Abstract
This study pays close attention to the notion of carrying in dense urban China to understand how urban space is sustained and reshaped through ordinary, embodied actions of everyday life. Drawing on six months of ethnographic fieldwork in a residential neighbourhood in Beijing, it traces carrying practices across the domains of 衣食住行 (clothing, food, dwelling, and transport), attending to how gendered bodies experience, use, occupy, move and redefine urban spaces. The article argues that critical spatial practice in contemporary urban China extends beyond architectural design and formal planning, emerging through everyday practices of occupation, movement, and maintenance. By conceptualising carrying as both a feminist analytical lens and a methodological approach, it foregrounds the relational dynamics between bodies, objects, and the built environment, and rethinks urban space as a dynamic assemblage continuously reconfigured through the cumulative effects of everyday life
- Angerer, M.-L., Richardson, I., Schmedes, H., & Sofoulis, Z. (2024). Containment: Technologies of holding, filtering, leaking (M.-L. Angerer, I. Richardson, H. Schmedes, & Z. Sofoulis, Eds.). Meson Press. https://doi.org/10.14619/2188
- Beebeejaun, Y. (2017). Gender, urban space, and the right to everyday life. Journal of Urban Affairs, 39(3), 323-334. https://doi.org/https://doi-org.manchester.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/07352166.2016.1255526
- Bloomer, J. (1994). Architecture and the feminine: Mop-up work. ANY: Architecture New York, (4), 8–11. http://www.jstor.org.manchester.idm.oclc.org/stable/41846073
- Cao, X., Shi, Y., & Zhou, L. (2021). Research on urban carrying capacity based on multisource data fusion—A case study of Shanghai. Remote Sensing, 13(14). https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142695
- Chai, Y.-w., Weng, G.-l., & Liu, Z.-l. (2003). 中国城市女性居民行为空间研究的女性主义视角 [Feminist geographical research on the behavior spaces of female residents in Chinese cities]. Human Geography, 18(4), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2003.04.001
- Cheng, J. (2021). 15分钟社区生活圈怎么做到了以人为本. 中国经济导报. https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/wsdwhfz/202112/t20211231_1311190.html
- Chenghua, G., & Ling, Z. (2023). 无酬家务劳动经济价值的估算与比较———以北京市为例[Qualifying and comparing the economic value of unpaid housework in Beijing]. Comparative Economic & Social Systems, (5). China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
- Choi, K. W. Y., Chan, A. K. W., & Chan, A. H. N. (2022). Spatialising domestic practices: Hong Kong women’s life stories of domesticity and their disjunctive modern womanhood. Gender, Place & Culture, 31(12), 1690–1712. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2023.2234657
- Daly, P., Dias, A. L., & Patuleia, M. (2020). The impacts of tourism on cultural identity on Lisbon historic neighbourhoods. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 8(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/516
- de Beauvoir, S. (2011). The Second Sex (C. Borde & S. Malovany-Chevallier, Trans.). Vintage Books. (Le deuxième sexe)
- Hall, S. M. (2020). Social reproduction as social infrastructure. Soundings: A journal of politics and culture. https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/soundings/
- Happel-Parkins, A., Azim, K., Neal, M., Barnes, K., & Gnanadass, E. (2024). Stories from the “pressure cooker”: U.S. women navigating motherhood and work during the COVID-19 pandemic. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 8(2), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14390
- Haraway, D. (2019). Introduction: Receiving three Mochilas in Colombia carrier bags for staying with the trouble together. In The carrier bag theory of fiction. Ignota Books.
- Ho, Z. (2018). 何志森：城市追踪者 [Zhisen He: An urban tracker] www.yixi.tv; https://www.yixi.tv/h5/speech/620/
- Huang, Q., & Xu, Q. (2025). 女性主义地理学视角下城市公共空间规划探索 [Exploration of urban public space planning from the perspective of feminist geography]. Journal of Huangshan University, 27(3), 117-122. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
- Huiming, H., Dailin, Z., & Hua, W. (2021). 基于居住形态类型的社区生活圈空间组织模式研究——以广州为例 [Study on the spatial organisation patterns of community life circles based on residential typologies: A case study of Guangzhou]. 城市规划学刊, 262, 94-101. https://doi.org/10.16361/j.upf.202102015
- Jones, M. (2024). Holding and being held: Handbags as container technologies. In Containment: Technologies of holding, filtering, leaking (pp. 75-89). Meson Press. https://doi.org/10.14619/2188
- Kasstan, B., & Crook, S. (2018). Reproductive rebellions in Britain and the republic of Ireland: Contemporary and past abortion activism and alternative sites of care. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 2(2), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/3885
- Kern, L. (2020). Feminist city: Claiming space in a man-made world. Verso.
- Larrington-Spencer, H., Brown, A., & Petrova, S. (2024). Everyday domestic water and energy consumption in Shanghai homes: The resurgence and persistence of gendered practices in China. Energy Research & Social Science, 107(103361). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.103361
- Le Guin, U. K. (1988). The carrier bag theory of fiction. Women of Vision, 165-170. https://monoskop.org/File%3ALe_Guin_Ursula_K_1986_1996_The_Carrier_Bag_Theory_of_Fiction.pdf?utm_source=
- Le Guin, U. K., Haraway, D. J., & Lee, B. (2019). The carrier bag theory of fiction. Ignota Books.
- Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Blackwell.
- Liu, R. (2024). Feminist alternative practices among independent artists: The case of Guangzhou, China. Global Media and China,9(2), 188-205. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364241238065
- Mangurian, R., & Ray, M.-A. (2009). Caochangdi Beijing inside out : Farmers, floaters, taxi drivers, artists, and the international art mob challenge and remake the city. Timezone 8.
- Massey, D. B. (1994). Space, pace, and gender (1st ed.). University of Minnesota Press.
- Otter, C. (2024). Container ontologies. In Containment: Technologies of holding, filtering, leaking (pp. 59-73). Meson Press. https://doi.org/10.14619/2188
- Petrescu, D. (2023). Learning and teaching with the ‘Body’: Pedagogical hatches from Jennifer Bloomer. The Journal of Architecture, 28(6), 902-924. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2023.2281625
- Puwar, N. (2004). Space invaders: Race, gender and bodies out of place. Berg.
- Puwar, N. (2021). Carrying as method: Listening to bodies as archives. Body & Society, 27(1), 3-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X20946810
- Qin, H. (2019). 走向空间包容：将性别敏感视角纳入城市设计 [Towards spatial inclusion: Gender-sensitive perspective into urban design]. Urban Development Studies, 26(7), 90-95. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
- Rendell, J. (2018). Only resist: A feminist approach to critical spatial practice. The Architectural Review. https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/only-resist-a-feminist-approach-to-critical-spatial-practice
- Rendell, J. (2019). Critical Spatial Practice. https://criticalspatialpractice.co.uk/
- Sofoulis, Z. (2000). Container technologies. Hypatia, 15(2), 181-201. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3810663
- Sofoulis, Z. (2024). Containers, retrospectively. In Containment: Technologies of holding, filtering, leaking (pp. 41-57). Meson Press. https://doi.org/10.14619/2188
- Star, S. L. (1999). The ethnography of infrastructure. American Behavioral Scientist, 43(3), 377-391. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027649921955326
- Ukeles, M. L. (1969). Manifesto for maintenance art, 1969! Proposal for an exhibition: “CARE”. [Artist manifesto]. https://www.moma.org
- Wang, J., Ren, Y., Shu, T., Shen, L., Liao, X., Yang, N., & He, H. (2020). Economic perspective-based analysis on urban infrastructures carrying capacity — A China study. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 83. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2020.106381
- Wang, Y.-d., & Li, X.-l. (2020). [Lack and reconstruction of gender space construction: From Doreen Marcy's gender space theory to Chinese feminism]. Journal of Shijiazhuang University, 22(2), 105-110. https://doi.org/10.13573/j.cnki.sjzxyxb.2020.02.013
- Wang, Z. (2016). Finding women in the state : A socialist feminist revolution in the people's republic of China, 1949-1964. University of California Press.
- Wu, X., & Peng, B. (2017). Urban comprehensive carrying capacity analysis in Zhejiang Province of China from the perspective of production, living, and ecological spaces. Geo-Spatial Information Science, 26(6), 2179-2198. https://doi.org/10.1080/10095020.2023.2292578
- Xue, X., Chang, T. C., & Lau, S. S. Y. (2025). From the private to the public: Insights into the urban design practice in Guangzhou, China. Cities, 162. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.105881
- Young, I. M. (1980). Throwing like a girl: A phenomenology of feminine body comportment motility and spatiality. Human Studies,3(2), 137-156. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02331805
- Young, I. M. (1990). Throwing like a girl and other essays in feminist philosophy and social theory. Indiana University Press.
- Zhang, W. (2016). 宜居城市建设的核心框架 [The core framework of the livable city construction]. Geographical Research, 35(2), 205-213. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.11821/dlyj201602001
- Zheng, W. (2010). 创建社会主义女权主义文化阵地:《中国妇女》 [Establishing a socialist feminist cultural front: Women of China]. Journal of Nanjing University (Philosophy, Humanities and Social Science), 6, 58-75. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
- Zhou, X. (2020). 城市公共性的建构:建筑师何志森访谈 [The construction of urban publicity: An interview with architect Jason Zhisen Ho] [Interview]. 公共艺术, 4, 69-73. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
- 孙道胜, & 柴彦威. (2020). 城市社区生活圈规划研究[Research on urban community life sphere planning]. Southeast University Press.
- 张云华, & 吴嘉. (2024). 家务劳动时间对中国女性职业发展的影响——基于垂直流动视角 [The impact of housework time on Chinese women’s career development: A Perspective of vertical mobility]. Journal of Ningbo University, 37(6), 99-114. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
- 李昱萱, 吴亮, & 李文亮. (2025). “感知—行为”视角下女性友好城市街道空间设计策略研究 [Research on design strategies for street spaces in women-friendly cities from the "Perception-behavior" perspective]. 空间 · 艺术, 11, 162-164. https://doi.org/10.19875/j.cnki.jzywh.2025.11.049
- 澎湃新闻. (2026). 【专项执法】请将楼道清出来，把安全让出来 [Clear the Stairwells and Make Way for Safety]. https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_32339630
- 黄晴. (2025). 生活导向城市更新的问题缘起、理论建构及其实践反思 [The Origins, Theoretical Construction, and Practical Reflections on Life-Oriented Urban Renewal] ShanDong University]. 东岳论丛. https://doi.org/10.15981/j.cnki.dongyueluncong.2024.08.018
APA 7th edition
In-text citation: (Li, 2026)
Reference: Li, X. (2026). Notes on carrying: A feminist approach to the critical spatial practice of everyday life in urban China.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 10(2), Article 28.
https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19076
AMA 10th edition
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Li X. Notes on carrying: A feminist approach to the critical spatial practice of everyday life in urban China.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. 2026;10(2), 28.
https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19076
Chicago
In-text citation: (Li, 2026)
Reference: Li, Xin. "Notes on carrying: A feminist approach to the critical spatial practice of everyday life in urban China".
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics 2026 10 no. 2 (2026): 28.
https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19076
Harvard
In-text citation: (Li, 2026)
Reference: Li, X. (2026). Notes on carrying: A feminist approach to the critical spatial practice of everyday life in urban China.
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 10(2), 28.
https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19076
MLA
In-text citation: (Li, 2026)
Reference: Li, Xin "Notes on carrying: A feminist approach to the critical spatial practice of everyday life in urban China".
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, vol. 10, no. 2, 2026, 28.
https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19076
Vancouver
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Li X. Notes on carrying: A feminist approach to the critical spatial practice of everyday life in urban China. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. 2026;10(2):28.
https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19076