Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Socialist space, postcolonial time -- The neighbourhood unit in China : the travel of a global urban form -- Work unit modernism -- The socialist production of space : planning, urban contradictions, and the politics of consumption in Beijing, 1949-1965 -- Modernity as utopia : planning the people's commune, 1958-1960 -- The latency of tradition : from the city wall to the unit wall -- The new frontier : urban space and everyday practice in the reform era -- Epilogue.