This volume addresses a less explored aspect of China?s urban rejuvenation - the prominence of the shopping mall as a keystone of its public spaces. Here, the presence of the built form most representative of Western capitalism?s excess is one that makes explicit the tensions between China?s Communist state and its ascent within the ?free? market. This book examines how these interrelationships are manifested in the culturally hybrid built form of the shopping mall and its role in contesting the ?public? space of the modern Chinese city.