Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2020

Utopia in Practice

Bishan Project and Rural Reconstruction

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Documents a fascinating experiment in rural reconstruction in China, the Bishan Project
  • Provides historical contexts to the problems of Chinese urbanization
  • Answers a global desire for the theory and action of the alternative social solution for today’s environmental and political crises

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xlv
  2. Pastoral Youth

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 1-17
  3. Huizhou Fieldwork

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 19-28
  4. Blueprints

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 29-51
  5. Bishan Harvestival

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 53-72
  6. Reality and History

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 73-98
  7. Deep Plowing

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 113-131
  8. Controversies

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 133-151
  9. Introspection

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 153-179
  10. The School of Tillers

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 181-225
  11. New Commons

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 227-235
  12. Handicraft, Design, and Art

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 237-266
  13. Food, Ecology, and Education

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 267-287
  14. City and Countryside

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 289-318
  15. Utopian Dreams

    • Ou Ning
    Pages 319-355
  16. Back Matter

    Pages 357-442

About this book

This book is a collection of texts on one of China's boldest social experiments in recent years: the rural reconstruction project in Bishan. The Bishan Project (2011-2016) was a rural reconstruction project in a small village Bishan, Anhui Province, China.

The writings describe and criticize the social problems caused by China’s over-loading urbanization process and starts a a contemporary agrarianism and agritopianism discourse to resist the modernism and developmentalism doctrine which dominated China for more than a century, answering a global desire for the theory and action of the alternative social solution for today’s environmental and political crises.This practical utopian commune project ran for 6 years and caused a national debate on rural issues in China, when it was invited to be exhibited and presented abroad. 

This collection of writing will be of interest to artists, China scholars, architects, and the cultural community at large.


Authors and Affiliations

  • Columbia University, Jingzhou, China

    Ou Ning

About the author

Ou Ning is director of documentaries San Yuan Li and Meishi Street, chief curator of 2009 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, jury member of 8th Benesse Prize at 53rd Venice Biennale, member of Asian Art Council at Guggenheim Museum, founding chief editor of literary journal Chutzpah!, founder of Bishan Project, visiting professor of GSAPP, Columbia University and research fellow of Center for Arts, Design and Social Research in Boston, USA.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access