Boundary as a technology of governance: The operation of spatial boundaries and the production of publicness among Guangchangwu groups

Source abstract

Guangchangwu (square dancing) groups have become a prominent feature of public life in urban China, yet little is known about how they shape the production of publicness in everyday public spaces. Drawing upon a comparative multi-sited ethnography of Guangchangwu groups across three Chinese cities, this paper examines how spatial boundaries are established, negotiated, and adjusted through interactions among dancers, state actors, and other space users. The findings show that publicness is produced through the dynamic interplay between institutional regulations and everyday boundary practices, in which formal rules define participation while routine negotiations and symbolic mechanisms continually reshape spatial order. They further reveal that different levels of urban hierarchy generate distinct forms of boundary governance by embedding state power to varying degrees, resulting in differentiated patterns of publicness across cities. Rather than functioning as spontaneously open public spheres, Chinese urban public spaces are characterized by a governance logic of invited coexistence, where participation remains conditional and negotiated. The paper contributes to debates on publicness and urban governance by conceptualizing boundary as a technology of governance and demonstrating how power, space, and everyday practice jointly produce publicness in contemporary China.