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Shanghai has recently become one of the most notable cases in urban studies. However, the experience of the city is so distinctive that those regular urban paradigms (e.g. global/world city, post-socialism city and post-colonial city) are not applicable to its nature. What is the specificity of Shanghai? Is it possible to explain its incompatible urban practices in an integrated way? They are the departure points of this study. Following the Eigenlogik approach that is interested in identifying the particular modes of cities, this study explores the intrinsic logic of Shanghai with an ethnographic research on a downtown community. The fieldwork respectively inspects local urbanism on the aspects of physical structure, social organization and collective culture. The empirical findings reveal that local urban life is easily influenced and absorbed by exotic causes in a relatively speedy rhythm. Shanghai accepts exotic cultures so fast that the old and new urbanisms coexist, colliding with each other, in the same urban texture. Shanghai is a city in tides, not only geographically but also economically and culturally in the estuarial position of China towards the world.

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Xiufeng Zhang graduated from TU Darmstadt with Dr. phil. degree in 2015. He was a member of the Graduate School for Urban Studies (URBANgrad) at TU Darmstadt in Germany and he obtained his BA and MA degrees in sociology from Shanghai University in China. His research focuses on urban development and the transition of Chinese urban society.

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