Customer Reviews

The Concrete Dragon: China's Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World

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This is an excellent overview of recent urban development in China. It doesn't go far beyond description, however an excellent description, and a very pleasant read. Good documentation. Photographs are not very good, and the few maps are rather poor.

My husband and I just returned from a comprehensive three week tour in China and Tibet. This book prepared us very well for all the amazing extremes which China has gone to in order to begin to fulfill their desire to have their country have the biggest and the best of overall city development, housing for growing masses of people moving into the cities, traffic control, beautiful urban architecture and landscaping, and the necessary river flood control. The book was written just before the Olympics and the completion of the Three Gorges Dam but covers very well all the planning, relocation of millions of people and financial expenditures needed to recreate practically new, huge cities which we have previously only known of from the history books as well as the Dam. The authors give many statistics which are accurate for 2008 and indicate the expected growth for the future. Enough annecdotal bits are included to make it all flow well and be interesting.

This book comprehensively went into a very broad issue- the transformation of China and provided a very good view of Chinese culture, from the way it has changed since Mao Zedong to the present. Issues such as urban planning policies and problems were addressed from a perspective I couldn't find in other books. For example, it went into depth about the destruction of Beijing's walls as one of the greatest acts of urban vandalism in history. It also provided a good comparative view of the changes occurring in China as strongly resembling those in the U.S.
It's written simply and engages the reader well. I strongly recommend it.

Thomas J. Campanella's THE CONCRETE DRAGON: CHINA'S URBAN REVOLUTION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE WORLD explores China's trends during the 1980s, a period when unprecedented urban change affected the country and produced Chinese entrepreneurs who mimicked the wealth and acquisitions of the Western world. There were fewer than 200 cities in 1970s China; today there are nearly seven hundred. Chapters survey patterns of growth between city and country and the individuals who made it all come to life.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

After seeing China's economic growth and urban explosion as a first-time visitor to Beijing, this book explained the why and how of everything I'd just witnessed. A good mix of historical perspective balanced with contemporary phenomena. The author's own photographs are right-on.