The Chicago School of urban sociology has been proclaimed dead many times in the last hundred years. The School, which proposed to study cities as an ecological unit through formal urban analysis, reached its zenith by the early 1930s (Park, 1915; Wirth, 1931). Then it gradually lost its influence, especially after Robert Park retired from the University of Chicago in 1933. In the second half of the twentieth century, the Chicago School was challenged and succeeded by other approaches to study urban life, such as the Marxist urban sociology spearheaded by Manuel Castells in the 1960s (Castells, 1977), the social network perspective to study urban subculture by Claude Fischer in the 1980s (Fischer, 1982), and the Los Angeles School declared by Michael Dear in the late 1990s, who elevated Los Angeles over Chicago as prototypical city of the 21st century (Dear, 2002). Considering the various criticisms launched throughout the 20th century, is there anything left to learn from the Chicago School?

This chapter examines past legacies and possible future contributions of the Chicago School to urban China studies. The Chicago School was not only influential in the US, but also helped to build the foundation of sociology in China in the early 20th century. Drawing on archival materials such as personal correspondence among Robert Park, Fei Xiaotong, and others, this chapter will first examine the relatively little known connections between Robert Park and China in the 1930s. Park was enthusiastic to expand urban research he had done in Chicago to Chinese cities. Park's comparative gesture can be borrowed in the field of urban China studies today, which has seen a tendency of exceptionalism, as scholars argue that Chinese cities are unique, and therefore, incomparable with cities in other countries. Drawing on examples of redevelopment in Guangzhou, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, and Chicago, the second half of the chapter demonstrates that Chinese cities are not as unique as specialists tend to argue. It suggests reviving Park's comparative spirit, because much can be learned by studying urbanization in China from a global and comparative perspective.

Robert Park in Beijing: Early connections

Robert Park was one of the first Western academics who helped to establish sociology as a discipline in China. Park visited China several times to participate in conferences in the 1920s.