I'm getting an error message and suspect provider wtfery, so here's a link: https://archive.ph/JVPib
Today, parts of Minzhu Village recall hip corners of London or Berlin. But the neighborhood’s transformation followed a different path to what often occurs in the metropoles of the West. Although the process implied the same kind of qualitative changes associated with gentrification in many major cities, it did not displace the local working population in Minzhu Village. Instead, it improved their lives, drawing them increasingly into the living standards of the urban middle class — out of poverty, and into what the CPC calls “moderate prosperity”, a stage of development where basic needs are met and a comfortable standard of living becomes available to all. This was grounded in needs articulated before, during, and after the redevelopment process by members of the community. The farmers’ market was modernized, the stream was cleaned up, the canteen was built, and new institutions and infrastructures for leisure, recreation, and community development were constructed around the Village.1 This process — of broad, popular consultation that transforms the lives of working people — is the cornerstone of the Chinese notion of “whole-process people’s democracy”. It reflects a revolutionary methodology that seeks to develop a “mass line” by continuously interpreting, systematizing, and realizing the ideas of the people. This can be a difficult process. Xiong Jie and Tings Chak have described in detail how it worked during the restoration of Erhai Lake, which involved a prolonged back-and-forth between party officials and local residents to overcome conflicts, reach compromises, and gain popular support for practical solutions.2