The (Post-) Socialist Entrepreneurial City as a State Project: Shanghai's Reglobalisation in Question

To what extent is it possible to capture the experience of an entrepreneurial endeavour in the post-socialist transition within the thesis of the 'entrepreneurial city'? This paper applies an explicit definition of the entrepreneurial city-namely, the construct of three indispensable elements, including entrepreneurial strategies, entrepreneurial fashion and entrepreneurial discourses—to the city of Shanghai. It is argued that the formation of territorially based entrepreneurialism is a state project in the post-socialist transition. Marketisation and globalisation in this context are entangled processes. Whereas the state's legitimacy embedded in the public ownership of production has been eroded through marketisation, the entrepreneurial project allows the state to tap the market to restore its role in response to perceived, as well as real, globalisation. Through examining three historical metaphors of Shanghai's role in national development, this paper questions the process of the 'reglobalisation' of Shanghai as a transition to the 'global city' rather than its continuity as a globalising Chinese city.