“Xufei Ren’s absorbing and timely study clearly demonstrates how transnational architecture is used as symbolic capital in the making of China’s global cities. What emerges above all from this wide-ranging account is the quite extraordinary pace of China’s urban development and the incredible power of the state. The book is packed with fascinating insights from the author’s extensive empirical research. Where China’s colonial urban past is selectively preserved, it is to represent it as part of the international present. The country’s new global identity is being constructed by spectacular transnational architectural forms. As for the new architectural criticism developing since the Olympics, Ren argues that critiques of power, exploitation, and social injustice are still a missing element. A must for urbanists, China watchers, and the growing ranks of transnational architects.”

Anthony D. King, State University of New York at Binghamton

“Xuefei Ren has written an essential guide to the imagined modernity and real modernization of contemporary Chinese cities. She depicts in sharp detail an emerging landscape of towering skyscrapers, prestige projects, and rising land values where public officials and private developers create world cities as national symbols of a new China. Along the way she offers a new, compelling view of the role of famous architects and of Western architectural design in the global cultural economy.”

Sharon Zukin, author Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places

“This richly documented book opens up new ground for our understanding of cities and of globalization. The focus is on China, but the findings point to trends that are emerging in other parts of Asia and in other parts of the world, notably Africa. This is essential reading.”

Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, and author of Territory, Authority, Rights