Mary Ann O'Donnell

China’s emergence as the world’s second economy highlights the importance of Shen Kong borderlands—those places and neighborhoods in Shenzhen where value has been produced as people and objects come into contact with each other via connections to Hong Kong. This account rests on two basic contentions about Shenzhen as a model of post Cold War urbanization. First, the rise of Shenzhen cannot be charted in the city alone, but must take into account globalizing discourses and practices in Hong Kong, as well as in the former Soviet Union, East Asia, and Western Europe and the United States. Second, at the local level, Shen Kong borderlands are socio-technical formations that permeate everyday life. This talk maps several iconic Shen Kong borderlands (Nantou, Chiwan, Shekou, etc.), examining how local geographies have been re-formed through strategic and opportunistic use of borderland sites to achieve goals and aspirations that are often in competition with each other.