| This dissertation examines the radical economic restructuring and urban transformation in urban China in the reform era through a detailed investigation into the retail sector in the Beijing metropolis. The study seeks to understand the transformation of the retail industry in response to economic, social and regulatory changes in Chinese cities. The overall aim is to analyze the new retail landscape at the city level, identify the broader processes in which retail patterns were made and remade, and tease out the major factors and forces driving the formation and changes of retail landscapes.; Extant studies in the mainstream retail geography literature are predominantly based on the experience of the developed world. Urban retailing in the developing world, particularly in those former socialist countries as well as in the fast-growing Asian economies, has not received much attention from geographers. Given its rising importance in urban economy as well as the close connections to other elements of the city, retailing provides a unique window through which to examine the ongoing transformation of Chinese cities as a result of internal economic change and institutional rearrangements and the rising tide of globalization.; To capture the whole retail landscape of the city, the study expands the concept of "retail structure" by incorporating other major attributes. Based on that, a restructuring framework is developed to reflect the dynamic nature of retail transformation. By systematically looking at the major elements of retail structure and their changes, including ownership structure, functional composition, retail format structure, size composition, spatial structure and locational dynamics (e.g., retail suburbanization, retail agglomeration, and retail centers and hierarchy), the study shows that profound changes have taken place in many areas, and indeed, Beijing has been experiencing "retail revolution" from the 1990s. In many respects retail restructuring in Beijing has increasingly followed "traditional" or "global" paths of retail change. However, some unique national/local idiosyncrasies have also been observed. Besides, a detailed analysis of the processes indicates that behind some similar patterns observed in Beijing and other urban settings, the causes, processes, and levels of change may differ significantly.; To interpret the observed patterns of retail change, a state-capital-society framework is developed to further investigate the forces driving retail transformation. The research has demonstrated the changing nature and roles of three groups of actors---the state, retailer and urban consumer---and argues that an appreciation of changing behaviors of these actors and the increasing complexity of their interrelations is crucial for interpreting the ongoing retail restructuring in Beijing and urban China more generally. |
