorf W (eds) Studies in segregation and desegregation. Ashgate, Aldershot, pp 285–311
Gu C, Liu HY (2001) Social polarization and segregation in Beijing. In: Logan JR (ed) The new Chinese city: globalization and market reform. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 198–211
Gu C, Sheng M (2012) Beijing’s ant tribe: a case study of Tangjialing. Hum Geogr 5:20–24 (in Chinese)
Gu C, Sheng M, Hu L (2013) Study on gregarious low-income college graduates in Beijing: Tangjialing phenomenon and its aftereffect. China City Plan Rev 22(2):15–23
He S, Qian J, Wu M (2011) Studentification in urban village: a case study of Xiadu village, Guangzhou. Geogr Res 30(8):1508–1519 (in Chinese)
Lian S (2009) Ant tribe – record about the village inhabited by graduates. Guangxi Normal University Press, Guilin (in Chinese)
Lian S (2010a) Ant Tribe: problems, drawing and countermeasures. Chinese Academy of Social Code “Talent Blue Book (2010)”. Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Lian S (2010b) Ant tribe II: who’s time. CITIC Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese)
Liang Z, Chen YP, Gu Y (2002) Rural industrialization and internal migration in China. Urban Stud 39(12):2175–2187 (in Chinese)
Logan JR (ed) (2001) The New Chinese city: globalization and market reform. Blackwell, Oxford
National Bureau of Statistics (2012) The floating population 230 million in 2011. http://ifb.cass.cn/show_news.asp?id=44455. Accessed Apr 2014
Sit VFS (2000) A window on Beijing: the social geography of urban housing in a period of transition, 1985–1990. Third World Plan Rev 22(3):237–259
Wong DFK, Li CY, Song HX (2007) Rural migrant workers in urban China: living a marginalised life. Int J Soc Welfare 16(1):32–40
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the funding of this study by the Beijing Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project (11CSA003). The authors wish also to thank Professor Ian Cook for his valuable comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gu, C., Sheng, M., Hu, L. (2015). Spatial Characteristics and New Changes of the “Ant Tribe” Urban Village in Beijing: Cases Studies of Tangjialing and Shigezhuang . In: Wong, TC., Han, S., Zhang, H. (eds) Population Mobility, Urban Planning and Management in China. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15257-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15257-8_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15256-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15257-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)