Infrastructures, State, and Modernity: An Ethnographic Study of a Chinese Metropolis

An infrastructural turn has emerged in the social sciences over the past two decades (Graham & Marvin, 2022). In particular, infrastructures are increasingly seen as ethnographic sites by anthropologists and other social scientists, who explore their promises and failures (Nikhil, Gupta & Appel, 2018), social complexity (Harvey, Jensen & Morita, 2017), and coloniality (Cupers & Meier, 2020). My research, based on intensive fieldwork in the eastern suburbs of Chengdu, western China, examines planned urbanization and infrastructure development that have transformed villages into urban neighborhoods within just twenty years.

My ethnography reveals that former villagers from Wangcun have resettled in newly built apartment blocks within a gated community on their former site. This compound is situated between two massive developments: the 3rd Ring Road, part of an intricate intra-city transportation system, and the Chengdu East Railway Station, a key node in the nationwide high-speed rail network. Interviews with these former villagers indicate that while they perceive their gated community and nearby transportation networks as modern, as the state promotes, they also express frustration with living in high-rises. They find that the ring road and railway station hinder mobility, making it difficult to navigate on foot or by bike. Other issues mentioned include malfunctioning lifts, a dramatic change in lifestyle, and fatigue resulting from the rapid pace of change, as they describe it.

In China, urbanization is often viewed as an inevitable pathway to modernization, with modernity closely tied to infrastructure - historically associated with development, progress, and freedom (Appel, Anand & Gupta, 2018). This high modernist mentality (Scott, 1998) drives top-down urbanization and the proliferation of mega projects. This ethnography aims to provide new insights into the interconnectedness of infrastructure, the state, and modernity in China and beyond.