Zhang Chengjia has supplied sewing machines to textile shops in southern China for the past 20 years. But as the government pushes ahead with plans to convert his neighbourhood into a high-tech hub, he fears his livelihood is at risk.
“I don’t say it lightly . . . but I’ll have to change professions,” he said over the din of his two young daughters playing in the cramped office of his machinery shop. “What’s high tech about clothing?”
Zhang’s shop is one of thousands of small businesses in Kanglu, a so-called urban village in China’s manufacturing heartland. There are more than 4,400 urban villages across eight of China’s largest cities, housing more than 55mn residents, according to a state media estimate in 2023.
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