living has proven to bolster students' academic performance and foster meaningful interactions among individuals from diverse backgrounds (Pike & Kuh, 2006). The implementation of mixed ethnic residency policies has been found to contribute to a more positive attitude towards minorities among students, and this influence persists even after their graduation. For example, individuals who reside in racially diverse neighborhoods tend to exhibit greater prosocial behavior compared to those in less diverse neighborhoods, attributed to their identification with the broader human community (Nai et al., 2018).

The provision of on-campus accommodations for international students typically falls into two categories: mixed and enclave arrangements. In a mixed arrangement, international students are placed randomly alongside local students in on-campus halls or dormitories. Conversely, in an enclave situation, the host university designates a specific building for all international students, separate from the on-campus accommodations of local students. Research has yielded varying results regarding the efficacy of enclave housing arrangements. Some studies have suggested that international students perceive such housing arrangements as being not conducive to their integration into the local community. Conversely, other research has indicated that the provision of designated on-campus spaces for ethnic minorities makes these students feel more welcome and supported (Kirby et al., 2020; See & Wade, 2022).

Diversity management is a research area that has garnered increasing attention in tandem with the process of internationalization (Morrison et al., 2006). Research within higher education studies often adopts an inclusive education perspective when examining curricular and pedagogical aspects related to multicultural education (Taras & Rowney, 2007). However, not enough emphasis has been placed on addressing the needs of student populations and how to effectively manage diverse student groups, especially when considering students from social minorities (Gaisch et al., 2020). Managing diversity among student migrants necessitates considering the characteristics of both the student group and the host institutions. It requires a comprehensive understanding of the implications for students' social interactions and their future plans, including the socio-economic effects of educational migration.

In this chapter, we seek to understand more deeply the role residential arrangements play in the composition of international students' social networks and how they engage with others on and off campus. We use such relationships and engagements to estimate the potential role of international students as city makers in their host cities.

The research data was sourced from a multinational research project titled "Globalizing Universities and International Student Mobilities in East Asia." We conducted surveys and interviews with more than 4500 international students who were enrolled at 9 universities across five countries from 2009 to 2012. The project's primary focus revolved around the decision-making processes of international students before their arrival, their adjustment experiences while studying and living in host countries, and their post-graduation plans. To demonstrate the housing arrangements and the impact of experiences of diversity in each case, we employed both survey and interview data.
<table><caption>**Table 7.1** Student diversity of on-campus housing</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>NUS<br>n = 219</th><th>SNU<br>n = 258</th><th>RUC<br>n = 235</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Number of nationalities of int'l students</td><td>13</td><td>43</td><td>55</td></tr><tr><td>Percentage of Asian students</td><td>99.5%</td><td>80.6%</td><td>55.8%</td></tr><tr><td>Top 3 largest groups</td><td>Malaysian 30.0%<br>Chinese 29.5%<br>Indian .15.0%</td><td>Chinese 46.9%<br>Malaysian 4.7%<br>Japanese 4.7%</td><td>Korean 34.9%<br>American 7.6%<br>Vietnamese 6.1%</td></tr></tbody></table>

To fulfill the research objectives of the current chapter, three universities in East and Southeast Asia have been selected as case studies: the National University of Singapore (NUS), Renmin University of China (RUC), and Seoul National University (SNU). These universities were chosen based on several factors, including city-specific influences, types of housing arrangements, and the diversity of their international student populations. All three universities are public institutions situated in the respective capital cities of their host countries: Singapore, Beijing in China, and Seoul in South Korea. In this context, NUS serves as a regional hub primarily composed of Asian students, whereas SNU and RUC host a sizable contingent of international students from neighboring countries, alongside a diverse mix of students from various backgrounds outside of East and Southeast Asia.

The international student communities at these universities exhibit significant diversity, as illustrated in Table 7.1. To a large extent, students' profiles for the selected cases reflects the reality of the host city's attractions for student migrants. Singapore, being a global city-state, harbors a substantial presence of transnational corporations with regional headquarters and sales offices serving Southeast Asia. One of the key draws for international students is the use of English as the medium of instruction in educational institutions and as a prominent working language. Seoul stands as the epicenter of the Korean Wave. In 2016, the capital region contributed an astonishing 87% of the total revenue generated by Korean culture and creative industries, employing 76% of the workforce (Huh & Lee, 2020). For young people across the globe, Korea's influence in movies and music serves as a compelling motivation to pursue studies in Korea. Beijing is the capital of a country with the world's second-largest economy, and its international influence continues to grow, notably with the rapid expansion of Chinese as a regional and global language.

More importantly, the selected cases exemplify three prevalent types of on-campus housing arrangements in Asia:

(a) Mixed Housing at NUS: In this arrangement, on-campus residential facilities cater to both local and international students. NUS, as a prominent regional education hub in Asia, boasts a substantial international student population. To promote interaction between local and international students, the university employs a randomized approach, housing students from different backgrounds together in dormitories and halls.

(b) Enclaves at RUC: International students are accommodated in on-campus dormitories exclusively dedicated to them. Most dormitories in Chinese universities
ties are designed to accommodate a large number of local students, typically four or more students per room. Recognizing the distinct housing expectations of international students, universities like RUC often allocate them to specific buildings with enhanced amenities, such as single and double rooms, and provide more lenient regulations compared to those governing local students' dormitories.

(c) Free-Choice Housing at SNU: International students have the flexibility to opt for either an international enclave dormitory or a mixed dormitory with local students. SNU offers two types of dormitory buildings for international students: mixed dormitories, where local and international students share the same building or room, and enclave dormitories where international students reside separately.

## 7.4 Housing Arrangements, Social Mixing and Students' Future Plans

In this chapter, we assert that international students as city makers serve as outstanding ambassadors of cultural diversity, and residential campuses play a pivotal role in fostering social integration. Research findings here reveal three distinct effects of such integration, primarily based on the variance in on-campus housing arrangements for international students: on-campus integration, off-campus integration, and the influence of diversity experiences on students' post-graduation plans.

Heggins and Jackson (2003) found Asian students often place great importance on informal networks as opposed to utilizing the host country's formal structural procedures when in need. Therefore, when looking at the effects of on-campus mixing, we analyze the profile of international students' top 7 close friends. Research results show that housing arrangements have a clear impact on international students' friendship formation. We found that students from all three universities indicated that most of their close friends were met on-campus (see Table 7.2). This indicates that university residential campus is the major location where international students form their social networks in the host country.

It is not surprising that students tend to form friendships with individuals from their home country. Across all three housing arrangements, students consistently reported that their closest friends were those from their home country, with whom they would often study, dine, and engage in various activities (see Table 7.3). This phenomenon is particularly pronounced at NUS. Among international students

<table><caption>**Table 7.2** Location where the close friendship formed</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>NUS<br>Mean</th><th>SNU<br>Mean</th><th>RUC<br>Mean</th><th>F</th><th>Sig.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Friends made on-campus</td><td>5.47 a</td><td>4.69 b</td><td>4.27 c</td><td>20.40</td><td>&lt;.001</td></tr><tr><td>Friends made outside</td><td>1.25 b</td><td>1.93 a</td><td>1.45 b</td><td>10.50</td><td>&lt;.001</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><caption>**Table 7.3 ANOVA result of Top-7 close friends' nationality of int'l students**</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2"></th><th>NUS</th><th>SNU</th><th>RUC</th><th rowspan="2">F</th><th rowspan="2">Sig.</th></tr><tr><th>Mean</th><th>Mean</th><th>Mean</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th>Number of home country friends</th><td>3.64 a</td><td>3.13 b</td><td>2.42 c</td><td>32.56</td><td>&lt;.001</td></tr><tr><th>Number of host country friends</th><td>1.65 b</td><td>2.08 a</td><td>1.26 c</td><td>17.69</td><td>&lt;.001</td></tr><tr><th>Number of third country friends</th><td>1.17 c</td><td>1.51 b</td><td>2.05 a</td><td>17.47</td><td>&lt;.001</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>**Table 7.4 Activities on- and outside campus**</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2"></th><th colspan="3">On-campus</th><th colspan="3">Outside campus</th></tr><tr><th>NUS</th><th>SNU</th><th>RUC</th><th>NUS</th><th>SNU</th><th>RUC</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th>Clubs and associations</th><td>71.6%</td><td>32.3%</td><td>26.3%</td><td>10.6%</td><td>21.0%</td><td>21.8%</td></tr><tr><th>Religious organization</th><td>12.4%</td><td>13.2%</td><td>3.4%</td><td>13.8%</td><td>21.8%</td><td>20.9%</td></tr><tr><th>Hobby and sports group</th><td>74.8%</td><td>49.4%</td><td>39.9%</td><td>15.1%</td><td>25.3%</td><td>24.0%</td></tr></tbody></table>

residing on campus, the top three ethnic groups were Malaysian, Chinese, and Indian. Living in a mixed dormitory facilitated the ease of connecting with fellow countrymen, potentially impacting their inclination to cultivate friendships with individuals from third countries or explore social interactions beyond the campus, as they found a comfortable social network within the university. Here, a “third country friend” is defined as a residual category, distinct from co-national friends from the home country and host country friends from the nation where the international student is pursuing their studies. The statistics in Table 7.4 illustrate that international students at NUS actively participated in various on-campus activities and had the highest number of friends from their home country when compared to their counterparts at the other two universities.

In the context of international students residing at RUC, they tended to form friendships with one another. The significance of the “3rd country network” is particularly noteworthy. Among their seven closest friends, on average, at least two friends originated from third countries, as depicted in Table 7.3. In contrast, in the other two universities, the average number of friends from the host country exceeded that of friends from third countries. However, international students at RUC generally had more friends from third countries than from the host country. This may be attributed to the influence of enclaves, where international students had fewer opportunities to interact with local students. During one of the interviews, a Vietnamese undergraduate student recounted her experiences of staying with four different roommates over the years while studying at RUC. These roommates were from various countries, including Japan, Korea, the United States, and Italy. She had this to share:

> Before coming, the university asks about preferences or special requirements, such as the location, preference of roommates. Some people do not want to stay with someone from their own country, because they want to learn Chinese, some people do not like to stay with the students from western countries. ...... We are foreign students in China, but if you want to find a good local friend, it may not be easy. ...... We do not have many chances to contact with each other. ...... And we also live separately, we really do not have too much communication. ...... Some local students welcome foreign students, while some of the local students do not really like to go out with foreign students. The places the local students
usually go, maybe we find them boring. And the places we go to, they also do not like them. And some of the foreign students, their learning ability, including language ability may not be that strong. (Interview from a Vietnamese student majoring international relations at RUC)

International students at SNU reported having the highest number of host country friends among the three selected cases, as shown in Table 7.3. Since students have the option to choose different types of housing, it is likely that they consider their intention to form networks when making their choice. Students who were inclined to establish more connections with host country residents tended to opt for mixed housing conditions, while others may prefer residing in enclaves with fellow international students.

The social interaction among international students extends beyond dormitories and also occurs during their participation in various regular activities. Our research revealed that 82.7% of international students indicated regular involvement in different groups and activities. Among them, 64.5% of students took part in on-campus activities, while 40.6% attended regular off-campus groups, as detailed in Table 7.4.

By combining the data from Tables 7.3 and 7.4, it becomes evident that international students hosted by the NUS displayed a proclivity for participating in on-campus activities and forging friendships. The composition of ethnic groups among local students paralleled that of international students. This similarity may have contributed to international students' ease in integrating into the host society and experiencing positive interactions with diversity. The government of Singapore considers international students as a valuable source of foreign talents, and they are thus warmly welcomed as migrants. While there are social media posts reflecting this sentiment, international students are not perceived as direct competitors with locals for job opportunities. This concept of "foreign talent" is actively promoted by the government and is widely propagated in everyday conversations and the media (Ng, 2013). Consequently, this positive image has led to the general acceptance of international students and has augmented their positive experiences when engaging with the broader community beyond the campus.

Table 7.5 presents the students' satisfaction with their interactions within the host society. There is no statistical difference regarding how international students perceived local people's attitudes towards them. In general, international students

<table><caption>**Table 7.5** International students' satisfaction towards mixing at host society (ANOVA test)</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>NUS<br>Mean</th><th>SNU<br>Mean</th><th>RUC<br>Mean</th><th>F</th><th>Sig.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>a</td><td>Local people are friendly</td><td>2.75 a</td><td>2.84 a</td><td>2.75 a</td><td>0.42</td><td>.661</td></tr><tr><td>b</td><td>Easy to find a social group to share interest</td><td>2.72 a</td><td>2.51 b</td><td>2.74 a</td><td>6.39</td><td>&lt;.005</td></tr><tr><td>c</td><td>Easy to mix in host society</td><td>2.69 a</td><td>2.47 b</td><td>2.66 a</td><td>5.54</td><td>&lt;.005</td></tr><tr><td>d</td><td>Tolerance towards ethnic/religious differences in<br>host society</td><td>3.09 a</td><td>2.59 c</td><td>2.72 b</td><td>26.53</td><td>&lt;.001</td></tr></tbody></table>

Note: For the Likert scale used in the measurement: 1 = least satisfied and 4 = most satisfied
reported that local people were amicable and welcoming. Students in Singapore and Beijing found it comparatively easier to establish social connections based on shared interests and to assimilate into the host society when compared to their counterparts in Seoul. In terms of ethnic and religious tolerance, students studying in Singapore reported the highest levels of satisfaction, followed by those in Beijing and then Seoul.

Students hosted by RUC reported high satisfaction with social mixing and tolerance towards diversity. They attended a lot of outside campus activities with 3rd country friends and sensed that Beijing welcomes foreigners like them. One American student who studied at RUC shared an episode about his involvement with two police cases. He worked at a school teaching English and then another service company without a work permit. However, because he was an international student then, he was helped by the local police and even became a friend with the policeman:

> I was working and I got called to the police station a couple of times yea, got a lot of experiences here. I was teaching English here in a primary school. ...... I told them I was working since I got here. ...... And actually, the employment visa was the main reason... they held me with some other stuff afterwards. I'm still friends with the police officer. (Interview from an American student who studied International Relations at RUC)

The social networks and diversity experiences students had during their stay in the host universities are likely to have an impact on their plans after graduation. Both our survey and alumni interview data suggested the effects. The number of home country friends does not have significant correlation pattern with intention of work location in the future. But the social networks and diversity experiences are likely to increase their intention in working at host and 3rd countries: students with more 3rd country friends have higher intention in working in another country (p < .05); and students who have more host country friends also have higher intention in working at host country (p < .001). They build up cultural skills while studying in the host country, form networks with other international students, and gain information about opportunities and develop confidence in adaptation (Table 7.6).

Even for those graduates who went back to work at home countries, they are likely to keep visiting host cities and maintain relations with their local friends. These social networks could also benefit work (see interview extraction from a

<table><caption>**Table 7.6** Correlation between number of friends and intention of work location</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Intention of working at home country</th><th>Intention of working at host country</th><th>Intention of working at 3rd country</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Number of close home country friends</td><td>.05</td><td>.03</td><td>-.06</td></tr><tr><td>Number of close host country friends</td><td>-.05</td><td>+.12***<br>p < .001</td><td>+.05</td></tr><tr><td>Number of close 3rd country friends</td><td>-.004</td><td>-.06**<br>p < .005</td><td>.08*<br>P < .05</td></tr></tbody></table>
Japanese alumnus who studied MBA at NUS and now working at Japan). Furthermore, graduates from NUS are likely to have higher internationally mobility. For instance, one Indonesian graduate told in the interview that he worked first at Singapore and then moved to Hong Kong and travels frequently to visit his friends made during university time and relocated to other countries (see from an Indonesian alumnus who studied Civil Engineering at NUS and working at Hong Kong).

Two years in Singapore. I made a lot of good friends, Singaporeans, or some other people from mainland China, basically the students, they are from Asian countries. There are three students from Japan, including me. One person from Nomura Security, Securities, and one person from NTT, it's a communication company. ...... I'm still you know, keeping in touch with some of my classmates, friends. When I do business, how can I utilize such – because we have the... Hay Group Singapore in Singapore, and I have colleagues there, and they can do business, and they can help me. (Interview from a Japanese alumnus who studied MBA at NUS and working at Japan)

I did sales job in Singapore, actually, before I came to Cathay. ...... Because I recently just moved to Hong Kong. But my hangout friends in Singapore were normally Indonesian. ...... I keep in touch with two good Singaporean friends. One very good Mauritius friend, and the other one is obviously Indonesian. Surabaya. So still keep in touch until now, very very close. Even the Mauritius, move to London, and every time I visited London, I would definitely look for her. (Interview from an Indonesian alumnus who studied Civil Engineering at NUS and working at Hong Kong)

## 7.5 Concluding Remarks

With our analysis of the survey data from three universities in China, South Korea and Singapore, we argue that being youths and young adults, international students can play a positive informal role in facilitating a better understanding between hosts and guests. Their role as international students in their host society is a label which finds wide acceptance among residents of the city. And being youths, they presence adds to the vibrancy of the city. Within the framework of everyday cosmopolitan practices, these students, through their multicultural attitudes developed on campus and their involvements in host societies, they contribute informally to urban lifestyles and practices.

In closing, we make three points with regard to international students in terms of their diversity experiences and their roles as city makers.

Firstly, Beijing and Seoul are capital cities with Singapore being a city-state and global city. These cities have some of the largest urban populations in Pacific Asia, with dynamic city regions that hold significant shares of manufacturing and trade with the rest of the world and are home to innovation and creative companies (Ho, 2014). Besides a vibrant urban economy, these cities also have a wide range of leisure and recreational amenities and nightlife. As capital and global cities, they host a large foreign population working there or studying in a number of large and reputable metropolitan universities. This multinational residential mix create an openness to foreigners and increased opportunities for diversity encounters (see
Table 7.5). Thus, the combination of economic, social and multicultural opportunities creates an irresistible pull for students looking to Asia for their study.

Within this urban context, student housing arrangements are critical as social spaces for mixing, blending co-living arrangements with dormitory led social and recreational events. In this regard, we note from Table 7.3 that when housing arrangements are planned to have wide choices (as in the case of SNU), relations with home country students are high. When choice is restricted to only international student dormitories (as in the case of RUC), international students look to outside their campus to make friends. Within a mixed housing arrangements with large numbers of international students are co-residing with local students (the NUS case), the highest home country friends are found. The RUC model of finding friends outside the campus is particularly significant for diversity management efforts. Because of the large number of universities in Beijing, the presence of a significant number of young international students and their friendship networks mean that such students are visible and important bridges to intercultural understanding and awareness of the other, giving traction to Iris Marion Young's (1990) notion of city life affirming social difference. Such forms of encounters therefore importantly act as an impetus towards everyday forms of multiculturism.

Lastly, we need to recognize that diversity experiences work differently for different migrant groups. Indeed, we have argued that international students are generally welcomed by city residents. Although there are university differences, Table 7.5 reported high mean scores from international students of the three universities when they reported that local people are friendly. They continue to play significant roles as city makers through the crossing of different socio-economic boundaries and through their host friendships. For a smaller group who return home and continue to maintain strong ties with their host friends, this bridging role creates the potential for city-making across two cities. We cannot say the same for other migrant groups. Indeed, writing about Singapore, Aihwa Ong highlighted the differences in reception between the welcome extended to “nomadic professionals” see as the foreign talent, and the “laboring classes” who have more restrictive residency rights. As Ong (2007: 92) noted, this is a global city problem. By their employment policies, they generate inequality “sharpening and concentrating divisions between the highly educated and the less so, between global managers and migrant maids, professors and janitors, human capital and manual labour”. Diversity management and the associated positive potential for city making and everyday forms of multiculturalism indeed must be a critical strategy involving not only the state, but NGOs as advocates, and employers in opening up the space for appreciating differences in the city.

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<figure><img src="image_25.png" /></figure>

Chapter 8

# Janitors of Portuguese Origin in Paris: A Specific Mode of Incorporation into a European Metropolis

Dominique Vidal

This chapter analyzes a specific mode of incorporation of immigrants and children of immigrants in a European metropolis, based on the specific case of janitors (in French, *concierge*) of Portuguese origin in Paris.<fnref n="1" /> Nowadays, concierges of Portuguese origin, either immigrants or children of Portuguese immigrants, account for around 75% of the 10,000 janitors in the private housing sector in Paris. It is one of the many changes the French capital has undergone over the last 60 years. Although the occupation of concierge has always been an occupation of migrants in the French capital, there were no Portuguese concierges until the early 1960s. Previously, the occupation had been exercised by French internal migrants from small towns and rural areas, then, increasingly from the 1950s onwards, by Italian and Spanish migrants (De Villanova & Bonnin, 2006).

Moreover, the number of concierges is one of the specificities of Paris (one-third of the concierges currently working in the private housing sector in France work in the city, with a population of just over two million inhabitants in a country of almost 68 million people). It is largely due to the history of Paris. Indeed, the job of concierges appeared from the 1820s during the accelerated urbanization and the construction of many buildings (Deaucourt, 1992). Since then, concierges have

D. Vidal (✉)
Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
e-mail: dominique.vidal@u-paris.fr

<footnote n="1">¹Our article is based on repeated in-depth interviews (N = 66 in Decembrer 2022; 12 men and 54 women, 3 men and 22 women were born in Portugal,) during the working hours (which allows observations of the work), the analysis of concierges' Facebook groups, the analysis of the corporate and union press since the 1930s, interviews with trade unionists, representatives of owners' organizations, as well as on the use of statistical data from public agencies through a secondary analysis carried out by Lucas Tranchant.</footnote>
been a well-known popular figure. These men and women (almost 90% in the occupation) were portrayed in the novels of the second half of the nineteenth century, such as those by Honoré de Balzac and Émile Zola, the famous drawings by caricaturist Honoré Daumier, and, in the twentieth century, they were the subject of a photo album by the world-famous photographer Raymond Depardon. Yet their working conditions have changed considerably over the last two centuries. From the early days to the 1930s, Parisian concierges were responsible for collecting rent from tenants (most building owners did not live in the buildings they had built to rent small rooms and apartments), as well as maintaining the building and opening its main door. At the time, they enjoyed virtually no protection under labor law. Their situation has since improved gradually and considerably with the adoption of legal provisions regulating working hours and determining their remuneration. Working conditions have also been partly transformed by new cleaning tools, the widespread use of cell phones and the Internet. But today, as yesterday, Parisian concierges are mainly responsible for monitoring the building, taking out the garbage, cleaning the common areas and distributing the mail. They are also frequently called upon for small services (receiving packages from Amazon delivery drivers, keeping a spare key, running small errands for the elderly, etc.). But what makes this occupation significant is that French concierges live in the building where they work, allowing them to make an impact in the neighborhood. Such working conditions make them and their family frequently experience cramped conditions in a small apartment (one or two rooms) on the first floor with little air flow and light.

In Paris, the predominance of concierges of Portuguese origin means that, today, the Portuguese group is identified with the occupation, even if the vast majority of Portuguese immigrants and descendants of Portuguese immigrants (about 1,200,000 in France) are not janitors.<fnref n="2" /> For this reason, the character of the Portuguese concierge has become part of the stereotypes about the city. However, these concierges are part of migrants who are true city makers. In addition to their activities in the buildings, they also take part in public health operations, urban violence prevention, real estate agent information and election campaigns. Unlike other migrant groups, they are not professionally integrated into work collectives as workers are in factories and on construction sites. On the contrary, concierges of Portuguese origin are often the only inhabitants of Portuguese origin in the Parisian buildings where they work. So it is worth investigating what it means to live and work in a building without co-ethnics.

To do so, I first describe the way in which, from the beginning of the 1960s (i.e. shortly after the beginning of the great wave of emigration from Portugal to France) the Portuguese gradually established themselves in this sector of activity. Second, I examine the type of ethnic niche the concierges of Portuguese origin form in Paris. Third, I try to distinguish what relates to ethnicity in migration, in the sense of a shared reference to a common origin, and what relates to cultural characteristics

<footnote n="2">²According to public statistics, in 2021 France has a population of seven million immigrants out of a total population of almost 68 million. 2.5 million immigrants (36%) have acquired French nationality. 12.7% of immigrants were born in Algeria, 12% in Morocco, 8.6% in Portugal, 4.5% in Tunisia, 4.1% in Italy, 3.6% in Turkey and 3.5% in Spain.</footnote>
prior to the migration experience. Fourth, I focus on the class relations in which janitors of Portuguese origin participate. I ask if their importance is due to the fact that they constitute an intermediate category between the majority population and the immigrants from the former French colonies. This allows to highlight the difference between Portuguese immigrants and their children.

## 8.1 Why Are There So Many Concierges of Portuguese Origin in Paris?

Between 1957 and 1974, some 900,000 Portuguese emigrated to France to escape poverty, Salazar's dictatorship and conscription into an army fighting independence movements in Portugal's African colonies (Charbit, Hily & Poinard, 1997; Pereira, 2012). They were primarily men, often joined later by their wives and children. Most of these immigrants came from the countryside in the north of the country, where they usually worked in agriculture. More than half of them settled in the Paris region, where they worked mainly in the construction, industrial, cleaning and domestic sectors. From the first half of the 1960s onwards, these Portuguese made their appearance in Parisian buildings.

Five factors have contributed to the fact that concierges of Portuguese origin have become a large majority in the private housing stock in Paris: the housing transformations, the changes in the economy, the preference given to European immigrants available on the Parisian concierge labor market, the forms of access to a job of concierge and the patrimonial strategies of Portuguese households.

### 8.1.1 The Housing Transformations

For a long time, the concierges of Paris were mainly French from rural areas and provincial towns, looking for a home that their income did not allow them to rent. However, the proportion of French concierges gradually decreased after the Second World War. Italian and Spanish women then gradually entered the profession. Many of these Italian and Spanish families, consisting of a female concierge and a male industrial worker, nevertheless left to live in public housing when, starting in the mid-1950s, State support for housing policy allowed these families to better afford housing (Fijalkow, 2016). These departures were a godsend for Portuguese women who, alone, as couples, or as a family, lived in the Paris region in even more dilapidated housing (one room or small apartments crammed with two or three households). Like the French people who preceded them in the Parisian buildings, getting a job of concierge is primarily a response to the difficulty of finding housing in Paris. However, unlike the concierges of French descent or those from other migratory movements, the Portuguese and their descendants settled in the area for a long time, even if, for many, this job was initially seen as only a stage in their migratory journey.
## 8.1.2 The Changes in the Economy

How can we explain the fact that there are so many descendants of Portuguese immigrants working as concierge in Paris and that, for many of them as well as for many Portuguese who came to France with the crisis of 2008, to become a concierge remains a goal? The permanence of Portuguese concierges over several generations raises questions, especially when one notes that there are almost no children of French-born individuals or other foreign groups in this profession.

The changes in the economy since 1973 also explain the high proportion of descendants of Portuguese immigrants among Parisian concierges. The vast majority of the descendants of Portuguese immigrants came of age in a context of high unemployment. But while the children of concierges of other national origins were generally able to escape their parents' working conditions by getting a job in other economic sectors, the children of Portuguese concierges more often than not had no choice but to remain in this sector. Becoming a concierge has allowed them not only to have a job, but also to have a disposable income, after housing expenses, that is higher than that of most other working class jobs. It was never a vocation, however, so much so that the children of concierges who became concierges agree that they first hoped to avoid the cramped conditions of living in a small space and the constant disturbance in which they grew up. It is in fact the limits that restricted the space of their professional possibilities that led them to prefer to be concierges as well rather than to occupy jobs considered less economically advantageous. This is an example of counter-mobility, in the sense that Roger Girod has given to this term, i.e. of a type of movement that brings individuals back to the category they had left (Girod, 1971).

The brutality of the 2008 economic crisis in Portugal finally pushed Portuguese people to emigrate to France to become a concierge in Paris. The information I have gathered suggests that the majority of them are also children of Portuguese immigrants who lived in a Parisian building as children or teenagers before leaving to live and work in Portugal.

## 8.1.3 The Preference Given to European Immigrants Available on the Parisian Concierge Labor Market

Parisian buildings in the private sector have very few concierges from former French colonies, a notable difference from what is observed in social housing. If we consider the nationality at birth, there are only 0.7% Algerians, 1.4% Moroccans, 1% Tunisians, and the “other African nationalities”, which include nationals of other countries of the African continent, are only 2.5%, whereas immigrants from Former French colonies represent 11.2% of the concierges in social housing in Paris.

This fact invites us to consider the preference given to European immigrants as a third factor explaining the important place occupied today by concierges of
Portuguese origin. In fact, everything indicates that their access to the job was also facilitated by the refusal of the owners to replace the French who left the job with non-European immigrants. In a France marked by the Algerian war, where racism and suspicion stigmatized the North Africans, the Portuguese women, the latest arrivals to occupy this little sought-after job in a period of economic expansion, took advantage of the situation. In other words, to use Albano Cordeiro's expression to describe the less unfavorable conditions that the Portuguese encountered in France when the Portuguese immigrants massively arrived, the Portuguese benefited from the "Maghrebi lightning rod" (Cordeiro, 1999). This relative advantage of the Portuguese in the immigrant labor market is not only the result of ordinary French prejudices. It is also the result of institutional choices that have imposed a representation of Portuguese immigrants as tireless, docile workers who are not very demanding (Santo, 2013). A large majority of concierges of Portuguese origin today still recognize themselves in the representations associated in France with this migratory flow, namely the images of a "hard-working", "honest" and "docile" population. The condominium managers do not hide the preference they give to the Portuguese. All those I interviewed insisted on their specific qualities, using stereotyped expressions such as "We know we can count on the Portuguese", "They are not afraid of work", "They are people who don't make trouble".

The observation of a predominance of white concierges of Portuguese origin (a small minority of Portuguese settled in France are from the Cape Verde Islands and therefore have African phenotypes) must be placed in the generally color-blind framework of the French context. Unlike what we observe in a city like New York City where the doormen of high-end buildings frequently come from racialized immigration (Bearman, 2005; Williams, 2016), the concierges in the Paris private Housing sector, also at the interface of the private sphere and the public space, have essentially a European origin, the obvious sign of a distrust towards people of color.

### 8.1.4 The Forms of Access to a Job of Concierge

Concierges are mainly recruited through informal mechanisms. Since employers have little time to devote to recruitment, they most often trust the recommendations of concierges they have known for a long time, even if it means terminating the contract during the probationary period in case of dissatisfaction. This method of recruitment is another factor explaining how concierges of Portuguese origin have gradually occupied the majority of Parisian buildings. Gradually, but obviously continuously until today, jobs of concierges have been passed on within this population. Most often, a Portuguese concierge would recommend to her employer someone she knew who was related to her or who came from the same village. In the 1960s and up to the mid-1970s, when Parisian apartments' owners were looking for people willing to accept even harder working conditions than today (the maximum working hours were 55 h at the time, as opposed to 47.5 h now), it was not uncommon for a Portuguese concierge to be asked if she could bring a female relative from Portugal.
However, the access to a job of concierge for people of Portuguese origin today concerns above all the children and grandchildren of Portuguese immigrants in the Parisian private housing sector. Whether they see the job as a temporary occupation before getting a job in another sector, or whether they resign themselves to it in the face of the closure of their professional horizons, they have at least three decisive advantages in common when looking for a job of concierge. First of all, they enjoy the favorable reputation of the Portuguese with employers. These sons and daugh- ters of Portuguese concierges were also socialized early on to the tasks to be per- formed and the behavior expected of them, having helped their parents, often from childhood, to take out the garbage and clean the common areas, or having taken the mail to the residents. Finally, the descendants of Portuguese immigrants benefit from information about job openings that concierges of Portuguese origin probably know better than anyone else in their networks of relations.

In this respect, the case of the Parisian concierges of Portuguese origin corre- sponds to what Raymond Gold called the “buddy system” in his master’thesis on Chicagoan janitors (Gold, 1950: 114) and what Peter Bearman had noted for the New York doormen: like socially valued professions, the fact of having inside infor- mation is useful to both the job seeker and the employer (Bearman, 2005: 48). The access to this information, which facilitates the acess of Portuguese and their descendants to the job of concierge, has nothing to do with the representation of a community of solidarity that is often associated with this population. If this com- munity is crisscrossed by numerous networks and a rich associative life, it is never- theless organized mainly around natives of the same village and, even more so, around kinship groups (Leandro, 1995a, 1995b; De Villanova, 1988).

8.2 The Patrimonial Strategies of Portuguese Households

Regardless of their age, concierges of Portuguese origin share a common interest in building up real estate assets. This is a trait shared with other Portuguese immi- grants and their descendants, as Margot Delon has shown using data from the Trajectories and Origins survey (Delon, 2019). Indeed, the Portuguese immigrants are much more likely than other immigrant populations to be home-owners, and they often own property abroad. Most importantly, despite belonging primarily to the working class, they are nearly as likely to be homeowners in France (51% versus 60%) as the majority population, across all social categories.

The desire of concierges to own property is generally explained by the desire to have a place where they can spend their weekends without being solicited by the residents and, later, to live out their retirement. However, in the case of Portuguese- origin concierges, this is also rooted in the migration patterns of Portuguese immi- grants who arrived in France between 1957 and 1974. This generation is very homogeneous. These emigrants from the North share the same desire to escape the misery of the countryside and to return home with their families as soon as they have saved enough money to have better living conditions. Saving is at the heart of
the economic behavior of this generation, whose numerous studies have shown the importance of time spent at work, characterized by the constant search for overtime in the building industry and in cleaning jobs (Rocha-Trindade, 1973; Moulier, 1981; Leandro, 1995a). The money earned in migration is used to buy land and build often lavish houses in the village of origin, ostentatiously displaying the signs of success (De Villanova et al., 1994; Portela & Nobre, 2001).

Concierges who are children of Portuguese immigrants are no exception, and it is likely that homeownership is an even more desirable goal for them than for other Portuguese descendants. In addition to the desire to enjoy a private space away from the workplace that is found among concierges of all origins, there is a desire to build up an estate that was already observed among the first generation. Unlike their parents or grandparents, however, the intention is not to acquire a house in Portugal to spend their summer vacations and their old age. The descendants of Portuguese immigrants plan to live in France, even if their desire to live in Portugal is not exceptional, and, on the other hand, they can usually stay in Portugal in their parents' house. For this reason, these concierges aim to acquire property in Paris or, more often, in the outer suburbs. The strong endogamy of Portuguese descendants - which seems even more marked when the wife is a concierge - makes this intention particularly strong in couples where both spouses are of Portuguese origin. In this case, they have a patrimonial strategy very close to that of their parents, even though they willingly ironize the intensive work, the penny-pinching and the deprivations that the latter have imposed on the family.

## 8.3 What Type of Ethnic Niche?

The massive presence of concierges of Portuguese origin in Paris invites us to characterize this group or, more precisely, to examine what it tells us by contrast about the work of immigrants and their descendants in France. First of all, it is worth emphasizing that the Portuguese immigrants have a rich associative life, but they are not spatially concentrated in specific spaces. For this reason, the models of the ethnic neighborhood, the ghetto, the ethnoburb or the ethnic enclave do not correspond to this population. There is no Portuguese neighborhood in Paris or any other French city, unlike in Toronto, which has a neighborhood called Little Portugal (Takahashi, 2017). The Portuguese, in general, do not experience strong spatial segregation in France (Préteceille, 2011; McAvay & Safi, 2018). Distributed throughout Paris, they constitute neither a ghetto nor an ethnic enclave.

Can concierges of Portuguese origin be conceptualized as an ethnic niche? As we know, the sociology of immigration has proposed numerous theories to explain the concentration of ethnic minorities in certain sectors of the labor market (Kushnirovich, 2010). This is not the place to rehash them. It suffices to highlight what they reveal about this case. In particular, research on the subject shows that, in addition to the existence of ethnic networks that facilitate entry and settlement in an economic sector, the domination suffered by immigrants is a factor that drives them
towards specific segments of the world of work. As we saw above, the Portuguese were preferred to immigrants from the Maghreb. Yet this has not meant that these women and men have escaped discrimination and ordinary racism in France, nor that they have enjoyed good working conditions. Data on the health of immigrants show that the Portuguese, along with the Turks, are the two groups most concerned by a deteriorated state of health, given an equivalent social background (Hamel & Moisy, 2015). The arduous life of concierges in small and sometimes insalubrious rooms, coupled with constant solicitations from residents and, in some cases, moral harassment, are the main causes. In employment surveys carried out between 2013 and 2017, concierges of both sexes report significantly poorer health than members of related professions (home helps, domestic workers, cleaners, security guards) and the working classes as a whole.

Basically, the question that should be asked about the high over-representation of people of Portuguese origin among the concierges of privately-owned buildings in Paris is not whether or not this is an ethnic niche, but rather what we mean by an ethnic niche. In our view, this can only be assessed through Roger Waldinger's definition, which highlights an ethnic minority's ability to expand its presence in a sector due to socio-economic changes and favorable recruitment mechanisms. (Waldinger, 1996). In the formation of the ethnic niche studied here, cultural elements, such as the patriotic strategies of the households, are less important than the context of reception of Portuguese immigration, the transformations of the economy and the obvious reservations of the owners to hire janitors from postcolonial immigrations. Moreover, while concierge jobs in Paris form an ethnic niche for people of Portuguese origin, this does not mean they have a monopoly or are close to obtaining one. In fact, there are still 25% of concierges of other origins, with a growing number of immigrants from Eastern Europe, particularly Romania, and French nationals who are retraining in this job sector. Added to this is the increasingly strong identification with French society of the descendants of Portuguese immigrants, which means that while they may be categorized as concierges of Portuguese origin, they tend to have a lifestyle and values closer to the native French than their immigrant parents. Nonetheless, the predominance of Portuguese-identified concierges has solidified the image of the female Portuguese concierge as an established figure in Paris, making her the primary stereotype for Portuguese working women.

## 8.4 Ethnicity, Cultural Resources and Migratory Status

For those who are interested in the experience of immigrant workers or descendants of immigrants in diverse cities, the case of Portuguese-origin concierges in Paris is also interesting because it invites us to analytically distinguish between ethnicity, understood as a reference to a common origin, and cultural resources linked to socialization. As we know, the difference between ethnic and cultural elements is tenuous in many contexts and, sometimes, even impossible to make. However, there are two main reasons for considering them separately and then showing how closely
they are intertwined and overlap. The practices of concierges of Portuguese origin reveal, on the other hand, how much cultural elements often prior to migration contribute to the construction of an ethnicity in migration, even if the latter is also largely the result of the social relations in which immigrants and descendants of immigrants are engaged.

To do this, we will adopt the perspective of Fredrik Barth's seminal work, which considers that ethnicity is constructed and transformed in interactions between groups (Barth, 1969). Indeed, the ethnicity of the Portuguese and their descendants in France was largely constructed in a migratory situation. Albano Cordeiro, as we have seen before, speaks of the "Maghreb lightning rod" to explain the more favorable employment conditions that Portuguese immigrants encountered when they arrived at the very moment of the independence of the former French colonies in the Maghreb (Cordeiro, 1999). Today, despite having lower average education levels, their descendants still enjoy significantly better access to the labor market than post-colonial immigrants' descendants (Brinbaum et al., 2015). In addition to securing a job of concierge, ethnicity also plays a key role in the mutual support among concierges without which it is much more difficult to perform the tasks required (taking out the trash, heavy cleaning or occasional replacements). In all cases, the concierges of Portuguese origin agree that they prefer to help each other on these occasions, even though this support is not exclusive. In this case, we are in a context where ethnicity manifests itself as, in the words of Ivan Light and Carolyn Rosenberg, an "ideology of solidarity" (Light & Rosenberg, 1995: 19).

However, the ethnicity of the Portuguese and their descendants in France is not solely a result of their social relations. It also derives from cultural elements that predate migration, but to which the migratory situation and the circulation between the two countries give a particular dimension. This was first established by Michel Oriol in seminal yet underappreciated works. (Oriol, 1984, 1985; Oriol & Hily, 1993). Based on a survey conducted in the late 1980s on young Portuguese living in the Paris suburbs and the Pau region (southwestern France), Oriol showed that the latter relied on what he called "cultural resources" to claim their belonging, referring to "a set of traits that are not always strongly systematized insofar as they come from successive social learning, often not very well controlled, or even totally unconscious" (Oriol, 1985: 177). Drawing on the thinking of Herbert Marcuse, for whom a dominated group can project itself into a future other than the one assigned to it by the dominant group, he emphasizes that the young Portuguese he studied draw on Portugal's prestigious national past to express themselves. Far from a culturalist perspective that attributes behaviors to a shared, reified culture, he emphasizes the diversity of connections to France, Portugal, or both simultaneously. Nevertheless, Oriol insists, the discourses of belonging of these Portuguese do not express the will to set up as emblems what stigmatize, as it is the case among populations more exposed to racism and discrimination in France. This is why, according to him, contrary to what Pierre Bourdieu maintains, for whom any claim to identity results from a desire to reverse a stigma (Bourdieu, 1980: 69), drawing on cultural resources helps maintain solidarities that hold intrinsic meaning for those who mobilize them (Oriol, 1985: 173).
It is in this perspective opened by Michel Oriol that I would like to engage in order to go further in the understanding of the representations and practices of concierges of Portuguese origin in Paris. For their ethnicity is also based on the type of cultural resources that Oriol first identified. Like the young Portuguese people Oriol studied 40 years ago, these women and men commonly refer to Portugal's prestigious past, mentioning, for example, its great navigators. Let us return, for example, to the particularly high homeownership rate among Portuguese-origin respondents, as revealed by the TeO survey (Delon, 2019). This strong inclination toward homeownership can certainly be interpreted as a manifestation of an ethnicity shaped by adversity in France. It is also possible to assume that the desire to become a homeowner is even more pronounced among concierges who like to enjoy a home far from their place of work and know that they are not safe from a layoff that would make them homeless. But this desire for home ownership is also an economic behavior that has its origins in the strategies for building a family home and accessing land observed in the villages of northern Portugal. In these rural areas, the *casa*, which can be translated as “household”, is the basic unit of peasant social organization, as many social anthropological studies have shown (Pina-Cabral, 1986; Callier-Boisvert, 1999). It is what needs to be protected and strengthened to allow the reproduction of a kinship group. There is certainly a long way to go between the world of the *casa* in the north of Portugal and that of the descendants of immigrants in the Paris region, but in each case, there is the same concern to ensure the family's future through property.

Obviously, emigration has brought about new behaviors. With the mass emigration that took place in northern Portugal from the late 1950s onwards, the countryside experienced monetization. The ostentation of goods by returning emigrants is a well-known aspect of this. The first immigrants liked to show off their success by building luxurious villas, and their descendants often like to acquire expensive objects, especially cars. Without completely blurring the attachment to rural values among migrants from the countryside, the monetization of the economy, like everywhere else, has stimulated a process of individualization, allowing individuals to escape the grip of personal ties that characterizes groups bound by moral obligations (De Blic & Lazarus, 2007). This is one of the reasons why in Portugal, then as now, emigrants are the object of all kinds of jealousy and accusations of greed.

Moreover, as it has been observed in general among immigrant populations, Portuguese-origin concierges are undergoing a process where, without necessarily severing ties with their country of origin, they gradually distance and differentiate themselves from it (Waldinger, 2015). This desire to differentiate is reflected in particular in the use of what, drawing on Goffman, Hervé Marchal called in his survey of low-income social housing concierges' "rhetoric of disidentification" to describe how they reject certain images associated with the profession (Marchal, 2006). The concierges in question also make an effort to avoid being seen in their work coats or holding a broom, as these are perceived as stigmatizing symbols of their status. They also do so, notably, by insisting that they are nothing like the Portuguese concierges of the past, what they call the "old Portuguese concierges".
## 8.5 Specific Class Relations

Using data from the TeO survey, Margot Delon has highlighted the specific position of Portuguese immigrants and their descendants in relation to the majority population and people from former French colonies and the Caribbean (Delon, 2019). She builds her argument on the theory of the American sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva for whom the United States today cannot be described as a bi-racial country, consisting of “whites” and “blacks,” but as a society composed of three main groups along a hierarchical axis (Bonilla-Silva, 2004). Bonilla-Silva distinguishes between “Whites” at the top, “Honorary Whites” - an intermediate category of increasing size that brings together former immigrants engaged in a process of “whitening” - and a group at the bottom, formed by African-Americans. Similarly, Delon argues that the cultural characteristics attributed to Portuguese origin people (“good workers”, “well-integrated community”, “honest people”, etc.) position them as a “model minority,” much like how various groups such as the Irish, Eastern Europeans or Asians have been labeled in the U.S.

Whatever the difficulties of comparing France and the United States in terms of ethno-racial stratification, Margot Delon offers a stimulating analysis by transposing a theoretical framework to very different empirical data. Without completely adhering to the division she proposes, we must recognize that she opens up interesting avenues for understanding concierges of Portuguese origin in Paris. This allows us to revisit the class dynamics that these men and women frequently perceive as forming a distinct group.

Portuguese ethnicity may lead to an externally imposed identity that concierges perceive as dismissive, yet it also often mitigates the harshness of hierarchical class relations. First of all, Portuguese immigrants frequently situate themselves as much in relation to the social stratification that exists in Paris as to that which prevails in Portugal and, more precisely, in the villages from which they originate. They are not unaware of the contempt that their low-skilled job can inspire and know that their situation is eminently vulnerable in the buildings where they work. This does not prevent some of them, perfectly aware of the status/income dilemma highlighted in a famous article by Raymond Gold (1952), from making fun of penniless residents by pointing out what their hard work and concern for saving has enabled them to acquire. However, their main pride is often to have escaped the great poverty they generally experienced in Portugal and to have been able to show off to the better-off villagers who looked down on them. Referring to a group of reference where their position has changed completely allows these immigrant women to limit the weight of the domination suffered in France.

On the other hand, the social hierarchy weighs more heavily on concierges who are descendants of Portuguese immigrants. Social distance and ethnic difference often combine to produce a double feeling of inferiority and discrimination.<fnref n="3" /> Many

<footnote n="3">³According to the Trajectories and Origins (TeO) survey, 29% of descendants of Portuguese immigrants say they have been exposed to racism at least once in their lives, a figure that is twice as low as those with a sub-Saharan origin but nonetheless significant (Brinbaum et al., 2015).</footnote>
of them also have good memories of their schooling or of the affection shown to
them by the residents, but their friendly sociability, from adolescence onwards, was
generally organized with peers from the same social milieu. The fact of not having
a room of one's own made it difficult to receive friends, for lack of space or for
social shame. Many of the Portuguese concierges spoke to me about the academic
support or guidance provided by the residents, but I could not measure the effective-
ness of this. What is certain, however, is that the academic success of these children
does not leave anyone indifferent.<fnref n="4" /> Many of their mothers told me about receiving
congratulations when one of their children earned a diploma but also described
strained relationships with certain residents whose children, sometimes of the same
age and even in the same class, were struggling academically.

8.6 Portuguese Concierges as City Makers

As live-in concierges, Portuguese concierges are spread throughout the city rather than being concentrated in ethnic enclaves. In some ways, this makes them more impactful in the city. In their work, they interact not only with tenants of the building but also frequently develop good relations with the residents of the neighbourhood. Many concierges are also what Jane Jacobs calls “public characters” with “eyes on the street” (Jacobs, 1992).

Every day, they interact with a wide circle of people on the sidewalk. Being known, even superficially, contributes to the security of the street. When they look out from their window, they primarily help maintain public peace, which, as Jacobs writes, depends on “an intricate, almost unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among the people themselves, and enforced by the people themselves” (Jacobs, 1992: 31). Although they are often accused of being police informers (it is a stereotype that has always stigmatized them), they prevent crime in the locality and they play a role in the organization of rescue operations. And it’s no coincidence that four Portuguese concierges were decorated for their help to police and firefighters during the attacks of November 13, 2015, when 130 people were killed and 432 injured. As a general rule, the police regularly organize briefings with concierges on public safety issues, whether to be kept abreast of developments on the streets or to inform them of the measures to be taken in the event of attacks or violent demonstrations. For example, the authorities demand that concierges quickly remove garbage cans from sidewalks to prevent rioters from setting fire to them, using them to build barricades or planting bombs.

Portuguese concierges are also heavily involved in public health activities.
During hot summer spells, Paris City Hall calls on them to report isolated elderly
people. Concierges often visit them to ensure they are well hydrated and do not need

<footnote n="4">⁴Pierre Bourdieu pointed this out in his own way when he mentioned as a counter-example to those who refuse to admit the strong correlation between social origin and educational trajectory in the statement “My concierge’s son studies literature at university” (Bourdieu, 1997: 274).</footnote>
anything. They also played an essential role during the Covid-19 pandemic, scrupu-
lously cleaning the buildings. Alongside healthcare workers, shopkeepers and refuse
collectors, they were on the front line in the fight against the virus, even if recogni-
tion of their contribution came later (Vidal, 2020). In fact, several of them con-
tracted the virus and died in the early weeks following the arrival of Covid-19 in
Paris. In this respect, Portuguese concierges were among the immigrant workers
who helped slow the spread of the pandemic. By redoubling their attention to build-
ing maintenance, they helped limit the risk of the virus spreading. By providing
supplies to residents who were afraid to go out during the lockdown period, they
forged essential links. By sounding the alarm or guiding emergency services when
they learned that an isolated resident was showing acute symptoms of Covid-19,
they also saved lives.

Concierges also play their part in the real estate market. Although they no longer
collect rents, as they did until the early 1980s, they are frequently approached by
real estate agents, who ask them about properties that may be for sale in the near
future (Bernard, 2017). As a result, they are regularly visited by real estate agents,
who ask them about the condition of elderly residents who are likely to move into
retirement homes or die. As a token of appreciation, agents give them calendars and
boxes of chocolates during end-of-year celebrations, and sometimes concierges
even receive a small fee for helping a real estate agent close a deal in the building.

Concierges are also involved in local politics. As municipal election candidates increasingly communicate via television and social networks, concierges no longer have the same influence as they did until the 1970s, when they served as electoral agents in city politics. Nevertheless, concierges are still highly sought-after by elected officials. Every year, the Mayor of Paris organizes a big party to celebrate the city's concierges. Similarly, every district mayor receives them at least once a year (Paris has 20 districts). All elected officials know that the way city dwellers see the city is partly determined by what concierges have to say about it. Some concierges are even sometimes candidates to arrondissement municipal councils, as is currently the case with a concierge of Portuguese origin, naturalized French, elected in 2022 and deputy mayor of the 17th arrondissement.

**8.7 Concluding Remarks**

Portuguese concierges in Paris allow us to reflect on the questions raised by the incorporation of immigrants in diverse cities. In particular, the study of these men and women is directly linked to the debates on the relationship between ethnicity and work. The high number of immigrants in this trade risks overestimating the importance of ethnic origin in this sector. As regularly mentioned in migration studies, it is often difficult to distinguish precisely between economic, ethnic and cultural variables. As Nancy Green has rightly pointed out, these variables are often analytical categories constructed by researchers, shifting over time and across national contexts, yet used in a polysemous way by the actors (Green, 1995: 248). The growing interest in ethnicity in work and economic activities has also fueled a
tendency to “over-ethnicize” explanations for the presence of immigrant populations in certain sectors of the economy (Pécoud, 2010). It is therefore important to appreciate the effects of ethnicity in order to explain the strong overrepresentation of people of Portuguese origin among the janitors in the Paris private housing sector. We have shown that this predominance had its main causes in socio-economic changes and recruitment mechanisms.

The presence of concierges of Portuguese origin in the daily lives of Parisians, as well as the requests they are regularly subjected to by public authorities, also show one of the aspects through which immigrants and their descendants are true city makers.

In the micro-areas of the building where they live and work, they are a reassuring presence, especially for elderly people who feel lonely and frequently need somebody to talk to. They provide multiple services to building residents who can no longer travel to the pharmacy or go shopping. They also frequently help resolve tensions between next-door neighbors by asking them to make less noise or not leave trash bags in front of the doors. In doing so, they help to create a sense of urbanity in buildings whose inhabitants generally know little about each other and are unable to agree by themselves on common rules and regulations.

In the neighborhoods where they live, concierges also contribute to street safety. As previously mentioned, they are regularly called upon by public authorities to report and prevent potential dangers, such as burglaries, burning trash cans, or the use of trash bins to plant bombs. They are, on the other hand, well-known figures on the sidewalks that they clean and where they place the trash containers. In this respect, they are also those “public characters” who, as “eyes on the street”, contribute to safer public spaces for sidewalkers, as it has been observed at different times in New York’s Greenwich Village (Jacobs, 1992; Duneier, 1999).

Given the strong racism against immigrants from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, the Portuguese occupy an intermediate position in the ethno-stratification of the French labor market. This intermediate position between the majority population and postcolonial immigrants plays a fundamental role in their incorporation into Paris, without making them invisible and sheltered from prejudice. This serves as a reminder that while whiteness is rarely explicitly acknowledged in a so-called color-blind society like France, not all white people are treated equally. In this regard, the unique case of Portuguese-origin concierges in Paris underscores the importance of continuing to study this migratory flow, which, like other European migration streams to France, remains understudied in the social sciences.

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<figure><img src="image_26.png" /></figure>

## 9.1 Introduction

Cities are spaces where differences are created and urban politics arise through governance and counter-governance over different groups of people who take up varying positions with or against each other to stake claims in urban spaces (Samara et al., 2013; Isin, 2002). This paper examines the intersection of government policies that govern urban diversity and how individuals navigate constraints and opportunities in their social lives. Different social groups may hold multiple identities tied to their place of origin, race, or religion, particularly in the case of migrants. In particular, migration is one reason for increasing diversity in the region of Asia. From 2000 to 2020, Asia experienced the largest growth in international migration compared to regions such as Europe, Africa, and North America (International Organisation for Migration, 2021). An even greater number of migrants moved within their own countries (internal migration) rather than across international borders. In 2009, there were an estimated of 740 million internal migrants in the world (ibid.).

In this paper, we focus on urban diversity arising from the movements of people internally, within a country. One example of a government policy that aims to manage internal migration into urban spaces is the *hukou* system (or the household registration system) that is implemented in China.<fnref n="1" /> In China, internal migrants

<footnote n="1">¹The *hukou* system also affects the lives of individuals who are not living in the cities (for example, the rural areas). However, this paper focuses only on the *hukou* system and its effects on internal migration in an urban setting.</footnote>

<footnote>S. S. F. Lim · E. L.-E. Ho (✉)</footnote>

<footnote>Department of Geography, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore,
Singapore, Singapore</footnote>

<footnote>e-mail: elaine.ho@nus.edu.sg</footnote>
without the *hukou* status of their destination cities would have fewer social benefits there (e.g. schooling and medical insurance) as compared to individuals who have the *hukou* of the city (Tao, 2009; Chan, 1996). Hence, in the case of urban China, diversity also arises from the different backgrounds of each individual as indicated by the *hukou* registration that they hold. Whilst it is possible to change the *hukou* to that of their destination cities, internal migrants have to meet the different requirements of each city that involve considerations such as age, education levels and residences.

This paper examines the lived experiences of rural-to-urban migrants in China and how they navigate constraints and opportunities in their social worlds. The lived experiences of internal migrants are studied through their aspirations and how they navigate in the city to achieve their hopes and dreams. In other words, we analyse how urban diversity is governed in China, particularly through the *hukou* system, by examining how rural migrants respond to the policy. We situate our research on the lived experiences of internal migrants in Guangzhou, China, who were living in or had previously lived in Shipai village. We also examine the lived experiences of these internal migrants in relation to other informal urban settlements in Guangzhou and other parts of Asia.

Since the reform and opening of China's economy in the late 1970s, Guangdong province has flourished and become a successful trading province for imports and exports (Yang, 2010). Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, was one of the earlier cities in China to benefit from the economic reformation and it progressed ahead of many other cities. It was the political, economic, educational and cultural centre and a dominant city of the region (southern China), and has remained so, whilst the population in the city grew as its economy expanded (Xu & Yeh, 2003). Large numbers of migrants moved into Guangdong province for work, either in labour-intensive enterprises or in commerce, from the mid-1980s. These migrant workers were distributed primarily in the Pearl River Delta region, with most of them located in Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen (Yang, 2010).

In general, China is often perceived as a country where collective action is discouraged and citizens are disempowered (lack of agency) because of the tight control of the Chinese government (Ren, 2012; Nielsen, 2014). Despite these limitations, internal migrants enhance their navigational capacity in cities, by overcoming barriers and increasing their resources, through their social networks and kin relationships. This paper draws out the types of social networks that internal migrants in China mobilise and the actions they take (thereby acting as ‘city-makers’) in order to achieve their aspirations and, in the process, become recognised as an urban citizen. We argue that the internal migrants in our study viewed social networks and kin relations as expedient solutions and springboards, and were less likely to limit their movements by over-focusing on the restrictions arising from the *hukou* system or the strong control of the state. This paper suggests that focusing on the lived experiences of people helps bring to view how individuals empower themselves by forming and maintaining social networks and kinships. They also make changes to their lives so that they are able to seek upward mobility along social hierarchies, in
other words, to effect their aspirations. Specifically, the idea of aspirations refers to
individual or collective hopes about the future, and these aspirations are formed in
relation to the beliefs and values of people's local cultures (Appadurai, 2013). While
the tenure of the internal migrants' stay in cities are limited, we show that they con-
tribute as city-makers through influencing the spatial development of the urban vil-
lage where they live and thus the city more broadly.

The rest of the paper is divided into six sections. Section Two reviews the theo-
retical discussions on aspirations, social relations and urban citizenship. Section
Three discusses qualitative research methods, fieldwork, the *hukou* system, and the
field site's contextual background. We examine the empirical findings from the
fieldwork in Sections Four to Six, highlighting the extensive social relations of
internal migrants, their self-development and finally, their (future) migratory jour-
neys. This paper concludes in Section Seven.

9.2 Literature Review

The term “diversity” has been used intensively in academic and policy discussions, and used synonymously to describe differences in ethnicity, class or lifestyles (for example) between groups. Hence, in the Anglophone sphere, the term “diversity” has become interchangeable with ideas such as multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism and pluralism (Raco, 2018). In examining the management of diversity in urban settings, many discussions have focused on the implications or effects of government policies that affect certain groups of people<fnref n="2" /> or ideas of alternative urban politics/futures.<fnref n="3" /> In the context of urban China, many scholars have reviewed the implications of the *hukou* system on the lives of rural migrants,<fnref n="4" /> but few have looked at the experiences of rural migrants through their hopes and navigations towards their aspirations in the city, which are in turn affected by the opportunities and constraints brought about by the *hukou* system. In some instances, these internal migrants managed to convert their *hukou* and achieved recognition as urban citizens. We refer to Appadurai’s discussions on “aspiration” to contextualise our study on the lived experiences and aspirations of internal migrants. The idea of aspirations concerns hopes for the future that “*are part of some sort of system of ideas.... that locates them in a larger map of local ideas and beliefs*” (Appadurai, 2013, p. 187). In other words, aspirations are ideas which are formed within and derived from the larger norms of a culture (Appadurai, 2013). Hence, the futures which an internal migrant in China envisions for himself or herself are likely to be based on how specific local contexts affect them (such as the political, social and

<footnote n="2">² See Harvey (2006) on discussions of neoliberalism and inequalities for example.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Conceptual discussions relating to Lefebvre’s right to the city (see Purcell, 2013; Attoh, 2011 who examined this topic) or collaborative planning for an inclusive and just governance (see Healey, 2006) are a few examples of debates concerning building alternative urban futures or politics.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴See Afridi et al. (2015), Zhou and Cheung (2017), for example.</footnote>
economic conditions in the hometown or the destination city). Even in cases where individuals have similar aspirations, the local ideas and beliefs of individuals would influence the way they cope with the challenges in navigating their aspirations and perceptions of success (see Camfield et al., 2013, on the aspirations of communities in rural, pan-urban and urban areas in Northeast and South Thailand for example).

In the context of urban China, the lived experiences of internal migrants are affected by the policies around urban citizenship.<fnref n="5" /> Specifically, discussions on urban citizenship arise when the “*city becomes the basis both for new citizenship mobilisation and for a conception of citizenship based on urban residence*” (Holston, 2001, p. 327). Not to be confused with the idea of a national citizenship (specifically, the Chinese citizenship), the policies around urban citizenship in urban China concerns the idea of being a *shimin*<fnref n="6" /> (urban citizen) of a particular city and the distribution of rights based on the *hukou* system. In this respect, the value of transforming into a *shimin* of larger cities, such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, is higher since the rights in these cities or social security entitlements in these urban areas are perceived to be superior to those in other cities in China (Ho, 2011). Over the years, reforms to the *hukou* system to recognise more individuals as *shimin* enabled a greater number of rural migrants to gain access to different types of urban benefits. For instance, the State Council in 2003 had issued a directive which affirmed the rights of rural migrants to gain employment in cities, although they may not hold the official urban *hukou* of the city (Fan, n.d.). However, individual city governments retain discretion over their adherence to these directives (ibid.). The idea of “*suzhi*” is used to justify social hierarchies (see Kipnis, 2006).

The term *suzhi* relates to the idea of “quality” and, in the case of urban China, it refers to the idea of the “human quality” determined by factors such as the level of education of each individual. In China, different sets of regulations reflect the types of qualities each local government envisions to see in a *shimin*. Whilst there is no specific set of qualities or factors that an individual should have to be recognised as a person with *suzhi*, an individual is generally assessed based on his or her behaviour, level of education and moral ethics (Yan, 2003). The lack of defined characteristics of *suzhi* also meant that individuals are able to (re)negotiate and (re)define the idea of “human quality” to legitimise their decisions, expectations and desires. Representing good character and personal development, *suzhi* is also an indicator of the value of an individual in the market economy, thereby codifying an internal migrant in terms of what he or she lacks (ibid.).

As internal migrants settle in cities and strive for socioeconomic mobility, understanding their navigational processes is crucial, as it reflects their agency and diverse

<footnote n="5">⁵It is also important to note that the policies around urban citizenship vary from city to city. We will explore these policies further in the later part of this paper.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶Although the term *shimin* also translates literally to “city people”, we will refer to *shimin* as urban citizen (since we refer to the term in relation to the rights of internal migrants in cities) and not its literal translation to avoid confusion.</footnote>
aspirations. Internal migrants review the social-political environments that they are in (the “presentia”) and imagine the future (the “potential”), as they move over geographical spaces and across spatial boundaries and improve their lives with their imaginations of their possible futures elsewhere (Nielsen & Vigh, 2012; see Vigh, 2009, on discussions of migrations and migrant imaginary). An individual’s ability to navigate opportunities and challenges reflects their capacity to aspire—a form of agency that enables change. The capacity to aspire is a navigational capacity and it is dependent on the resources an individual has such as power and material resources, which are not evenly distributed (Appadurai, 2013). For instance, the more resources an individual has, the greater navigational capacity or capacity to aspire he or her has. Along the same line, the empowerment of an individual also nurtures his or her capacity to aspire. For example, Boonyabancha (2005) argued that it was difficult for an urban poor individual to work on and resolve housing issues alone. However, the urban poor can empower themselves by working collaboratively as a community (ibid.). As they increase their success in resolving more issues, in the process, they also increase their capacity to aspire further. In this respect, empowerment and the capacity to aspire are reciprocally linked (Appadurai, 2013).

Boonyabancha’s arguments on the importance of collaborative actions in enabling the transformation of the community have also shown that social capital is an important component in collective efficacy. Central to the idea of social capital is social networks, including bonding and bridging networks, and reciprocities between individuals who are part of the social networks (Putnam, 2000). Whilst bonding networks are inward-looking and reinforce identities and homogeneity in a group, bridging networks are outward looking and more inclusive of people who belong to diverse social groups such as race and gender. The social networks that are important to different people depend on the scales of the problems and the types of issues that they are experiencing (ibid.). New internal migrants in the cities in China, for example, may rely on social networks across varying social groups in their hometowns to receive information and recommendations on possible accommodations as they move into the city.

Finally, drawing from the conceptual discussions above, we build an analytical framework that consists of two parts which focus on the navigations of internal migrants in response to the governance of internal migrants in the city through the *hukou* system. The first part of the analytical framework discusses how internal migrants seek to develop themselves to fit into the vision of the local government of who is considered a desirable *shimin*. The second part concerns how they navigate the constraints and opportunities found in the city and beyond through leveraging on their social relations (social capital). Reviewing the aspirations of internal migrants shed light on their lived experiences in the city and beyond (such as their hometowns). Aspirations also reveal the implications of the social, economic and political contexts of the city since the futures envisioned by internal migrants are affected by the specific local contexts that they are situated in. Before we focus on the empirical data analysis, however, we first look at the background of the *hukou* system and the field site in Guangzhou.
## 9.3 The Hukou System, Background of the Field Site and Research Method

In China, when Chinese citizens relocate and successfully change their hukou registration, it is seen as a migration that is recognised by the local government. These government-endorsed movements are also known as *qianyi*. Conversely, migration without a *hukou* registration change is deemed unofficial and remains unrecognised by local authorities. Migrants whose movements are outside the purview of the local government are also known as “floaters” and they form the “floating population” (or *liudong renkou*). Without the relevant *hukou* of the city where they are living in, they are not seen as true residents of the city by the government and, hence, do not have access to many social benefits that true residents have (Wong & Huen, 1998; Tao, 2009; Chan, 1996, 1999). As such, many migrants with low incomes may find access to affordable housing in the urban areas challenging as a result of residency control through the *hukou* system (Wang, 2004). Over the years, formal and permanent hukou registration changes have become increasingly feasible. There are also different forms of registration, depending on the needs of the local government. Nonetheless, conversions in the 1960s and 1970s were tightly controlled by a system of quotas (Chan, 1996).

China's late-1970s economic reforms relaxed rural-to-urban mobility restrictions, triggering a surge in migration by the mid-1980s, which supplied urban centres with inexpensive rural labourers. Migration was further encouraged with changes such as the introduction of temporary residential permits in 1985 to migrants with a legitimate job or business in the destination city. With these temporary residential permits, the movements of rural to urban migrants were recognised by the government. However, they remained ineligible for key social benefits, including affordable housing (Wong & Huen, 1998). With inflated housing prices in the cities, as a result of the “shift from work-unit-based collected consumption to market-oriented consumption based on commodity housing” (p. 428), internal migrants with low income could find settling into accommodation a challenge in the urban areas (Wu, 2009). Many of them would (first) stay in the numerous urban villages that are located in different parts of the cities. Urban villages, controlled by original residents and their families, operate outside state regulations and are therefore not officially recognized as part of the city. As such, these urban villages have no formal institutions that provide services essential for its residents such as social welfare and infrastructure (He et al., 2010).

The inequality in access to affordable housing from the control of residency through the *hukou* system exacerbated housing issues for many internal migrants in the urban areas (Wang, 2004). However, urban areas remain attractive places to work and live in. More than 70% of the Chinese population is estimated to live in urban areas within the next 15 years. In response to the expected increase in urban population, the government issued its first official plan on urbanisation in March 2014, titled “National New-Type Urbanisation Plan” (*guojia xinxing chengzhen hua guihua*). The plan aims to ensure that urbanisation in China will be people-centred
and environmentally-friendly (Taylor, 2015). Amongst the guiding principles for the new national urbanisation plan is the recognition that the *hukou* system was an obstacle to development and reformation to the system should be accelerated (Chan, 2014).

The field site in this study, Shipai village, is an urban village (*chengzhongcun*<fnref n="7" />) that is located in Tianhe district in Guangzhou (Fig. 9.1). Urban villages are generally formed when villagers build one-story or multi-storied high-density homes, without permits or official planning approvals, after they have lost their farmland when their agricultural land was taken over for development (Liu & Wong, 2018; Wang, 2004). Without the traditional resources for agriculture, villagers turn to building “illegally” constructed homes to house migrants who move into the city. These “illegally” constructed houses, which are also dense and compact spatial

<figure><img src="image_27.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 9.1** One of the entrances into Shipai village</figcaption></figure>

<footnote n="7">⁷ *Chengzhongcun* translates directly to *village in the city*. In our paper, we use the term “urban village” to refer to these villages in the city.</footnote>
structures, become a characteristic of urban villages (Lin et al., 2012). Shipai village is one such informal housing settlement, which provides low-cost housing primarily to internal migrants. Through their residential choices, internal migrants have transformed Shipai Village into one of Guangzhou’s densest urban villages, with buildings separated by narrow alleys. There are more than 3300 houses that provided accommodation for more than 70,000 internal migrants (as compared to 10,000 villagers), on a land area of about 0.7 square kilometres (ibid.). With only a tiny distance between apartments of neighbouring blocks, these buildings are also known as “handshake buildings” or “kissing buildings” and many apartments do not receive sufficient sunlight and ventilation. Beyond its residential function, urban villages also host commercial activities catering to internal migrants’ economic and social needs (Wang, 2016).

This research draws on primary data collected in Guangzhou through urban ethnography (January–June 2017 and November 2018) to examine internal migrants’ perspectives and lived experiences (Jackson, 1985). The first author conducted informal interviews with 21 participants who had previously lived in or were living in Shipai village at the time of the interviews. Participant observations were also carried out in Shipai village and its vicinity where the internal migrants stayed to make sense of the data generated (ibid.). The observations made supported the information and responses given during the informal interviews. The first author also visited other urban villages, which are located near to Shipai village, to observe (and compare) the everyday lives and developments in these urban villages.<fnref n="8" />

The following three sections examine how internal migrants in Guangzhou navigate challenges to achieve their aspirations, offering insights into the governance of internal migration in urban China. The names of the participants are represented by their pseudonyms in the discussions of the empirical findings below.

## 9.4 Empowerment through Self-Development

Although internal migrants are subject to hukou regulations, they have limited influence over policymaking and little time or inclination to collaborate with others—whether fellow migrants or local residents—to mitigate constraints on their agency in the city. Instead, they pursue alternative strategies for upward mobility, such as enhancing their social standing to gain full recognition as a *shimin* or urban citizen. In other words, they take actions to transform themselves into the *right* type of citizen as expected by the local city government and to be recognised by other urban citizens in the city. We discuss the case of Jia to illustrate how internal migrants incrementally seek self-development to empower themselves as aspiring urban citizens.

The first author met Jia in early 2017; he had moved from the province of Hunan (north of Guangdong province) and “came to Guangzhou to study [for] my Master’s

<footnote n="8">⁸The first author visited Tangxia village and Xian village. The first author also visited Liede village, an urban village that has been demolished and redeveloped.</footnote>
degree” more than 10 years ago. When he first moved to Guangzhou, Jia had a Hunan rural *hukou* but his enrolment into a university in Guangzhou for a Master’s degree programme enabled him to make a temporary switch to a Guangzhou *hukou*. The admission into a higher education programme in the city was a step that allowed Jia to navigate further, and manoeuvre towards other opportunities, in the city. University admission is highly competitive, and internal migrants who enroll in urban universities receive a temporary *hukou* (Fan, n.d.). However, in Guangzhou, this arrangement is only temporary. After they have completed their studies, internal migrants have to find a job quickly to maintain the *hukou* of the city where they have studied in. These policies have been set to attract “talents” (*rencai*), but the internal migrants are considered “talents” only if they have at least a university Bachelor’s degree. They came from places of origin outside of the Guangzhou city and may not be keen to transfer their *hukou* back to their places of origin after they graduate. Under the scheme to “suspend for employment” (*zhanhuan jiuye*), they may apply to hold the *hukou* for 2 years under the locality of their university while they look for employment (Guangdong Province Online Registration Hall (GPORH) n.d.). The two-year grace period offers temporary migrants an opportunity to secure permanent residency and its associated benefits. Nonetheless, the expansion of rights in the city under the *hukou* system is not intended to be equal. Rather, the internal migration system in China protects the rights of migrant who are deemed to be suitable as urban citizens for the city through policies at the local city and national levels. The restrictions on internal migrants vary in different cities, based on the socio-development in the city and the capacity of the city to manage its populations.

Recounting his migratory experiences, Jia felt a sense of achievement for overcoming difficulties and challenges, and viewed his migratory journey as a success. In his opinion, having 'greater wealth' since he left his hometown in Hunan was an indication that his migratory journey had been worthwhile. At the time of our conversation, Jia had successfully applied the urban *hukou* for Guangzhou after spending many years there during which he continuously engaged in "self-development" of his personal *suzhi*. In Guangzhou, as in other large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, the urban population is encouraged to improve their *suzhi* so as to strengthen the competitiveness of the city (Zhang, 2018). In turn, internal migrants need to demonstrate their capabilities to transform themselves into urban citizens with *suzhi*. As with the case of Jia, these internal migrants increased their *suzhi* by obtaining higher education and employment in Guangzhou. Their self-development empowered them and ensured that they had more opportunities to be recognised as a *shimin* in the city they were living in.

## 9.5 Extensive Social Relations and Increasing Agency in the City

As highlighted earlier on, due to the control or governance of internal migration through the *hukou* system, internal migrants receive limited benefits and assistance from the local government if they do not hold the urban *hukou* of their destination cities. In facing constraints in a city that they may be unfamiliar with or restrictions
arising from government policies such as the *hukou* system, internal migrants shape their navigational pathways by looking to their social relations that are not limited to the geographical boundaries of their hometowns.

Jia's experiences in Guangzhou, for example, reveal different forms of social networks and the roles that these networks play in enabling the adaptation of internal migrants to life in Guangzhou when they move to city. Firstly, when Jia was studying for his Master's degree programme in Guangzhou, his relations with the university as an enrolled student meant that he was able to live in the hostel provided by the university. His enrolment in university in Guangzhou ensured that he had accommodation when he first moved to Guangzhou. After completing his post-graduate degree programme, Jia moved to Shipai village. Secondly, Jia served as a point of contact for a longtime friend from his school days. His friend did not have accommodation and Jia helped his friend by allowing him to stay with him temporarily at his home outside Shipai village.<fnref n="9" /> Subsequently, his friend rented an apartment at Shipai village. In this respect, through bridging networks, Jia assumed the role of a springboard that facilitated his friend's migration.

Like Jia, Tan also migrated from Hunan province with a rural *hukou*. He has been living in Guangzhou for more than 15 years and he has obtained the Guangzhou urban *hukou*. Tan played a central role in his family's migration to Guangzhou. He moved to Guangzhou to pursue his education and was motivated to remain in the city after he completed his education. He hoped to bring his mother to Guangzhou and to purchase his own house in the city. Subsequently, Tan facilitated his mother's and younger brother's migrations into the city. Since he moved to Guangzhou before his family, Tan was able to help his family to adapt to life in the city. To make a living in the city with his family, in 2004, Tan opened a snacks shop with his mother and younger brother in Shipai village. However, the long working hours took a toll on the family and they closed the business about 4 months later. Even though the business did not last long, Tan explained that his initial plan was to work and live in Shipai village for only a short period of time.

For internal migrants like Jia and Tan, Shipai Village provided affordable and convenient housing. They viewed it as a temporary residence until they could secure better accommodation. Jia explained that “Shipai village was one of the better-known places where many people went to if they were looking for a place to stay”. The informal housing market in an urban village allows renters to move in quickly without working on official documentations, such as a rental contract, that are often associated with renting in the formal property market. Furthermore, Jia commented that “the location [of Shipai village] is good”. As such, the low-cost rentals in urban villages could be seen as the point from which internal migrants launch into or make their forays into the city and to facilitate the movements of internal migrants through the city. As highlighted earlier, the nature of the urban village functions as a springboard for internal migrants to develop their lives in the new city, and they in turn shape the urban landscape of Shipai village. Nonetheless, internal migrants are

<footnote n="9">⁹By the time his friend moved to Guangzhou, Jia has moved out of Shipai village.</footnote>
often seen as outsiders (*waidiren*) in the cities and the urban villages where they reside (Fan, 2002; He et al., 2010). Hence, they do not participate in the community activities in the urban villages. As shown in the cases of Jia and Tan, they did not feel a strong sense of attachment to Shipai village and they were more focused on the opportunities that they could find in the wider city to live, to receive an education and to work. It was evident that Jia, for example, did not feel a sense of connection with, or relied on, his neighbours. He worked every day of the week and for long hours, returning home in the wee hours of the morning at times only to walk up and leave for work again early in the morning. He did not have time to build social networks with his neighbours. Furthermore, Jia had no intention to develop social relations in the vicinity of his accommodation in Shipai village.

The perceptions of Jia and Tan on Shipai village are similar to those of the internal migrants who stay in other urban villages. Xian village, for example, is an urban village near to Shipai village. It is also located in the Tianhe district in Guangzhou, southwest of Shipai village and close to Leide Avenue and Jinsui Road. The government had intended to complete the demolition of the urban village in time for the 2010 Asian Games; however, the demolition process was halted due to the disagreements on the compensations for local owners (Andersson, 2014). When the first author visited Xian village in early 2017, there were tall walls around the boundary of the urban village with huge banners celebrating the imagined future which the re-developed Xian village would be (Fig. 9.2).<fnref n="10" /> Despite the threat of a loss of accommodation with the demolition, the migrants who lived in the urban village were not worried. For them, the improvements to Xian village would be good for the future and they argued that it would not be difficult to find another cheap accommodation if they needed to. They expressed that they “*came to live in the city and not to live in a certain urban village*” (Andersson, 2014, p. 38). Highly educated internal migrants like Jia increase their *suzhi*, moved out of the urban village and became a *shimin*. However, in larger and more economically developed cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, it remains difficult for many internal migrants to convert their *hukou* status due to the stricter regulations or higher requirements of the local governments.

Even though many internal migrants, especially low-skilled labourers, do not fit the requirements of the local government in these cities to be able to convert their *hukou* status, they remain essential and important to the living standards and functioning of great cities (Ong, 2007). Many of the low-skilled migrants, for example, work in the factories or construction. Hence, many city governments (including Guangzhou) have demonstrated high levels of tolerance for the presence of urban villages although they are considered informal housing and lie outside planning regulations. The urban villages are needed to house these low-cost migrant labourers who move into the cities (He et al., 2010). The urban villages are a form of immediate and temporary accommodation and their attractiveness as a housing

<footnote n="10">¹⁰Even though fieldwork was planned for Shipai village, the first author also made a visit to Xian village (located near Shipai village) in 2017 to observe the development at Xian village.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_28.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 9.2** A large banner on the wall around Xian village which reads “new journey for Xian village, happiness is around the corner”</figcaption></figure>

option for internal migrants highlight the role of internal migrants as city-makers. Firstly, as a popular choice of housing amongst the internal migrants, they have impacted the density of urban villages. Furthermore, as renters in the urban villages, these internal migrants also play a role in influencing the type of economic activities in urban villages (see Sect. 8.3). Thirdly, as internal migrants navigate to and through the city, with the help of the social connections that they have in the city, their migration and economic contribution shape the urban policies of the city and influence the spatial development of the city. However, lacking strong ties to urban villages or local residents, internal migrants are generally unmotivated to enhance their built environment. Furthermore, as an informal housing market, the local residents have little impetus to enhance the quality of housing in the urban villages.

## 9.6 Not an Ideal Urban Citizen: Circulatory Migration and Returning Home

As highlighted earlier, the ability to develop one's *suzhi* to be recognised as a *shimin* is limited to internal migrants who meet certain criteria that are beneficial for the cities. Obtaining higher educational levels (or to be considered a talent or *rencai*) is one such criterion. On the other hand, internal migrants who fail to demonstrate higher levels of self-development, including migrants with lower educational levels, are considered by the local governments and other urban residents as “less ideal” urban citizens, and thus likely continue to experience exclusion. Despite the support they receive from their social relations, their inability to convert their *hukou* status
has led some to engage in circular migration, shuttling between cities and their hometowns.

One participant who expressed a possibility of migrating home was Lin. By the beginning of 2017, Lin had been living in Shipai village with her husband and her toddler daughter for about 3 to 4 years. Although the family held the rural *hukou*, her husband had employment in Guangzhou. The family chose to stay in Shipai village because the urban village provided accommodation for the family at a lower cost as compared to apartments in a private residential area (*xiaoqu*). Whilst conversing with Lin, she shared her concerns of living in Guangzhou and spoke about the possibility of returning to her rural hometown if “it does not work [out] in Guangzhou”. As Lin explained, one challenge that she might experience in the city was that the cost of education in Guangzhou could be expensive since the family did not have the Guangzhou urban *hukou*. When the first author clarified with her if she has plans to register her daughter in a local school, she exclaimed, “cannot; it is too expensive!” Hence, Lin suggested that the migration back to her hometown might be an end-point in her migration trajectory if it becomes difficult for her family and herself to remain in the city.

For Lin, as for many other internal migrants in urban areas, circular migration presented a potential strategy to overcome difficulties in the city (Guangzhou or elsewhere). Although Lin referred to returning to her hometown as an option if she meets an impasse in navigating her aspirations in the city, her opinion suggested that the spaces for future-making between her destination city and her hometown overlapped to give her a sense of flexibility. In other words, Lin and her family thought that it was possible to navigate towards a form of envisioned future in their rural hometown, although it is unlikely to be the same future she imagined for her family in the city. Hence, even though Lin shared the problems and issues that she had, she did not express despair or desperation for the challenges and difficulties that she experienced as a migrant in Guangzhou.

Migration projects, in this instance, are circulatory movements for various reasons (such as work and education) rather than a one-way movement from the hometowns of migrants to their destination cities (Zheng et al., 2009). These circulatory movements and obstacles to permanent settlement in the city, such as policies that limit accessibility of migrants to affordable housing, are characteristics of internal migrations in China (ibid.).

## 9.7 Discussion and Conclusion

This paper has examined the navigations of internal migrants who were living in, or had previously stayed in, Shipai village to understand how they managed or responded to the constraints and challenges that arise from the *hukou* system. In China, the *hukou* system is one of the many government policies that manage urban diversity in the cities of China, by directly regulating internal migrations. The experiences of the internal migrants in our study revealed that they focused on
empowering themselves to improve their navigational capacity as they progressed
towards the futures that they envisioned for themselves and their immediate family
members in Guangzhou. This research does not seek to downplay disparities in
rights and access to social benefits between internal migrants and local residents.
Rather, it highlights migrants' agency, focusing on how they navigate disadvanta-
geous urban conditions.

There are three key points in this study. Firstly, internal migration is a means for upward social mobility in the city and, through the city, elsewhere. Despite the restrictions that the internal migrants may experience, they seek self-development to achieve personal transformation in the city. They look to higher education and employments to increase their *suzhi* and transform themselves to become the *shimin* that the city expects. Secondly, social relations play an important role in enabling internal migrants to navigate the constraints and opportunities they encounter and, at times, act as springboards for their movements into the city. Thirdly, internal migrants who cannot convert their hukou status continue to receive less government support than local residents and often engage in circular migration, moving between cities or returning home.

By focusing on the lived experiences of the internal migrants and their self-
fashioning projects to increase their individual agencies in the city, we show that
they are city-makers and they shape the landscapes of the urban villages and cities.
The informal housing market in the urban villages makes it a popular option for
many internal migrants. As internal migrants move into the city and look for accom-
modation, local residents build high density housing in the urban villages to cater to
their need. Furthermore, as residents, these internal migrants influence the types of
economic and social activities in the urban villages. However, the opinion that many
internal migrants have of the urban village as a temporary accommodation also
means that there is little impetus for the internal migrants or local residents to
improve the housing quality of the urban villages. Despite their exclusion from
formal urban planning, internal migrants contribute significantly to the city's econ-
omy through labour and entrepreneurship. Hence, the local government in cities
such as Guangzhou has shown a greater degree of tolerance for the presence of
urban villages that house these migrants even though these urban villages do not
comply with the planning regulations of the city and do not fit with the image of the
city that the local government is keen to portray.

We close this chapter by contextualising the case of the internal migrants in *Shipai* village with examples of city-makers in other parts of Asia and how they shape their urban landscapes in the cities where they live in. In Dharavi, a slum community in Mumbai, for example, residents mobilised together to resist against evictions from their homes and the commoditisation of the land into real estate. They negotiated for a greater stake and claim for Dharavi slum area through community-based activism (Appadurai, 2013). In Thailand, the Baan Mankong programme supports individuals from low-income households to improve their living and housing environment. The process of upgrading requires housing communities to form collaborative partnerships between different actors to facilitate self-development (Boonyabancha, 2005). The city-makers in these examples work
collectively to bring about transformation in their housing communities and, conse-
quentially, the urban landscapes of the cities where they live in. In this respect, the
examples above seem like a contrast to our discussions on the internal migrants who
live in the urban villages in China and are more focused on their individual aspira-
tions than forming collaborative partnerships with the local residents.

Prior experiences shape how residents in Dharavi and Thailand respond to the challenges they encounter. In the cases of Dharavi, for example, earlier successes in claiming rights increased hope amongst the residents and encouraged them to trust one another and share the risk collectively to jointly resist eviction (Appadurai, 2013). In contrast, the internal migrants in our study focused primarily on their (individual) aspirations and personal empowerment. Together with having only a weak sense of attachment to the urban village and superficial social relations with the local residents, the internal migrants did not feel the need to promote or undertake collective action with their housing communities. Nonetheless, as internal migrants navigate their aspirations, their presence and actions gradually reshape urban landscapes. These cases underscore that there is room for future research to map transformation across multiple spatialities and to delve further into the impact of complex social relations and the geographies of local contexts on city-making and effecting spatial transformation.

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Chapter 10
# Garment Wholesale Markets in Contemporary Global Cities: Urban Spaces to Build Personalised Business Relationships: Paris (France) vs Guangzhou (China)

Gilles Guiheux and Lulu Fan

The garment industry is one of the last manufacturing sectors with a visible pres-
ence in urban spaces. While most garment sales occur in retail shops, a portion of
manufacturing persists in small urban workshops. This has been shown in studies of
the major cities of the fashion industry, such as New York and Paris; even though
these two cities are no longer major manufacturing centres, there are still workshops
dedicated to high-end fashion production. Another significant feature of the indus-
try is the importance of migrant labour. The garment industry is characterised by
seasonal variations and constant changes in fashion, and entrepreneurs have to com-
bine flexibility and standardisation. These constraints have created particular condi-
tions for labour recruitment and working conditions - low qualifications and low
wages - and have favoured extensive subcontracting. Research has shown that glob-
ally, the sector's dynamism relies on recruiting first-time international or internal
migrants, often women, who accept flexible and precarious working conditions
(Green, 1997; Chin, 2005). They have also highlighted how the garment sector is a
source of opportunity for less-skilled immigrants, with upward career trajectories
more likely than in other sectors. Ready-made clothing is a sector where it is easy
to acquire professional skills - mastery of know-how and of a network of suppliers
or customers. In the context of constantly changing subcontracting networks and
when the capital required to set up a business is minimal, this allows for upward
socio-professional careers (Waldinger, 1984; 1986; Guiheux, 2012). Studies on eth-
nic entrepreneurship in the garment industry highlight how business owners

<footnote>G. Guiheux (✉)
Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
e-mail: gilles.guiheux@u-paris.fr</footnote>

<footnote>L. Fan
South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China</footnote>
integrate relatives or migrants from the same community into their enterprises (Waldinger, 1986; Zhou, 1992).

This chapter examines Paris and Guangzhou, focusing not on financial markets—the primary marker of global cities according to Saskia Sassen (1991)—but on the fashion and ready-to-wear industries, which operate on a global scale. The French capital is a world fashion mecca with its yearly catwalk shows and fashion houses, but less well-known is the fact that it is still a major trading centre for mid to low-range ready-to-wear. If local production has almost completely ceased, distribution, in the form of wholesale markets, is still very active in areas such as Aubervilliers, where business owners from Chinese origins are predominant. The Chinese Southern metropolis is also a major global trading centre in garment products, with many wholesale markets, coupled with production still partly carried out locally.

This chapter addresses a gap in the literature. While sociological studies examine trade fairs (Lecler, 2020; Maskell et al., 2004; Moeran, 2011) and international fashion fairs (Skov, 2006), research on low-end garment wholesale markets primarily focuses on the Global South (Choplin & Pliez, 2015, 2018). The originality of our perspective is that we are simultaneously looking at two geographically very distant configurations, in both the South (Guangzhou) and the North (Paris). This comparative analysis develops a sociological explanatory model of wholesale markets. It draws on reports, press articles, and existing literature—mainly by geographers and anthropologists—supplemented by field observations and interviews conducted in both cities from 2020 to 2023.

The chapter first explores the spatial dimension of the wholesale markets. In both cities, garment markets form clear urban enclaves with their own dynamics. How have these specialised clusters progressively developed? Which private and public actors were involved? What is the future of the markets in densely populated neighbourhoods? In the second part of the chapter, we address a paradox: why do buyers and sellers still need a meeting place in a global and digitalized economy? Why is a face-to-face meeting still required? One might assume that trading companies and mass marketing would eventually replace physical wholesale markets. Using an economic sociology perspective, we argue that these markets need social encounters to function properly. We will also address the issue of ethnicity in the context of the markets.

## 10.1 The Spatial Dimension of the Garment Industry

In Paris and Guangzhou, there are specific urban spaces devoted to the ready-to-wear industry in its cheapest fraction. These are spaces where low-end products are traded at low selling prices. The buyers are partly national and partly international in both cities. National buyers sell the products to the poorest populations of France and China, primarily low-income rural populations. International buyers come from Europe, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa in France, from all over the world in
China, notably South Asia. Both Paris and Guangzhou's wholesale garment districts exemplify 'globalization from below' (Portes, 1997; Tarrius, 2002; Mathews, 2011).

### 10.1.1 Paris Garment Districts: From the City Centre to a Formally Industrial Suburb

After the Second World War, Paris's garment district was initially located in central Paris, the Sentier, in the 2nd arrondissement, and operated by businesspeople of Jewish origin. However, the area gradually declined in the 1980s as rents increased and Chinese workers and small entrepreneurs entered the sector. The garment district then moved to Paris's 11th arrondissement on rue Sedaine et rue Popincourt. In the late 1990s, owing to the continued gentrification of the city centre, a few individual business operators started to settle in Aubervilliers, attracted by the low cost of land and premises (Fig. 10.1).

In the mid-2000s, a few bold real-estate investors bought empty warehouses and converted them into collections of showrooms. Garment operators followed and rented these shops. The convenience of the new location compared to the congested streets of inner Paris contributed to the project's success. Aubervilliers provided a more efficient location for a sector reliant on frequent loading and unloading of goods from suppliers to customers. There was also an obvious interest in concentrating all supply and demand in one location to enhance competition and reduce transport, packaging and handling costs. The third phase consisted of real-estate developers, including wealthy Chinese business people, deciding to develop brand-new commercial centres dedicated to wholesale. In 2006, the CIFA Centre opened

<figure><img src="image_31.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 10.1 Paris successive garment districts</figcaption></figure>
with 250 shops, while the Fashion Centre was inaugurated in 2015, boasting 310 shops on three levels and spanning 55,000 square meters, promoting itself as Europe's largest commercial platform for imported products from China (Chuang, 2013, 2018).

In Aubervilliers, customers are French and European retailers from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal. They operate small stores competing with chain stores owned by international brands such as Zara and H&M, companies that source directly from producers in China and South Asia. These retailers sell small quantities and don't have any knowledge of the production site. Some of these buyers in Aubervilliers are ethnic Chinese, where business transactions occur in Chinese. There are also African buyers for whom coming to the Paris wholesale markets is easier than travelling to China.

Until the 1980s, much of the manufacturing still occurred in the French capital. The Parisian hub is now mostly a marketplace, with garments mainly manufactured in China. The market professionals we interviewed are intermediaries between manufacturers and retailers. The manufacturers are, in most cases, based in mainland China but also in the Prato region of Italy, where there is a cluster of Chinese textile factories, most business owners have come from Wenzhou and flocking to Prato in the mid-1990s to work in Italian-owned textile factories, where they quickly mastered the entire production chain (Ceccagno, 2017). A number of wholesalers also source from Turkey. There are still a few businesses manufacturing in Paris but they are marginal. On the wholesale market, several generations of entrepreneurs coexist. For the oldest of them, who are over 50 in the early 2020s, and who migrated from China to France nearly three decades ago, they started out as workers in a garment factory, then opened their own production workshop, and finally became exclusively wholesalers of imported products. Here's how one entrepreneur describes his experience: "I arrived in Paris in 1996. I first started studying how to make clothes. Then, I opened a workshop. And now I operate a wholesale shop. I slowly moved along that road. Today, for garment, almost everything is imported from China" (interview).

Wholesale traders travel to China twice to four times a year - once per season - to visit their suppliers for several weeks at a time. Those sourcing in Italy visit on a much more regular basis, sometimes as often as once a month on weekends, when the Aubervilliers shops are closed. Orders placed in China are much larger (thousands of pieces) than those placed in Italy (sometimes less than 100 pieces); in the case of the former, goods take several weeks to arrive, whereas it takes only a few days from Prato. While Chinese products are cheaper, the risk is higher for the wholesaler, who has to place a large order before knowing if the products will meet the demand on the market. With Italian products, the products can be first tested on the market and if the product is successful, restocking takes only 24 to 48 h, thus minimising the risk through small orders and low stock levels (interviews).

A former industrial city, Aubervilliers is now home to more than 1000 wholesale dealers, most originating from the Wenzhou region of China's Zhejiang province. Investors and business operators were not the only players facilitating this transformation. The city's local government decided to actively promote Aubervilliers as a
Sino-French commercial platform and more generally, as a global city. The local government aimed to raise the international profile of the city, capitalising on its history of immigration (Chuang & Trémon, 2013: 190). The development of wholesale activity gave rise to a growth alliance between garment business operators, real estate investors, developers and local government, all sharing a common interest in promoting urban renewal and the integration of Aubervilliers into the global economy (Chuang, 2018). Over the decades, Chinese garment wholesale markets evolved from marginal ethnic economic enclaves scattered in the city's interstices into strategic assets sought after by local authorities for the purpose of economic development (Li et al., 2024).

### 10.1.2 Guangzhou: Multiple Clusters and a Close Integration of Trading and Manufacturing

In China, the garment industry is concentrated in three clusters: the eastern region around Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Zhejiang province; the northern region in Shandong and Hebei provinces; and the southern region around Guangzhou (Guangdong province). Historically, the textile industry first emerged around Hangzhou and Shaoxing, a region with a centuries-old textile tradition due to the cultivation of cotton and silkworms; it is also historically the country's richest region. The second cluster is in the South, around Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong. The industry developed during the economic reforms of the 1980s, driven by the relocation of the Hong Kong textile industry. Since then, the region has served as a major manufacturing site for Hong Kong-based contracting companies. For decades now, Guangdong has been a large province in China's textile and garment production, and its garment export output has always ranked among the top three in the country.

The textile and garment industry in Guangzhou is mainly based on wholesale. Wholesale sales accounted for 78% of total sales in 2017, 73% in 2018, 71% in 2019, 72% in 2020, and 78% in 2021 (Guangzhou Statistical Yearbooks, 2018–2022). In fact, with the rapid development of the clothing industry, various comprehensive and professional wholesale markets have emerged in Guangzhou. The city has built one of the densest wholesale market clusters and has become the largest clothing marketplace in the world. Wholesale markets in Guangzhou are mainly located in Liuhua commercial district in the North West of city centre, Shahe commercial district in the North East and Shisanhang commercial district in the South (see Table 10.1).

The Shisanhang commercial district is the oldest clothing wholesale distribution center in Guangzhou, with about 10 clothing wholesale markets and more than 15,000 stalls. Liuhua clothing business district has more than 30 professional clothing markets of different grades and types, with more than 20,000 merchants. Shahe business district offers lower prices and a wide range of products, with 17 clothing wholesale markets and 20,000 shops (Fig. 10.2).
<table><caption>**Table 10.1** Guangzhou textile and clothing wholesale market business districts</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Shisanhang (十三行)<br>commercial district</th><th>Liuhua (流花) commercial<br>district</th><th>Shahe (沙河)<br>commercial district</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><th>Business<br>model</th><td>Mostly wholesale</td><td>Wholesale and retail</td><td>Mostly wholesale</td></tr><tr><th>Market<br>positioning</th><td>Mid-range clothing</td><td>Mid- to high-end clothing and<br>accessories</td><td>Mid- to low-end<br>clothing</td></tr><tr><th>Traffic<br>conditions</th><td>Average</td><td>Extremely convenient (buses,<br>railways and airport)</td><td>Convenient (buses, and<br>highways)</td></tr><tr><th>Customers</th><td>Secondary wholesalers<br>and retailers, large flow<br>of people</td><td>Secondary distributors,<br>retailers and many final<br>consumers, large flow of<br>people</td><td>Secondary wholesalers<br>and retailers, large flow<br>of people</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: Qianzhan Industry Research Institute (2021)

<figure><img src="image_32.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 10.2** Guangzhou 3 major garment wholesale markets districts</figcaption></figure>

Beyond its vast product offerings, Guangzhou's key advantage is its seamless integration of distribution and production. Garment production is still carried out in close geographical proximity, notably in Haizhu, Baiyun and Panyu Districts. South of the Pearl River, the Haizhu district boasts several markets where manufacturers can source fabrics (notably the Zhongda fabric market) and all needed items for garment manufacturing (buttons, zippers, patches to stick on, embroidery to sew on, ribbons, but also materials for packaging etc.) and all kinds of machines (sewing machines, dyeing machines, ironing machines, washing machines etc.); and the nearby urban villages -former villages that have been gradually incorporated within the city-house thousands of large and small factories and workshops. This allows for highly flexible production that lives up to the slogan "purchase in the morning,
production in the afternoon and dispatch the next day”. Between order and delivery, they are less than 3 days (Chu, 2018).

Informal factories operate with flexible management and payment structures. Workers are typically paid on a piecework basis, and unlike large, formal factories that comply with labor laws, these factories have no maximum working hours. Working 14 h a day and 7 days a week is common. Factories are flexible in work schedules and products, which enables them to promptly respond to the market (Liu et al., 2015). Along the last few years, the growing role of e-commerce – garment accounting for the largest share of internet retail transactions in China – has led to an increasing flexibility in the organisation of production; product life cycles have shortened, initial production orders have been reduced, labour relations have become more informal, all to reduce production costs and improve responsiveness to uncertain market demands (Fan, 2021).

Kangle Village in Haizhu District, with a registered population of 2565 and a migrant population of 48,084, is the area of Guangzhou with the highest concentration of small garment factories. The alleyways between the buildings, less than 1 m wide, are always bustling with activity, and electric trolleys laden with bundles of fabric weave their way through. The low-rise buildings conceal all sorts of pressing and folding, embroidery and clothing factories, with machines that whistle incessantly. Though space is scarce, the industrial chain is very complete (Yang, 2021). Many workshops hire mostly women; adjustment to flexible working hours depending on the orders is made possible by the blurred boundaries between productive and reproductive labour since the workshop is both a place of manufacturing and the place where female workers take care of their children; women employees are at the same time wage workers and domestic caretakers (Chu, 2019).

### 10.1.3 Stakeholders in Developing Garment Industry Clusters in the Two Metropolises

As in Paris, Guangzhou’s garment industry clusters are shaped by individual entrepreneurs, real estate investors, and local authorities. In the case of Haizhu District for instance, in the 1990s, urban villages that were gradually deprived of agricultural land (because of urban development) were eager to attract small factories. Villagers, because of their specific land rights, could build, on the land of their place of residence, several stories houses and then buildings that would accommodate workshops on the ground-floor and workers’ dormitories on the upper floors. As seen in Le Sentier, Sedaine-Popincourt, and Aubervilliers, the garment cluster initially developed spontaneously and with little formal regulation (Schröder et al., 2010; Zielke & Waibel, 2014).

Then, in a second step, starting in the mid-2000s, district authorities took the lead on villages committees. To reduce pollution and security risks related to the high density of workshops, to improve transport accessibility, they decided to build new
roads and upgrade the markets. Plots of land were cleared for private investors to develop modern shopping malls and exhibition centres (Zielke & Waibel, 2014). In other parts of Guangzhou, the same process of upgrading through demolition of small-scale facilities and, spatial expansion and densification of wholesale markets took place under the leadership of local authorities.

Since the late 2010s, Guangdong's garment industry has faced increasing pressure to create more value. As a result, production has gradually shifted out of Guangzhou, which is evolving into a distribution hub. Urban villages often combine residential, production, storage, and business functions within the same space, increasing fire hazards and casualty risks. Informal forms of employment are also prone to unmanageable labour problems, such as child labour and unpaid wages. At the same time, this type of informal economy contributes little to the tax revenue of the area where it is located. As a result, Guangzhou has implemented measures to regulate production-oriented urban villages.

Specific policies have been designed to encourage garment factories and workshops in Haizhu District urban villages to relocate to formal industrial zones such as Qingyuan, 80 kilometers north of the metropolis. Provincial, Guangzhou and Qingyuan municipal authorities have launched policies to promote the orderly transfer of the textile and clothing industry. In order to encourage a number of textile processing and manufacturing enterprises to take the lead, relocation subsidies are being offered; direct public transportation between the two cities is also being improved (Chang & Wu, 2023). However, our research on the Haizhu odd-job market and interviews with garment workers in September 2023 indicate that these initiatives have had limited success. Here is one worker testimony: "Garment workshop owners are reluctant to move there because the upstream and downstream industrial chain in Kangle area is very smooth. It is next to the fabric market, so they can directly take fabrics and auxiliary materials for production, and after production, they can directly ship to the garment wholesale market, and it only takes a few minutes' drive from the fabric market and the garment wholesale market. The whole process is very smooth. Qingyuan side is too remote whereas the fabric market and customers are still on this side, so garment factories are not willing to move over" (interview).

Paris and Guangzhou wholesale markets share several common features. They supply low-end products for final customers who are mostly low purchasing power households, both nationally and internationally. In both cities, over the years, the same stakeholders have played a key role shaping the markets. Markets were initially formed spontaneously on the initiative of small entrepreneurs; their development then aroused the interest of authorities who wished both to seize the opportunity that these markets create in terms of economic attractiveness and to resolve problems caused by the lack of safety and transportation accessibility. At the same time real-estate developers, public and private, also entered the game to take advantage of the business opportunities induced by the upgrading public policy.

The major difference between the two markets is that production has almost completely disappeared in the Paris case, whereas production is still very much integrated in the Guangzhou case - and it is the case in many other garment cities in China. Next to wholesalers selling manufactured garments are other markets where
manufacturers can source fabric and accessories. In the Guangzhou case, it is truly an industrial cluster where products are both manufactured and distributed. Next to the markets are hundreds of family-run workshops, notably operated by Hubei migrants. These workshops employ a few workers, sometimes around 10. The orders are a few hundred pieces at most. The low volumes are linked to the rapid renewal cycle of fashion and existing chains of subcontracting relationships. Flexibility of this mode of production is adapted to the industry's requirements. But successive crises in the industry, including the recent Covid-19 epidemic, and public policies could well see Guangzhou become solely a marketplace, while production relocates to the distant outskirts of the city and inland provinces.

## 10.2 Garment Markets Needing Personal Business Relationships

In this second part, we analyze wholesale markets through the lens of economic sociology, examining both their economic and social functions. We argue that markets are not only economic devices but also social devices. In the supply chain involving manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, wholesalers bear most of the financial risk. They purchase garments ahead of the season, facing the possibility of unsold stock. In order to minimize their risks, they need to have a number of regular clients whose preferences they know. The aim of wholesalers is therefore to develop long-term relationships of trust with as many customers as possible. In this context, relationships of common ethnic origin are an asset.

### 10.2.1 A Wide Variety of Market Professionals

Today, as global trade centres, wholesale markets host all kinds of market professionals "whose task is to 'work on the market', i.e. construct it, move it, organise it, manage and control it, in short 'agencing' transactions" (Cochoy and Dubuisson-Quellier, 2013, 4). In addition to shop operators, who typically rent their premises, there are employees, including sales staff and logistics workers handling goods. Most shops are actually operated by married couples. There are freight companies in charge of transporting the goods. There are insurance companies. There are banks and currency exchange businesses targeting foreign customers. There are packaging companies. There are design companies for those operators who would like to have their products designed in Paris or Guangzhou while the goods are produced elsewhere. There are employment agencies. There are traders' associations. There are also hotels and restaurants serving the continuous flow of people visiting the markets. In Guangzhou, as in many other Chinese trade centres, there are companies serving as intermediaries between non-Chinese speaking foreign visitors and local traders.
### 10.2.2 The Wholesale Market: A Classified Trading System

In both cities, there are different types of wholesale markets. Some are housed in former industrial buildings and warehouses, while others, as mentioned, are located in brand-new buildings built for this purpose. In the latter case, showrooms are arranged by product type, which makes it easier for customers to compare quality and prices. Since they shape economic exchanges, the markets can be considered devices for constructing and organising transactions.

In Guangzhou, most malls follow a standardized design, typically spanning multiple floors. Commercial stalls are on lower levels, whereas storage and delivery areas are located on the top. Goods are typically loaded and unloaded from trucks on the rooftop, which is accessible via side ramps. In many malls, goods are classified by type: men, women, children, accessories, etc. As a result, in one section, products are often very similar (or even identical) from one stall to another, a device that very obviously enhances competition.

But there is also a diversity of products regarding quality and prices that can easily be identified due to different types of display. Malls' lower floors house simple stalls of a few square meters (2 or 3, sometimes double when the trader occupies a double stall) with the clothes hanging on the walls from floor to ceiling next to each other. The clothes are the best bargains there. Most often, there is no branding. Traders put the buyer's label on the products after the transaction, if requested. The orders range from a few dozen to a few hundred items; these are small orders. The traders often stand on stools outside the stand in the corridor to maximize the commercial part of the space. The upper floors contain real shops that are set up as such with an entrance marked by doorways, shop windows, and fancy display. Significant effort is invested in product presentation. The rent costs can reach several 10,000 yuans per year. There, shopkeepers have employees. Even though, some of the stock is stored in the shop and, all along the day, employees are seen preparing packages for dispatch. The shop has a brand name, and a logo, which is found on the clothes. Shops' decoration changes very quickly, following the cycles of fashion.

### 10.2.3 The Need for Trust and Personal Relationships<fnref n="1" />

Wholesale garment markets closely align with the three features of perfect competition outlined in neoclassical economic theory. First, there is atomicity on both the supply and demand sides. The number of buyers and sellers is huge, and none of the agents has sufficient weight to influence prices. For buyers, the size of the markets makes it possible to consult a wide variety of product offerings in a very concise space of time. There is also atomicity on the supply side since a given wholesaler will specialise in one type of clothing - ladies'/men's/kids' wear, dresses, trousers or blouses, etc. - and will not be able to meet all of the needs of one particular

<footnote n="1">¹The argument here developed about both Paris and Guangzhou was first crafted in a text about Aubervilliers (Guiheux, 2022).</footnote>
customer. Secondly, products are largely homogenous. Garments sold on the market are very similar in quality and characteristics and therefore almost interchangeable. These are cheap, low-end clothes often replaced because of fast-changing fashions. Markets are the home of affordable fast fashion bought in small quantities – whereas large international retailers buy directly from their suppliers. Finally, there is fluidity, with free entry into and exit from the market. There are continuous incoming and outgoing traders. It is very easy to enter the market because of low barriers; a wholesaler needs to rent premises and have a few contacts with garment manufacturers in China. And there are also many traders leaving the market simultaneously because of the high level of competition.

Supply and demand are regulated not only by pricing but also by social relationships. As Simmel highlights, trust mitigates uncertainty by bridging the gap between complete knowledge and total ignorance: “someone who knows all need not trust, someone who knows nothing cannot reasonably trust at all” (Simmel, 2009, 315).

In the wholesale market, sellers control information, creating an asymmetry between buyers and sellers. Garments are simple products, and the possibilities for withholding information are limited as defects are visible, provided that you can see and touch the product, which has not been possible during the pandemic. Still, the wholesaler can choose, in their own interest, not to reveal certain information regarding the production process to the potential buyer. The multitude of operators selling comparable products for would-be buyers is also a puzzle. In such cases, to help deal with the market’s opacity, Lucien Karpik (1996) has shown that there are usually “arrangements for judgments”. Trade names, product rankings and shopping guides are all examples of impersonal arrangements. There are none of them either in Paris or Guangzhou. When it comes to labels, products carry the name of either the original producer, the local wholesaler or the end retailer. Products change several times a year and are not ranked, and there are neither published guides to the hundreds of operators. One way for retailers to reduce uncertainty is to rely on personal arrangements.

For wholesalers, a key risk is opportunistic buyers who place an order but never return. Trust is “a type of expectation that alleviates the fear that one’s exchange partner will act opportunistically” (Bradach & Eccles, 1989: 104). The products are largely homogeneous, and competition is therefore very tough, so the development of personalised social relations is a way of limiting competition between wholesalers when it comes to attracting clients. Garment production is also a business where copying is the rule, so personalised relationships is also essential when it comes to business transactions between wholesalers and their suppliers; they need to trust each other (Chu, 2019).

There is evidence that these relationships of trust exist. Wholesalers have both old regular customers and new occasional ones. Because the long-term nature of the wholesaler-retailer contractual relationship creates a reassuring familiarity and predictable behaviour among exchange partners, they aim to increase the former (interviews in Paris). It should also be underlined that the wholesalers have a limited number of regular suppliers for the same reasons. Besides maintaining a consistent level of product quality, the only way to develop a long-term relationship with clients is by using social skills. Customer loyalty, which requires special care to ensure that the bond of trust created is never damaged – for fear of the lasting negative impact this could have – is a strategy that can help stabilise the market.
Analysing relationships between wholesalers and manufacturers in Guangzhou, Nellie Chu (2019) talks about “quasi-family relationships” and intense “affective ties across the supply chain”. To meet tight deadlines, some manufacturers require employees to work overnight, sometimes consecutively—a practice facilitated by strong personal ties. Looking at business relations among small firms in Dongfeng village in Haizhu district, Liu et al. (2015) talk about horizontal family-based relations along the supply chain. Most garment producers have several long-term and stable subcontractors. Once their productive capacity cannot fulfil the demand from their customers within the required time, they will outsource work to their subcontractors, and outsourcing relationships normally occur between factories owned by relatives, entrepreneurs with the same local origins, or entrepreneurs who were previously employers and employees. In Guangzhou, many traders and garment manufacturers are from Hubei origins and they draw on native-place based resources such as labour and financial capital; they also form alliances looking for business opportunities.

In Aubervilliers, wholesalers of Chinese origins have a unique capacity to develop personal relationships with their Chinese suppliers, and one wholesaler has only very few of them at a time. And the transaction has to be done on-site, mostly in Guangzhou: “we don’t look for suppliers online. Basically, we travel to Guangzhou” commented one trader visiting the Chinese metropolis three to four times a year (interview). Relationships with retailers also have a strong personal dimension, but customers are from various origins, so being Chinese (or from Wenzhou) is a resource that can only occasionally mobilized to build long-lasting mutual obligations.

Advancements in technology and pandemic-related restrictions have accelerated the digitalization of business relationships. However, in online transactions, retailers rely heavily on wholesalers' claims without direct product verification. Since textile products are appraised in a sensory way by sight and touch, traders have argued that there will still be a need for a place and time where sellers and buyers can meet. Here is how a Paris based garment wholesaler comments his own experience: “You can’t lie when you meet for real. Face to face, you can’t lie. I can’t say the fit is good or the fabric is soft if it isn’t. This is how we build a relationship, through the quality of our exchanges (...) The digital world cannot replace a real meeting” (Paris interview). If commercial relationships will be based on both in-person encounters and virtual exchanges, there will be still a need for a physical marketplace.

## 10.3 Conclusion

Paris and Guangzhou garment wholesale markets are marketplaces where wholesalers and retailers from various parts of the world come to source products. They are places where products are displayed and marketed, and commercial transactions are carried out. In these urban spaces, there are also multiple actors, public and private, big and small, who intersect various functions - related to production, distribution, storage, design etc. - overlap. These markets are also embedded in a production system that spreads internationally.
Over the years, in both metropolises, the same city makers have played a role in shaping the markets: small entrepreneurs, private and public real estate investors, and local authorities. Wholesale markets first emerged spontaneously, initiated by traders. Investors then seized opportunities for expansion, followed by local authorities addressing safety and logistical concerns. The interplay of players explains markets' transformations, the moving from one area to another and the upgrading of the physical infrastructures. In Guangzhou, for example, the local government is accelerating its efforts to transform urban villages, the areas those contain much of the informal economy. On January 26, 2024, *the Special Plan for Urban Renewal of Guangzhou (2021–2035)* was officially announced. This plan proposes that by 2035, 272 urban villages (administrative villages) will be transformed, involving 289 projects. Among them, the renovation of Kangle Village and Lujiang Village is scheduled to be completed in 2025, and the area will be fully transformed into part of Sun Yat-sen University’s International Innovation Ecological Valley. The roles and responses of various parties in the process of transformation deserve further research.

A successful wholesaler has a portfolio of regular clients whose preferences they are familiar with; retailers have skills inherent in their human capital – knowing their customers’ requirements. Our main argument is that in a highly competitive market, business owners sustain success by cultivating long-term customer relationships. Garment wholesale markets are also social devices where mutual trust regulates exchanges. While it may appear to be a free, highly competitive and opportunistic market, players in the market actually aim to limit the number of partners they trade with. In order to develop a network of clients (and also of suppliers), a common ethnic origin is an asset. This is true for Wenzhou wholesalers in Paris or Hubei entrepreneurs in Guangzhou. But this argument should not be overestimated in markets where customers come from all over the world.

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Part III

Civil Societies: Imagining New Forms of
Urban Diversity Management
Chapter 11
# Ethnic Exclusion Through Inclusive Cultural Policies: Hui Muslims and the Silk Road-Based Urban Development in Xi'an, China

<figure><img src="image_33.png" /></figure>

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Yang Yang

Historic sites including the City Wall, Bell Tower, and the Great Wild Goose Pagoda all reflect the marriage of thousands of years of Chinese civilizations and technological advancement in modern cities. As a city, Xi'an tells the ongoing stories of the Silk Road where civilizations across the world exchange and co-exist. (The Shaanxi Tourism Board, 2022)

The Silk Road is essentially the paths followed by Muslims for their pilgrimage to Mecca. Do you know why? All these important Muslim sites such as shrines are covered on the map of the Silk Road. Therefore, Chinese Muslims like us [the Hui people in Xi'an] are especially important. We are the living evidence of cultural and religious exchanges between China and other countries. (Interview, Imam Wang, 2017)

## 11.1 Introduction

These two quotes reveal deep connections between the ancient Silk Road and Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi in northwestern China. Both quotes highlight the history of exchanges between cultures and communities, but these accounts anchored the basis of interactions differently. The Shaanxi province's official narratives in tourism promotion address the role of Xi'an as a key city reflecting the history of the Silk Road and also guiding the city's future as a global city to facilitate cultural exchanges. In contrast, Imam Wang's claims of Xi'an as a crucial Silk Road city prioritize the impact of religion and religious communities in keeping China relevant to the Silk Road's geographies. Both narratives engage the Silk Road as a repertoire of diverse cultural and religious influences from different parts of Asia and their encounters in China. Therefore, despite these rationales being distinct,

<footnote>Y. Yang (✉)
Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
e-mail: yang-yang@nus.edu.sg</footnote>
they contribute to making Xi'an a global city of the Silk Road by imagining the Silk Road-based heritage in ways that address their different priorities such as city branding and promoting the minority groups' interest that has been neglected by the state authorities.

This chapter focuses on a wide range of city makers, such as the city government and various members of the Hui community and how they co-produce an image of a multicultural Silk Road in urban spaces in Xi'an. In this context, city makers are not limited to policymakers with authority from the local and central governments or transnational organizations. Minority populations such as the Hui Muslims also become actively involved in reinforcing the Silk Road's centrality in urban development in Xi'an. Their experiences and aspirations as ethno-religious minorities offer different perceptions that define the meanings of diversity. Within the Hui community, members with various degrees of affinity with the local state authorities also have their own ways of engaging the Silk Road discourse. Thus, members of the Hui community adopt various approaches in response to the state's use of diversity as a strategy to exclude ethnic and religious minorities through ostensibly inclusive urban development policies. By comparing the diverse implications of Silk Road-based urban development policies with the Hui community's experiences, this chapter interrogates the interplay between exclusion and inclusion in urban governance. Specifically, it considers how the Hui experience both marginalization and symbolic inclusion as ethnic and religious minorities within cultural heritage development programs. City making thus becomes a space of encounters wherein an array of actors within marginalized groups and local state authorities makes the discourse of multiculturalism relevant to their own interests in ethno-religious identity politics. In Xi'an, the city government utilizes Silk Road-based heritage in urban development projects to emphasize a multicultural discourse of diversity in the historic contexts of the Tang Dynasty (618 — 907 CE). Moreover, the city's past was primarily engaged to perform diversity to serve the needs of the present and the future. Thus, city makers, including the nation state, the city government, and the Hui community, draw on the ambiguity of the Silk Road's history to reimagine multiple versions of the cultural diversity and inclusivity on the historic Silk Road. These different imaginations of the Silk Road's temporalities thus reflect the power dynamics between these different city makers, particularly the exclusionary nature of promoting minority communities as heritage within cultural diversity narratives.

This chapter engages scholarship on urban diversity to show how it is translated to development policies in authoritarian contexts in Asian cities. In particular, multiculturalism's definitions and implications manifest differently in authoritarian contexts whereby liberal democracy is not involved in promoting ethnocultural diversity. This scenario is in contrast to that in European and North American liberal states. Urban diversity is thus important for understanding multiculturalism in both contexts, as urban policies and diversity-related projects reflect the state's vision by materializing it in urban spaces. In European cities, it predominantly underscores the centrality of diversity and identity politics in the European Union (Arapoglou, 2012; Raco, 2018). Raco claims that urban diversity has been predominantly used as a strategy to improve socio-cultural diversity as a response to the changing
demographics caused by new waves of migration like refugees in European cities (2018). Although diversity is a priority in policymaking, less is known about how it is represented, mobilized, and implemented by various governing institutions. Moreover, the scale of these processes has received less attention. This chapter thus addresses the importance of the multi-scalar approach of understanding diversity as governance through looking at the discourses of the Silk Road-based heritage at the scales of transnational, national, and local. Rather than simply examining heritage-based diversity discourses from the perspective of the majority communities, this chapter highlights the complexity in the governance of urban diversity within minority communities. Specifically, by comparing different responses to the Silk Road within the Hui community, this chapter examines the connections between China's transnational Silk Road-based diplomacy in Muslim-majority countries and the local urban development projects that target minority communities.

China's connections with the Muslim world, particularly its selective representation of certain Muslim populations in diplomacy, are crucial components of its official discourse on both the historic and the new Silk Roads (Bianchi, 2017). However, China's Muslim-friendly image, curated in the official discourse of the Silk Road, is in contrast to its domestic politics on governing ethnic minorities. While China's narratives about Silk Road-based cultural heritage at the transnational scale shape the direction of local-scale urban policies, they do not fit seamlessly with how the Silk Road and its implications for diversity manifest locally. Hence, a multi-scalar approach emphasizes the similarities and differences between narratives at different scales and their mutual influence on each other.

Urban policies that manage ethno-religious communities are often closely aligned with state efforts to promote multiculturalism, especially acknowledging how ethnic minorities are crucial in fostering ethnic integration through cultural heritage. State authorities also celebrate minority communities as evidence of past cultural exchanges in urban heritage conservation. Therefore, the histories of ethno-religious minorities have become instrumental for state authorities in endorsing existing policies that govern ethnic and religious diversities. In addition, heritage sites related to ethnic and religious minorities have economic incentives to be developed as tourist attractions. They have made valuable contributions to the local economy, especially through heritage tourism-led urban development (Zhu, 2021). Meanwhile, the participation of ethno-religious minority communities in heritage conservation and tourism-based activities is also framed as part of urban policies to improve the livelihood of minority communities, especially for poverty alleviation (Oakes, 2019). Therefore, cultural heritage is central to urban policies that focus on diversity as it is closely connected to ethnic and religious minorities, especially in how it can be used to promote minority cultures as assets of a city's multicultural heritage.

In the context of Asian cities, policymakers not only consider successful examples of culture-led urban development from North America and Europe but also cities within Asia which have pioneered implementing cultural cities locally (Wang et al., 2016). Cultural cities in Asia not only provide capital accumulation through gentrification but also offer tools of governance. Culture-led urban development in
China has mushroomed as a successful model of generating new opportunities for real estate-based development. Consequently, marginalized communities such as migrant laborers have become deeply involved in the development of cultural districts through displacement (He & Wang, 2019). Within cities, the Chinese government can realize its vision of rendering ethnic minorities visible and hence governable through spatial practices. Urban housing projects have become a tool to “fix” nomadic minorities in place as a solution for poverty alleviation (Yeh, 2016). In other cases, urban theming engages culture to feature the “uniqueness” of ethnic minorities to reinforce the differences between the Han and non-Han minorities (Oakes, 2019). Visualizing “cultural” differences hence consolidates ethnic hierarchies that center the Han majority as the key reference for other minority groups. Alongside urban theming, public space in these newly developed ethnic cities are the new site where the degree of being “civilized” as urban citizens is equated to the degree of non-Han minorities’ integration into the Han-dominant society.

The following sections examine the relationship between cultural heritage and multiculturalism in city making. Notably, a wide range of city makers, ranging from the city government to elite members of the Hui community, interpret the Silk Road's multicultural discourse in myriad ways. These different interpretations of diversity in the Silk Road's context reflect their political and economic interests concerning other related issues such as expressions of the Hui's Muslim identity. By analyzing how diversity is translated into urban policies at different scales, this chapter argues that discrepancies in diversity narratives create a space where various city makers pursue competing and conflicting objectives. Specifically, multicultural Silk Road-based heritage enables state authorities to assert their power in limiting the mobility of ethno-religious minorities. Meanwhile, the Hui community's different members use the diversity discourse to articulate their interests in expressing their ethnic and religious identities, which are beyond the Chinese state-centered framing of ethnicity and religion. Diversity is hence mobilized to reinforce inclusion and exclusion at the same time.

This chapter draws on ethnographic accounts from long-term fieldwork conducted in Xi'an's Hui community since 2013. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a wide range of actors, including members of the Hui community, the city government's officials, and other interlocutors such as scholars and practitioners in the tourism industry. This chapter also draws on archival references on the Silk Road in the local urban policies, especially projects on building historical cultural cities.

## 11.2 Xi'an as a Silk Road City

Located in northwestern China, Xi'an is the capital city of Shaanxi province and was known as the imperial capital of ancient dynasties such as the Han (206 BCE–220 CE) and the Tang (618–907 CE). Xi'an has been central to the Chinese government's development plans for the northwestern region. Prior to
2013, when China officially launched its most recent transnational infrastructure-
based development plans known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Xi'an played
a crucial role in the Communist government's development campaigns, including
the First Five Year Plan (1953-1957), the Third Front (1964-1980), and the 'Open
Up the West' campaign (2000-present). While these campaigns focused on differ-
ent aims during the socialist and post-socialist eras, Xi'an and the Northwest were
fantasized as a 'virgin land' crucial for national defense and as a promising land for
future economic development due to their connection to the Silk Road (Tai, 2015).
Because the Silk Road has long been part of the Communist government's develop-
ment discourse, the local Xi'an government also began to utilize the myth of the
Silk Road in the late 1980s.

When the BRI was first introduced as the New Silk Road in 2013 by the Chinese government, in the domestic and transnational contexts, infrastructure development ranging from power plants to railways were planned or implemented within the maps of the historic Silk Roads in Asia and Europe (Miao, 2021; Tritto & Camba, 2022). China's global economic and political influences have expanded alongside these infrastructure projects beyond the territorial and maritime routes of the historic Silk Road, reaching countries in South America and Africa (Oliveira & Myers, 2020; Xiao, 2022). The Silk Road in Xi'an has had a long history before the Belt and Road Initiatives. During the late 1980s and 1990s, the Silk Road was primarily packaged by the provincial government of Shaanxi and the city government of Xi'an as a key theme in its promotion of domestic and international tourism. The Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an was a major feature in promotional videos and brochures. The Silk Road, especially the image of desert-crossing camel-riding cars from Arabia and Persia, was mostly a secondary theme to the branding of Xi'an as an "ancient capital with a rich history and culture" (lishi wenhua gudu) that preserved evidence of cultural exchanges between the Tang and other empires. During the 1990s and early 2000s, local academics and tourism professionals criticized the outdated approach to tourism development, arguing that it lacked innovation in marketing Xi'an's history. This critique can be summarized with a commonly circulated joke mocking the itineraries of local historic and cultural-oriented tours as "nothing fun but visiting the ancient temples during the day and dozing off at night" (baitian kan gumiao, wanshang shui dajiao) (Interview 2016).

Since the early 2000s, as a consequence of cultural cities’ popularity in China,
the Silk Road has already expanded beyond tourism development to urban develop-
ment policies. The historic Silk Road and its related policy were not directly linked
to Xi Jinping’s new Silk Road project until the initiation of the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) in 2013. The Xi’an city government transitioned to BRI-based cul-
tural projects after the central government launched the new national initiatives.
Xi’an has gained recognition internationally through its designation as UNESCO
heritage site pertaining to its central location on the historic Silk Road. Notably,
Xi’an has multiple heritage sites included in the collaborative list “Silk Roads: the
Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor.” More importantly, the reference
to Chang’an in the project’s title also has significantly endorsed Xi’an as an impor-
tant anchor point on the historic Silk Road. Thus, to build on the momentum of