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The knowledge spillover effects and the uneven spatial distribution of the creative class have attracted much attention from academia and politicians. Our study provides a comparative quantitative analysis of the spatial-temporal evolution and determinants of creative class concentration in three Chinese agglomerations: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta, based on the panel data of 2011, 2012, and 2016 at the city level. It is found that the concentration of the creative class in the three above-mentioned urban agglomerations in China has clear place-specific differences. Results from the 2SLS regressions show that social tolerance is significantly and positively correlated with the creative class, but has no effect on the distribution of human capital in the three urban agglomerations. The level of economic development and also the degree of living convenience appear to be the main factors influencing the relative density of creative class (RDCC), while industry structure, university and Hukou all have positive effects on the RDCC in the three urban agglomerations. Moreover, the relative importance of the determinants varies according to the creative occupations. For major creative occupations, they are more inclined to concentrate in cities with high social tolerance, optimal industrial structure, high Hukou availability and qualified universities. For finance and health care occupations, cities with a comfortable climate are more attractive to them; while for management groups, cities with optimal industrial structure, high Hukou availability and adequate educational services are more attractive to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the globe, the ongoing development of transportation and communication technologies has produced growing possibilities for the mobility of people, ideas, objects, and knowledge. In China, government policies, including economic reforms and targeted migration strategies, have resulted in the relocation of millions of people within and between urban and rural areas. Recently, however, there has been an important 'mobility shift' from the production-focused migration of peasants and factory workers to more diverse forms of consumption-focused mobility. This appears to be something different from traditional forms of tourism, but more research is needed. In particular, it is important to consider who these individuals are, what motivates them, and whether they are leaving the urban for the rural or constructing hybrid spaces, mobilities, and lifestyles. This paper examines the nature of urban-rural mobilities in China through the case of China's Rural Tourism Makers (RTMs). Drawing on fieldwork in four RTMs' Model Bases, including 131 interviews and participant observation, it demonstrates how mobilities are being practiced 'on the ground'. The paper argues that the binaries between production and consumption and between urban and rural break down as RTMs are both middle-class consumers and creative-class producers who continually move between urban and rural for personal and professional reasons. In so doing, the paper nuances our understanding of mobilities within China, the practices and locational choices of creatives, and post-productivist theorizations of rurality. • This paper addresses urban-rural mobility in China by studying Rural Tourism Makers (RTMs) as newcomers to rural China. • RTMs are both middle-class consumers and creative-class producers. • Creativity for RTMs is both a means of generating income and a means of consuming the rural. • RTMs represent a new form of urban-rural mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The counter-urbanization creative class has gradually become an important factor in the revitalization of rural China, driving the steady and healthy development of the rural economy and society. This article explores the motivations and creative practices of the counterurbanization creative class in the coastal plain villages of China to provide a reference for the development of rural society in China and other countries. Data from this study were obtained through qualitative research with participatory observations and semi-structured interviews. The study found that the rural areas around economically developed regions are increasingly favoured by the counter-urbanization creative class and have quickly become a platform for career development and realizing an ideal life; notably, rural creative industries have sprung up in China's coastal plain villages. To date, the linkage between the counterurbanization creative class and creative countryside is rarely explored in existing literature; thus, this paper produces a valuable exploration and addition to the area of the sprout of the creative countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008 a controversial essay was published in Hong Kong drawing attention to the increasing number of local creative workers who have allegedly responded to the limitations the city had to wrestle with and the opportunities brought forward by the “Rise of China” – they moved northwards. Taking cues from the mainland China–Hong Kong dynamics, this inquiry zooms in on 12 Hong Kong creative workers who have relocated to Shanghai and Beijing during the last 20 years. It supplements existing scholarship on creative class mobility, which is largely configured by concerns with work situations and place attractiveness and is situated in cities in Europe, the United States, and Australia. It does so in two ways. On the one hand, the empirical evidence delivered by this inquiry aligns with studies pointing to the limitation of Florida’s creative class thesis and wonders if “cool places” are indeed attracting talents. On the other hand, it is inadequate to posit that creative workers move only because of place or only because of work. It builds on the complexities of their subjective accounts to propose to include four dimensions – the geopolitical, the intersectional, the contingent, and the circuitous – to future explorations on creative class mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Creative class refers to the demographic segment composed of intellectuals, knowledge intensive workers and artists in different fields. Creative class is of essential social significance in that its members are capable of booming regional economy through innovation. Rather few studies have empirically examined the neighborhood social determinants of intra-urban creative class concentrations (CCCs), especially in the developing countries. Using the case of Shanghai city in China, this paper characterizes the CCCs in relation to social tolerance and life quality supportive conditions (LQSCs) at district level. Data for CCCs are collected from Shanghai's Population Census (2010) at the district level. A set of social diversity indices (ethnic, education, income, marriage status, and birth place) are used as proxy for tolerance and LQSCs are described by a set of indicators from 8 domains (job chance, medical care, educational facilities, commutation, food resources, housing, leisure, and natural amenities). Multivariable linear regression is employed to identify the determinants of CCCs. Results show that both neighborhood social tolerance and LQSCs have significant influences on different categories of CCCs. In particular, creative class is attracted by the neighborhoods that are open and welcoming to the outsiders. In addition, creative class emphasizes accessible medical care, traveling convenience, elementary education institution, great housing choices, and more natural amenities in their neighborhood. The variance decomposition method demonstrates that neighborhood LQSC determinants are more important for the intellectuals, knowledge workers and total CCCs. For the artists, the neighborhood social tolerance determinants are more influential. Our study generates a set of neighborhood social indicators to understand the intra-urban CCCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two propositions in the creative-class debate in the context of China's large cities. The first evaluates Richard Florida's contention that creative workers enjoy higher level of well-being and are happier than blue-collar workers. The second investigates the influence of urban amenities, lifestyle, and work on creative workers' happiness. Both propositions are analyzed in relation to China's post-Socialist, industrial, and mining cities. Based on data from a household survey, the results indicate that Chinese creative workers are indeed happier in post-Socialist, or service-sector oriented, cities. However, creative work does not explain their happiness. Stable social sites that reinforce authentic experience of urban cultural amenities (e.g. the teahouse rather than modem coffeehouses, bars, and theaters) are a significant factor for creative-class happiness in post-Socialist Chinese cities. However, creative work is more likely to explain creative-class happiness in mining cities. Further, our study found that blue-collar workers report a higher level of happiness in those settings with less pronounced inter- and intra-class distinctions at the workplace--in those places where power and status are more evenly distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contains an interview with Messrs. Lo Wing Keung, Shao Haowen and Don Wu who are the creative force behind one of China's most foremost and longest running animation series called Xi Yang Yang yu Hui Tai Lang/The Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (2005-). The interview discusses developments in Chinese creative/cultural industries and animation production for TV and film, as well as issues of intellectual property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a cultural and creative industries park project – the White Horse Lake Eco-creative City on land outside the urban centre of Hangzhou, China, which uses an imaginary rural lifestyle as its key attraction. By analysing government policies and development plans, and through interviews with initiators, managers and creative practitioners, the article first assesses the geographical position, that is, the impact of locality with regard to both hard and soft infrastructure of the project; it then examines the synergies and tensions embedded in the strategic goals, that is, to build the right city for ‘four comforts’ (siyi, 四宜) – for residence, for business, for travel and for culture. The article concludes that Chinese-style cultural conversion remains locked in a top-down ideological framework, one that rural residents and the new ‘creative class’ are expected to respect. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China is currently seeking to transform its economic structure from a traditional industrial to a more innovative, human-capital driven, and knowledge-based economy. Our research examines the effects of three key factors on Chinese regional development in an attempt to gauge to what degree China has transformed from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy, based on higher levels of (1) technology and innovation, (2) human capital and knowledge/professional/creative occupations, and (3) factors like tolerance, universities, and amenities which act on the flow of the first two. We employ structural equation models to gauge the effects of these factors on the economic performance of Chinese regions. Our research generates four key findings. First, the distribution of talent (measured both as human capital and as knowledge-professional and creative occupations) is considerably more concentrated than in the US or other advanced economies. Second, universities are the key factor in shaping the distribution both of talent and of technological innovation. Third, tolerance also plays a role in shaping the distribution of talent and technology across Chinese regions. Fourth, and perhaps most strikingly, we find that neither talent nor technology is associated with the economic performance of Chinese regions. This stands in sharp contrast to the pattern in advanced economies and suggests that the Chinese economic model, at least at the time of data collection, appears to be far less driven by the human capital or technology factors that propel more advanced economies. This, in turn, suggests that China is likely to face substantial obstacles in moving from its current industrial stage of development to a more knowledge-based economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]