Canton Express: Urbanization and contemporary Chinese art

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 241-260
Author(s):  
Isabella Tam
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Chinese Art ◽  
Contemporary Chinese Art ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

Canton Express was a project situated within the larger exhibition Zone of Urgency in the Venice Biennale in 2003. It was the first comprehensive exhibition focusing on the relationship of urbanization and cultural landscape in the Pearl River Delta and presented on an international platform. Since the open-door policy in 1979, the Pearl River Delta played a pioneering role in China’s economic reform and urbanization throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This was resulted with unprecedent transformation of the cityscape and inhabitants’ lifestyle. More importantly, it defined the artistic context and character of the southern region uniquely from other parts of China, providing an opportunity for an alternative narrative in the discourse of contemporary Chinese art. Taking Canton Express as a case to reflect the uncanny observations and immediate responses among the fourteen participating artists and collectives on the new reality brought by urbanization and economic development which may, however, conflicted with the socialist-communist political ideology. And such tension nevertheless triggered a collective consciousness in the artistic community and their traits of flexibility, openness and self-autonomy to seek for an artistic identity independent from the existing narrative of contemporary Chinese art legitimized by the officials for biennales held inside and outside China. On this note, the essay will point out Canton Express proposed an interdisciplinary curatorial methodology for positioning ‘urbanism’ in the discourse. It will also provide examples of how it was instituted into the official system, expanding the multiplicity of contemporary Chinese art other than the market and political symbols, and shifted attention to art productions from a local perspective with global resonance. Through Canton Express and curatorial projects held afterwards, this essay attempts to prompt future research and discussion on qualities and conditions for artistic production and circulation of Chinese art in a world emerging from the COVID-19.

The transformation of foreign investment-induced ‘exo(genous)-urbanisation’ amidst industrial restructuring in the Pearl River Delta, China

Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 618-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Yang
Keyword(s):  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
National Level ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Urban Transformation ◽  
Industrial Restructuring ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Tech ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
The Pearl River

The 2010s have witnessed a growing body of literature on urban transformation and industrial restructuring in the global south, particularly China. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the interplay between the parallel processes in the transition of globalisation. The existing literature on urban transformation and industrial restructuring in China has focused on the analysis of internal dynamics at the national level, whereas the evolution of the lower levels of urban and rural settlements (i.e. towns and villages) in the changing dynamics of globalisation has not been thoroughly discussed. Drawing on the evolutionary notion of ‘strategic coupling’ from Global Production Network (GPN) theory, this study attempts to highlight connections between urban transformation and industrial restructuring in China. Particular attention is paid to the ongoing industrial upgrading, relocation and transformation that started in the mid-2000s, and the subsequent effects on the prevalent foreign direct investment (FDI)-induced exo(genous)-urbanisation in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). Drawing on years of extensive field investigation, particularly in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs, officials, migrants and villagers in representative towns in Dongguan, the current study argues that exo-urbanisation has undergone a paradigm shift and uneven patterns of transformation. Some towns (e.g. Humen and Chang’an) have witnessed stagnation due to the deliberate decoupling of low-skilled migrant labour and labour-intensive firms, whereas others (e.g. Songshanhu) have developed into high-tech zones driven by the strategic recoupling of technology-based domestic firms and a high-skilled workforce. This study sheds light on new avenues for future research on industrial restructuring and urban transformation amidst the changing global–local dynamics.

EVOLUTION OF SEDIMENTARY FACIES AND PALEOENVIRONMENT DURING THE LATE QUATERNARY IN WANQINGSHA AREA OF THE PEARL RIVER DELTA

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
Jianhua WANG ◽  
Linglong CAO ◽  
Xiaojing WANG ◽  
Xiaoqiang YANG ◽  
Jie YANG ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Sedimentary Facies ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
The Pearl River

scholarly journals An Effective Method for Wetland Park Health Assessment: a Case Study of the Guangdong Xinhui National Wetland Park in the Pearl River Delta, China

Wetlands ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Shan Fang ◽  
Shuang Liu ◽  
Wei-Zhi Chen ◽  
Ren-Zhi Wu
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Indicator System ◽  
Holistic Health ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Landscape Indicators ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
The Pearl River

AbstractThe Guangdong Xinhui National Wetland Park (GXNWP) in the Pearl River Delta is an important stopover for migratory birds in China and East Asia. Due to high levels of interference, high sensitivity and fragile environmental constraints, an efficient method to assess the health status of wetland parks such as the GXNWP is urgently needed for sustainable development. In this study, we proposed a habitat-landscape-service (HLS) conceptual model that can be used at the site scale to evaluate health status in terms of habitats, landscapes and services by considering the complex ecosystem of wetland parks. This HLS model included 28 evaluation indicators, and the indicator weights and health-grade divisions were based on expert scores using both the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy comprehension evaluation (FCE) methods. The results showed that the health status of the GXNWP was at the “subhealthy” level, with a membership function of 0.4643. This study found that habitat indicators (0.5715) were the key factors affecting the GXNWP health status, followed by service indicators (0.2856) and landscape indicators (0.1429). The HLS-AHP-FCE method provides a holistic health evaluation indicator system and diagnostic approach for rapidly developing wetland parks in the Pearl River Delta, China.

scholarly journals Population Characteristics of Brachionus calyciflorus and Their Potential Application for Evaluating River Health in the Pearl River Delta, China

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 749
Author(s):  
Yuan Gao ◽  
Zini Lai ◽  
Chao Wang ◽  
Haiyan Li ◽  
Yongzhan Mai
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
Significant Positive Correlation ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
River Health ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
The Pearl River

Water pollution can be monitored through the use of indicator species, including Brachionus calyciflorus. To do this, it is necessary to understand the species’ population ecology. Four surveys of zooplankton were conducted in May, August, and December 2018 and February 2019 in the Pearl River Delta, China, to examine the population characteristics of B. calyciflorus. The temporal and spatial distribution of abundance, biomass, dominance, and occurrence frequency were compared with those from 2012 to investigate the relationship between changes in the population of B. calyciflorus and environmental factors. The average abundance, dominance, and occurrence of B. calyciflorus in this survey were significantly higher than those of 2012 in all seasons. Principal component analysis showed that environmental factors such as the temperature, transparency, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus of water had a major impact on the abundance of B. calyciflorus. There was a significant positive correlation with transparency, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus of water, and a very significant positive correlation with water temperature. Overall, these results demonstrated that the distribution characteristics of B. calyciflorus can reflect pollution in water bodies and can be used to evaluate water quality. These research results provide a reference for evaluating China’s river health and can help to manage water quality in the Pearl River Delta.

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