In the preface to this book, James Wang introduces himself, writing that “as a geographer born and raised in China and working in Hong Kong, I have the research interest as well as the responsibility to provide explanations for the development and evolution of port-city relationships brought about by globalisation from the perspective of transport geography” (p. 1). This single sentence reveals the main motivation behind the book.
The recent years have seen a number of publications for lay readerships on the impact of ever-increasing globalization, mainly stemming from international transportation (such as aviation and maritime modes), on our daily life. For example, The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger by Marc Levinson (Princeton University Press, 2006) and Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry that puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate by Rose George (Picador, 2014). These books vividly illustrate that the world we live in is widely interlinked across almost every part of the globe. The interlinked and connected economy is well explained by another wonderful book by Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), in which globalization is shown to be feasible largely thanks to two main technological advancements: the internet and transportation. Friedman shows that as long as we are virtually connected via the internet and physically connected via transportation (more precisely, logistics), our industrial playing field is levelled.
Shipping, as an international transport mode that uses ships or vessels, carries almost 90 per cent of internationally traded products, from ports to ports. In turn, ports are expected to receive ships so that the loaded products (“cargoes,” in transportation jargon) are discharged and then loaded for further inland delivery via road or rail transportation to final consumption sites. This sort of operating mechanism initially looks simple; however, it becomes more complex once we look at all parties involved in the moving channel (viz., a global maritime logistics and supply chain). Wang has examined an aspect of the channel from a transport geographer's viewpoint – that is, the inter-action or -relationship between ports and cities in the Chinese context.
The book commences with a chapter called “Global interfaces,” which gives detailed examples of global movements of daily products, such as sport shoes from their manufacturing sites in the Pearl River Delta in south China to Wal-Mart stores in the US (p. 1). Having reviewed some key studies on the same issue and compared these against the Chinese cases, Wang claims that there are substantial differences in the overall institutional setting between the West and China, and that a different approach is therefore necessary to reflect the dynamics of port–city interplays in China. He summarizes the three main characteristics of China which demand special treatment in the application of theory, methodology and approach (pp. 5–8). These are: (i) China should be studied as an extractive political and inclusive economic system; (ii) the development trajectory of China is different from its Western counterparts; and (iii) port–city dynamics in China are considerably shaped by the developing stage of the economy in the era of globalization, with a strong but unbalanced trade.
Wang poses a number of questions (pp. 7–8); for instance, how does the positive relationship between extractive political institutions and inclusive economic institutions in developing port cities lead to the trade-dependent economy of China? In other words, how does the state act in the port–city growing game in response to the market forces represented by various stakeholders (such as international terminal operators) in order to facilitate the rapid trade-dependent (or trade-oriented) growth of the country? No systematic answer is offered at this stage, but the book does bravely attempt some in subsequent chapters.
In order to meet such an objective, the book recognizes that the development of coastal cities in China (such as Shanghai and Shenzhen) takes advantage of their trade interface resources and urban waterfront redevelopment, and thus focuses on the interactive relationship between ports and cities against the background of globalization. This emphasis guides the structure of the analysis. Background knowledge and working definitions are detailed in chapter two. Based on these backbones, chapters three to six provide an in-depth discussion about four aspects of port–city relationships in China: that is, economic relationships (pp. 29–42), spatial relationships (pp. 43–76), external network relationships (pp. 77–98) and port–city governance relationships (pp. 99–113). Afterwards, Wang comprehensively examines the regional context with two cases: the greater Pearl River Delta and Guangxi province (pp. 115–139). Chapter eight provides insights through analysing China's national policies and institutional systems with regard to a new geographical formation of coastal regions, which is followed by a summary and further discussion points in the final chapter.
Wang concludes with the China-specific features (pp. 165–169). Firstly, China's development of port cities is characterized by rapid spatial expansion under the pressure of increasing global demand. Second, the dynamic policy-making process is geared towards a so-called practice-based development. Finally the behaviours of local governments are largely administrative capital-based. These attributes might not be new to some readers, but are discussed in a scientific manner and explained with supporting evidence and statistical data. Therefore, those interested in contemporary transportation policy and urban planning in China will certainly be satisfied with Wang's book. China is truly an “experimental” state, which will in due course result in new approaches to the issues discussed within this book.
