squatting on top of the city shuang lu
TRANSCRIPT
Squatting on Top of the City
Shuang Lu 卢霜Master Candidate 2013’ Anthropology Department, Columbia University
—— Youth identity, “Ant People”, and urban spaces in Shanghai
Education:
M.A., Sociocultural Anthropology, Second year, Columbia University
B.A., International Education, Shanghai International Studies University
Self-Introduction
Research Interest:Subjectivity; Youth culture; College migration; Space/Architecture/Identity; Embedded living space; Cyberspace; Reality/Virtuality; Shanghai/China
Metaphorical term to describe a group of college educated yet under-employed migrant young workers.
In 2009, Lian surveyed a large group of college graduates living in Tang Jia Ling – a village on the outskirt of Beijing - in his book Ant People: A report of college graduate village. These people mostly have higher education background; however, they are either unemployed/semi - employed or employed in low wage jobs. He named this group of people “Ant People” for their massiveness in number, limited living space, disempowered situation and resilience in striving for life in the city.
Who Are “Ant People”（蚁族）
The expansion of college enrollment since 1999. The number of college graduates across China greatly expanded from 848,000 in 1999 to 6,500,000 in 2009 (Lu, 2010).
Increasing slim chance for rural and working class youth to get into top universities in China. From 1978 to 2005, the percentage of students at Peking University from rural areas dropped from approximately 30 to 10 percent.
Example 1. In Peking University, among students admitted in the last five years who specialized in sports, 70 percent are from cities. None of the student who specialized in arts is from a rural area.
Example 2. In 2010, Tsinghua University and Peking University admitted students from Shaanxi Province through university-designed examinations. Nearly all, 98.9 percent, were from the five top high schools in the provincial capital Xi’an.
Capitalist market yet to develop.
Shrinking middle class in global cities. Polarization of rich and poor.
The Formation of “Ant People”
“Ant People” and Urban Spaces
Ant People became a popular term in the mass media for its vivid description and sarcastic connotation
Tangjialing – is a rural village adjacent to the newly built Zhongguancun Science and Technology Zone. On average they pay 377 RMB/month ($61) for a bed in one of the modified houses that local rural residents lease out for extra income. Average living space is less than 100 square-feet per person, and the houses often lack security, heating, or sanitary bathrooms.
Dwelling Narrowness (woju 蜗居 ) Unable to afford a down payment for an apartment in the city after ten years of marriage, a young couple still live in a tiny garret (tingzijian 亭子间 )squeezed among “petty urbanites” (xiaoshimin 小市民 ).
Job-hunting hostels are designed as temporary, safe, and cheap accommodations for recent college graduates who seek jobs in an unfamiliar city.
Their layouts resemble Chinese college dormitories. Multiple residents share a room, though in job-hunting hostels there are usually more roommates sharing a room (8-10) than in college dormitories (4-6 people). Residents of a floor, or sometimes an entire hostel, share washrooms and other public facilities.
In 2006, the first job-hunting hostel – Zhida – opened up in Shanghai – the economic center of China. Zhida Job-hunting Hostel was a huge business success. It has now developed into a chain of hostels with thirteen branches in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and other cities. In Shanghai, over a hundred hostels mushroomed, everywhere from downtown to the outskirts of the city. Job-hunting hostels even became model businesses encouraged by the government.
Marketing identity ---- Job-hunting Hostel
Images of Surroundings of the Job-hunting Hostel
During my research, I explored some of its distinct features that makes these spaces different and how they are closely associated with Ant People’s identities.
1) Job-hunting hostels gather college graduates together and provide them with a relatively exclusive space to live with people with the same educational background.
2) Job-hunting hostels are not only spaces for dwelling, they are also spaces where college graduates can learn and develop.
3) The naming of job-hunting hostels transforms it into a better and different space.
With Ant People lacking economic viability, the market has created job-hunting hostels – an urban space that, in reality, is no different from others and made it into an appropriate space for young people with higher education backgrounds. The government has also taken action to support the business of job-hunting hostels which to some extent reduces demand on existing housing in big cities, a problem for which the government has been harshly criticized.
Marketing identity ---- Job-hunting Hostel
A three-story house on top of an ordinary office building in downtown Shanghai, occupied by about a hundred young workers.
Most of the rooms are small black boxes without windows. A bed, desk, toilet, and everything necessary for living are squeezed together in 70-80 square foot cubes.
Designed by the owner and architect, the plan of the “slum” has a touch of romanticism. Standing on the terrace before the house, a million-dollar view of Shanghai unfolds. Yet, the rooftop enclave is concealed from outsiders by a huge neon advertisement overhead.
The residents in this community, and all young migrant workers striving in cities, appear as figures standing on a romantic rooftop. They overlook the modern, capitalist and desiring city, which seems at their fingertips yet far away. In tactile daily life, they are enveloped within dismal realities. Their actual excluded and unjustified position in this society is covered by the neon billboard of cosmopolitanism, modernization, and a vital national economy.
A Rooftop Enclave – Slum or Utopia?
Images of Rooftop Enclave
Three-story house constructed with wood and glass
Images of Rooftop Enclave
The room I crouched in for two months. 1100 RMB/month.
There is virtually only one bed in the room. The wardrobe is above my bed. And the desk is big enough to fit a mug.
Images of Rooftop Enclave
Scattered washbowls
Deserted desks, chairs and even toilet on the rooftop
Images of Rooftop Enclave
A notice on the corridor wall, composed in beautiful classical Chinese, making a silence statement of the good education background of the residents.
Images of Rooftop Enclave
There is a shoe rack outside of each room stuffed with stylish pumps, boots, and etc. displaying the taste of their owner.
Images of Rooftop Enclave
Pet keeping
Images of Rooftop Enclave
There are public facilities such as coin microwave, coin washing machine, refrigerator, and a shared kitchen.
The rooftop community is heavily covered internet—— 12 Wi-Fi networks.
The residents in the rooftop community each possess a laptop, spend tremendous amount of time online and have high demand for internet when they search for accommodation. They are basically living in the virtual world.
In the future study, we may broaden our view and take this question to cyberspace which is a more dynamic space whose relationship with governmentality, neoliberalism, and youth identity is more ambiguous and complicated.
Virtualized Space
Images of Rooftop Enclave
An overview from the rooftop
Images of Rooftop Enclave
Sunset on rooftop
Images of Rooftop Enclave
The rooftop enclave is concealed from outsiders by a huge neon advertisement overhead.
Netherland Architecture Institute worked with one the biggest residence developer in the world - Vanke to create a project - “Housing with a mission” to accommodate “Ant People”.
Housing with a Mission
The housing is intended for a group of people in China that is often overlooked: graduates with a low income, also known as 'ant tribe'. The starters, who often live in poor conditions, are actually very important for society because they constitute a large group of highly educated people who are not afraid to speak up. China's future is in their hands. It's crucial that this group stay in Beijing, which is why good housing is a high priority for the Chinese government.
- ---Excerpted from an interview with one of the architects of this project
Youth Identity and Urban Spaces
1) The identity of Ant People is largely shaped by the power of capitalist markets. Their exposure to capitalist markets makes their identity more malleable. But youth can also adopt the power of consumption to fashion their identity.
2) In spite of thirty years of neoliberal penetration, youth in contemporary China are still perceived as national subjects by the public, and they actively associate their own identity with nationality.
3) Ant People show us that Chinese youth should no longer be regarded merely as products of nationalism or neoliberalism. Empowered by new technologies, higher education and economic capacity, they can also choose and fashion their own alternative identity.
