The South China Mall in Dongguan, a manufacturing hub in Guangdong province, is the world's largest shopping center. Opened in 2005, it's a gaudy monument to the breakneck ascent of Chinese capitalism 7 million sq. ft. (650,000 sq m) of leasable space, with wings designed to mimic Venice and the Champs Elysées. But, as Anthony J. Barbieri-Low notes in Artisans in Early Imperial China , the concept behind these new mainland megamalls (four of the globe's 10 biggest are in China) is quite old news. As in two millenniums old.
Near the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In