Restoring the Neighborhood, Fighting Against Crime: A Case Study in Guangzhou City, People's Republic of China

Abstract

This article presents a descriptive analysis of the Chinese neighborhood as an important social unit of crime control in the People's Republic of China. In conducting a three-month field observation, the authors found that both rapid development of the economy and an increasing crime rate in Guangzhou city have posed serious challenges to the neighborhood's traditional function of crime control. However, self-restructuring and strategic reform have enabled the neighborhood to play a new role in the system of comprehensive treatment of social order. The Chinese experiences have facilitated our understanding of crime and some possible solutions for this nation during its modernization.