Gentrification in China: A Literature Review, Progress and Future Trend

: In 1990s, gentrification was introduced into China, and now it has become a popular word in in the academic world. Using quantitative statistical analysis, this literature review mainly focuses on gentrification theory and application in China, summarizes the development process, characteristics, existing shortcomings as well as future research directions of Chinese gentrification research, putting forward some suggestions on Chinese research, so as to better carry out research in the future. Based on the results, the study of gentrification in China has been transitioning from the introduction of concepts and literature to the present empirical research and theoretical construction. There are clear indications that the trend of gentrification study will turn to the construction of the theoretical system of gentrification with Chinese characteristics, the evaluation of the consequences of gentrification and city policies, the new gentrification, the gentrification driven by cultural consumption, the psychological needs and authenticity protection of historical and cultural heritage affected by gentrification, the application of new technologies in the study of gentrification, and the relationship between the transformation of shantytowns and gentrification in China. In Western countries, gentrification is seen as representing a threat in which older, lower-income men and women of color are replaced by younger, wealthier, better-educated elites. The appeal of gentrification to history involves "the psychological need to relive past successes," which is likely to be a problem for China in the near future.


Introduction
"Gentrification" was first coined by Ruth Glass, who used it to explain the migration of "gentry" or higher social level families to working class areas of London.It is difficult to define gentrification, but it is dramatically changing the city landscape, creating a new set of challenges for local governments.It is mainly based on urban social space transformation in the process of urbanization.Poor residents of lower-class community, in the process, abandoned their neighborhood, and were gradually replaced by the upper class, which changes the social structure.
The research on gentrification has gone through nearly half a century in western developed countries, but Chinese study of gentrification started in the late 1990s.In 1990s, Chinese scholars introduced the concept of western gentrification.They then started comparison of gentrification in China and the West, as well as the enlightenment of the old city reconstruction and urban renewal, etc.On one hand, these studies show the similarities between Chinese cities and western cities in gentrification; on the other hand, they indicate that China has begun to study gentrification.However, these studies have not carried out sufficient empirical cases, and most of them still stay at the level of narrow gentrification, which is not conducive to in-depth analysis of gentrification phenomenon in mega cities in China, especially in terms of formation mechanism and social response.Moreover, a few empirical studies on specific cities are limited to developed cities in eastern China, such as Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou.
By summarizing the development process, research characteristics, advantages, disadvantages, and future research directions of Gentrification research in China, this paper compares Chinese and Western gentrification studies, and puts forward some suggestions on Chinese research.

Literature Sorting & Screening
Inclusion criterion is that only studies that focus on gentrification in China were included.The studies were from a wide range of disciplines, ranging from urban planning and geography to economics, tourism and multidisciplinary, which were written in Chinese or English.Document identification.The keywords "gentrification" and "China" were used for literature search.For each document, the initial relevance is determined by the title.If the content appears to discuss gentrification research in China based on the title, the full text, including title, year, author and abstract, may be consulted for further evaluation.From each document, information was extracted on definitions, typologies, research objectives and conclusions.The literature review process is then subdivided into subtopics such as research questions, searching literature, screening inclusion, evaluating quality, extracting data, analyzing, synthesizing data, and reporting research findings.Finally, 182 Chinese articles and 37 English articles were found.Excel software were used to conduct data extraction and encoding.The following tables summarize the researchers, publications, disciplines, and trends of gentrification research from 1996 to 2022.

Data Extraction & Analysis
Of the 182 articles published in Chinese, 38% is in discipline of building science and engineering, followed by sociology and statistics.There is a multidisciplinary trend (Table 1).
When looking at the gentrification publications over time, it can found out that the earliest publication was in 1999.The number of publications increases year by year (except for year 2018) and there was a surge in the research in 2019 (see Table 3).

Summary of the Gentrification Research in Chinese
In the early 1990s, fewer than one paper was published per year, suggesting that research on gentrification was not widely followed at the time and was dominated by researchers in geography and research and development.This was the beginning of a slow growth.
Early studies mainly introduced the concept, origin, and evolution of gentrification in the west.Literature [1] discussed the concept, origin and dynamic mechanism of development and evolution of "gentrification movement" in the west.He believes that the gentrification movement has an important enlightenment and reference function for the renewal of old cities in China.To ensure the realization of social equity, it is suggested to carry out special research on the inflection of the old city reconstruction project on the original households in the preparation of the old city renewal planning.
Literature [2] analyzed and compared the similarities as well as differences between Nanjing gentrification and Western urban gentrification in terms of expression forms and dynamic mechanisms.He pointed out that the development of Nanjing's real estate market, the transformation of the industrial structure in the central area, the government's policy guidance and residents' housing choice concepts and behaviors are the main driving forces of Nanjing gentrification.
Literature [3] explained the reasons for gentrification movement in the United States, including the decline of downtown neighborhoods, the phenomenon of "land rent deficiency", shifts in urban planning concept, changes in urban function, the structure of American populations and families, as well as people's lifestyle and consumption concept.Gentrification movement caused the change of the spatial structure in American urban areas and even the whole metropolitan area, which played a positive role in preventing the further decline of central cities.
Literature [4] tried to interpret the mechanism, influence and process of gentrification in Western countries from different research perspectives.They introduced the western scholars in various periods, from different perspectives on gentrification phenomenon study results.
Literature [5] described the conceptual development of gentrification, pointed out that the concept of contemporary gentrification has changed from the initial point of view, and classified different gentrification phenomena in the third stage.They reviewed the progress and results of research on gentrification in China.Some effective suggestions for urban planning in China were put forward.
After year 2008, Chinese scholars begin to introduce cases of gentrification of western countries.Literature [6] analyzed the gentrification of Harlem district in New York and its influence.The authors point out that the superior geographical location, the promotion of government policies, the development of tourism, and the establishment of Clinton's office promoted the emergence and development of Harlem gentrification movement.The gentrification of Harlem produced a few positive effects, such as increasing the living convenience of the residents of the area, creating many employment opportunities, reducing crime, and promoting economic development.The gentrification of Harlem also led to some negative effects, such as the forced relocation of poor residents and the bankruptcy of small businesses.
Literature [7] analyzed the disputes and enlightenment of western urban gentrification theories, and discussed the context, characteristics and trend of the concept and theory evolution of gentrification.Literature [8] (Li, 2015) analyzed various performances and positive and negative impacts of gentrification in central cities of Canada.Exacerbating housing problems and causing disputes between the upper and lower classes of society and between British and minority groups are the main manifestations of its negative effects.
Literature [9] analyzed Gentrification and the self-destruction of Diversity.It is emphasized that under the background of globalization, the process of gentrification will be international and will not stop.Therefore, it is of practical guiding significance to seek to reduce the negative effects of gentrification and strengthen its positive effects on urban development and renewal in the future urban reconstruction design.
Literature [10] believe that gentrification and redevelopment are not only a "back to city movement" led by capital, but also a procedure of urban space reproduction driven by power.It will be an inevitable trend of urban space research in China to change from redevelopment to reproduction, and to focus on the interaction mechanism between social space and material space and its corresponding spatial effect from the change of urban physical space.
Although gentrification has brought positive impetus to urbanization in China, it has also inevitably produced some negative effects.Some scholars have also begun to study gentrification's social impact on residents.Literature [11] hold that the residential isolation and concentration of poverty caused by urban gentrification have become important factors hindering the realization of housing right by migrants and low-income citizens.They believe that the social problems emerging in the procedure of gentrification of cities, especially its negative impact on the housing right of low-income residents, concept of housing right protection should be established to prevent and limit the infringement of government power on the housing right of citizens, and further clarify and strengthen the responsibility of the government to guarantee the housing right of citizens.
Taking Nanjing city as a case, Literature [12] carried on a social survey on the daily life, employment and commuting situation nearly 1,000 low-income indigenous people in 8 resettlement communities after passive relocation, in order to verify the theoretical hypothesis that gentrification of cities has negative effects on vulnerable groups and explore its formation mechanism.The study showed that in the stages of gentrification, the living, employment and commuting of low-income indigenous people have been significantly negatively affected, which is embodied in the increase of living cost, the decrease of employment opportunities, the decrease of stability and the increase of commuting cost.Social and spatial problems, such as "residence-employment spatial dislocation", "community stigmatization", and the exclusion of migrants in resettlement sites, are the core mechanisms leading to the marginalization of such groups.
Some new terms have emerged in the study of Gentrification, such as student Gentrification, education Gentrification, tourism Gentrification, etc.For example, [13] conducted an in-depth study on the formation mechanism and social space influence of the gentrification neighborhood in the suburbs of Changchun city.The results show that under the background of uneven spatial distribution of high-quality education resources and educational reform, the strong connection between private schools and real estate development activities in the suburbs brings about a new gentrification of education, which is in essence a gentrification phenomenon caused by educational resources.This study has enriched the research content and vision of gentrification of education to a certain extent, and has some enlightenment for the formulation of education, housing and urban development policies.
To sum up, China's gentrification is an internal process embedded in dynamic urban metamorphosis.In response to changes in political and economic needs and shifts in financing strategies for urban renewal, China's relatively short history of gentrification can be broadly divided into three waves: the first wave was sporadic gentrification in the 1990s as a modest market experiment, followed by a second wave of widespread gentrification supported by neoliberal urban policies in the 2000s.The third wave is gentrification, reactivated through shantytown redevelopment programs under state-led financialization since 2010.Over the past 30 years, gentrification has become an integral part of China's modern competitive state, combined with the state's efforts to extract value from land redevelopment through market operations, imposing Western values on society while intermittently responding to social controversies.In general, research on gentrification in China follows and lags behind the general trend of global gentrification.

Data Extraction and Analysis
In this part, the gentrification research in English by time, Geography distribution and methods was summarized.Of the 37 papers in 2010 to 2022, there was a fluctuation of publications and a surge in the research was in 2016 and 2021 (see Table 4).
According to the geography distribution of gentrification publications, studies are limited to China, especially developed cities in eastern China, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Nanjing (see Table 5).
It is clear that case study and survey are dominate methods used in the research.Quantitative analysis is limited, such as factor ecology methods, multiple regression analysis and cluster analysis.Only one paper in 2022 uses regression model (see Table 6).

Trend of Gentrification Research in English
After year 2010, gentrification has aroused more and more interest in China, and its development speed has accelerated significantly.Besides, China's urban planning has undergone a transformation from incremental planning to inventory planning, marked by the Shenzhen Comprehensive Plan (2010-2020), which was preliminarily prepared in 2007, with the goal of optimizing inventory space and featuring city renewal, environmental improvement, historical and cultural heritage protection, urban village renovation, as well as shantytown renovation.As a result, urban renewal became an urgent need at the time, followed by gentrification.
Since then, there are more and more published papers, but the fluctuations are obvious, which indicates that the research on gentrification in China is in the exploratory stage and there are fluctuations.Despite of the trend, however, the publications of gentrification research present a diversity trend.There are research themes of commercial gentrification, student gentrification, tourism gentrification, etc.There are also more case studies during this period.
Literature [14] used multiple pieces of software for the first time to analyze the literature on gentrification in China from 1996 to 2017 based on bibliometrics, aiming to obtain research overview, identify and elaborate the research topic, and analyze its evolution.The results showed that the study of gentrification had entered a fluctuating stage of exploration from the early embryonic stage; Gentrification studies mainly focus on geography and urban and rural planning.
Literature [13] conducted an in-depth study on a dilapidated neighborhood in Shanghai with a high concentration of floating population and found that state control was the reason for the deterioration of the neighborhood before renovation.Deficient services and miserable housing conditions are undeniable.Informal development was quickly recalibrated by the state.Self-built communities were eventually replaced by state-approved developments.The article echoes debates in the West about displacement and shows that China's recent urban redevelopment has moved beyond sporadic middle-class returns to cities and residential changes supported by state action, disclosing the hegemonic power of the state over the production of space.
Literature [15] holds that although China's urban accumulation may have produced a new-build gentrification, redevelopment projects target dilapidated urban spaces that have not yet been fully transformed into commodities.These findings contribute to a discussion of the context of gentrification efforts in southern countries and highlight the importance of identifying numerous urban processes that generate gentrification and high-risk city accumulation.
Literature [16] study a more typical Chinese metropolis, the inner city of Yuexiu City in Guangzhou, to provide an example of the gentrification characteristics prevalent in China.Several stylized features can be seen in several places in the inner city.Several notable features of gentrification are also closely related to China's market economy.Overall, these findings are very much in line with the findings of the Shanghai study that gentrification was an accidental event due to the large-scale reconstruction of new housing.The result, however, has not been the decline of inner city areas, as in the West, but in a still vibrant old city centre and in the form of small-scale, housing-related gentrification rather than commercial gentrification.
Literature [17] studied the driving forces and characteristics of urban gentrification in western China.Literature [18] (Zhao, 2019) argues that while the gentrification framework enables researchers to investigate the reasons, consequences, and everyday features of similar processes in non-Western contexts, it must be used with care and not lose sight of contextual particularities and other processes that are mixed with gentrification.In addition to noting the spatial and temporal nature of the process of rural gentrification, the document expands the discussion of displacement by recognizing the diversity of displacement within families and making it clear that displacement is not just evictions from original housing, but also includes sociocultural effects such as psychological issues.
Literature [19] shows how the government, as the creator and regulator of land rights and property ownership, facilitates landscape change by loosing regulations on rural land leasing and creating market institutions that favor the transfer of land to organized capital (in this case, tourism companies and property developers).By probing into the dynamics of rural gentrification in the present situation of China, the authors suggest the need for more attention to comparative studies of property rights and ownership systems in the study of rural gentrification and highlight how the intersection of property rights and state power reveals nuances that underscore the importance of transcends Western notions of gentrification.
By using the case of the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town (OCT) community in China, Literature [20] examines the causes and socio-spatial consequences of tourism gentrification with the aim of widening the discussion on tourism gentrification.In the changing context of China and other emerging countries, tourism gentrification is one part of a broader transformation of social space from lower-class to upper-class spaces and becomes the main driving force in economic, social, cultural, and lifestyle transformations.
Literature [20] took OCT community in Shenzhen, China as an example to study the causes and social spatial consequences of tourism gentrification, aiming to expand the discussion on tourism gentrification.In the changing context of China and other emerging countries, the gentrification of tourism is an integral part of the transformation of social space from the lower to the upper space, becoming a major driver of economic, social, cultural and lifestyle transformation.
Taking Xizha as a case study, Literature [21] aim to explore the characteristics and mechanisms of tourism gentrification in historic districts through temporal analysis and multi-scalar approaches.Based on recent field visits and semi-structured interviews with administrative staff, enterprise managers, residents, and tourists in the study area, three main arguments are put forward in this paper.First, a phased tourism gentrification process has taken place in Xizha, with significant shifts in lifestyle, industry and investment, physical infrastructure, property rights, and the rent gap.Second, tourism gentrification in Xizha is a multi-subject and multi-scalar consequence of uneven development in China, with power-oriented, capital-driven and class-separated processes as the core mechanisms.Third, Xizha's tourism gentrification is regional and endogenous, with the local government and the rural-urban dual structure being the principal influencing factors.Further discussions are provided to expand the general significance of the case study and increase the contribution to the planetary gentrification.
Literature [21] taking Xizhai as an example, explored the characteristics and mechanism of tourism gentrification of historical districts through time analysis and multi-scale analysis.Based on recent field visits and semi-structured interviews with administrators, business managers, residents, and visitors in the study area, the paper presents three main arguments.First, Xizhai is undergoing a phased process of tourism gentrification, with major changes in lifestyle, industry and investment, physical infrastructure, property rights and rent gaps.Second, the gentrification of tourism in Xizhai is a multi-subject and multi-scale result of China's unbalanced development, and its core mechanism is power-oriented, capital-driven and class separation process.Third, Xizhai tourism gentrification has regional and endogenous characteristics, and the local government and urban-rural dual structure are the main influencing factors.This paper provides further discussion to expand the general significance of the case study and to increase the contribution to global gentrification.
Literature [22] used n-participatory observations and interviews of residents and newcomers to analyze tourism gentrification.They propose the concept of "self-gentrification" to describe individuals seeking to improve themselves and their communities in situations threatened by gentrification, and offer ways to promote this concept to help preserve heritage landscapes and indigenous lifestyles.
Literature [23] used field investigations and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) to evaluate the potential gentrification influence of new public green spaces in the urban center of Hangzhou, China.The two-stage CCA not only confirmed the phenomenon of green gentrification within the study area, but also showed that large green spaces appear to promote gentrification as a result of their favorable policy support, functional advantages, careful decoration, maintenance regime and strict management.
Literature [17] analyzed institutional environment and background of Chinese gentrification.Taking Nanjing as an example, they investigated the attributes of 1075 residential communities built between 1998 and 2008 at the macro level, and conducted interviews and questionnaire analysis on residents of 6 different typical communities at the micro level.The process, characteristics and evolutionary mechanism of gentrification are further discussed.Based on the empirical evidence of this study, this paper points out that there are big differences between China and Western countries in the spatiotemporal order, leading force, realization path and spatial performance of gentrification, and further reveals the dynamic mechanism of the development of gentrification in China at this period.Literature [24] studied the regional politics of gentrification in China's rural-urban fringe.Through empirical fieldwork in Shenzhen, the research suggests that gentrification in China can be seen as a state-making strategy deployed by the government to consolidate territorial control and expand state influence.This research highlights how the non-privatized property rights and prevalence of informal in the present situation of China has produced unique gentrification and state-social interaction dynamics on China's urban and rural fringes.
Literature [25] reviewed the reconstruction process of Zengguoan Village in Xiamen, China, and found that the social spatial transformation of the village was mainly led by artists and villagers and based on municipal arrangements of landscape ownership.Rural gentrification, including the renovation of houses and public spaces, played an important role in contacts and social life between indigenous artists and villagers.
Table 7 is a summary of publications of gentrification research in English.

Conclusions
Gentrification, introduced to China more than 20 years ago, has become a buzzword in academic world.By analyzing the research literature on gentrification in China from 1996 to 2022, this paper aims to sort out the research overview, identify and elaborate the research theme, and analyze its trends.
The research on gentrification has turned into a fluctuating stage of exploration from the early stage of germination.Gentrification research mainly focuses on rural planning and geography.Ten of the most influential authors were identified, and a collaborative research team that dominated gentrification research was initially formed.The research topics of gentrification in China show a diversified trend, including gentrification effect evaluation and response, new gentrification, urban renewal and gentrification dynamic mechanism, historical and cultural heritage protection as well as creative industries.In terms of the analysis of the evolution of the research topic, the research results showed that the study of gentrification in China has undergone a transformation from the initial concept and literature introduction to the current empirical research and theoretical construction.There are clear signs that the future trend of gentrification will turn to the construction of the theoretical system of gentrification with Chinese characteristics, the new gentrification, the cultural consumption-driven gentrification and the authenticity protection of the historical and cultural heritage affected by gentrification, the evaluation of the consequences of gentrification and urban policies, the application of new technologies in the study of gentrification, and the relationship between the transformation of shantytowns and gentrification in China.
Most scholars argue that gentrification offers the potential of significant benefits to all segments.However, many residents may not wish to move and may suffer psychological and emotional burdens.Which is proved to be true in much research in the western countries.Gentrification is believed to represent a threat of displacement or have psychosocial effects on old people, low-income men, and women of color residents by a younger, wealthier, better-educated elite.Gentrification's appeal to history includes "the psychological need to relive past successes", which may face China soon.
To sum up, research on gentrification in China has undergone two major changes, from concept introduction and literature induction to theoretical review and empirical research, and then to both empirical research and theoretical construction.At the same time, with the extension of the concept and connotation of gentrification and the increasing research results, the literature review of the research results of gentrification in China and Western countries runs through the whole research process.
Although gentrification research has made great progress, there are still some suggestions for future research.First, because of the significant differences in the background conditions and stakeholders of gentrification in China and the West, the dynamics of gentrification in Western

Table 2 :
Research (in Chinese) topic of gentrification

Table 7 :
Summary of publications of gentrification research in English