In China, over 80% of the urban population resides in gated communities. In 2016, the Chinese government issued a directive aimed at restricting the creation of new gated communities and gradually opening existing ones. This directive faced strong public resistance, prompting the government to discreetly set it aside. To elucidate the persuasiveness of public discourse in this instance, we conducted an analysis of media articles published in China around the time of the “ungating” proposal. Our study, based on 118 articles in English and Chinese, identifies the key stakeholders expressing concerns about ungating and presents a summary of their perspectives.

To cite:

Liu, X., Alidoust, S., & Pojani, D. (2025). Ungating China: A Discourse Analysis of Public Resistance and Policy Re-evaluation. Urban Policy and Research, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/08111146.2025.2517556