Why do so many people experience urgency, pressure, and anxiety when navigating the housing market? What makes homeownership feel like a necessity rather than a choice? In Anxious Homes: Inflexible Demand and China’s Housing Market (Cornell University Press, 2026), Prof. Mengqi Wang draws on fieldwork in Nanjing, to examine how the idea of gangxu (刚需), or “inflexible demand,” has shaped people’s aspirations, anxieties, and everyday decisions around homeownership. Far beyond a financial investment, housing emerges as a key site where questions of family, gender, migration, citizenship, and belonging are negotiated.
At a time when China’s property market is undergoing profound transformation, the book offers a timely perspective on the enduring power of homeownership aspirations. It demonstrates how housing functions not only as an economic asset, but also as a life investment deeply intertwined with marriage, migration, education, family responsibility, gender expectations, and the pursuit of security in urban life. Read More
Junyi Yu (Class of 2026) approaches research through deep participation and relationship building. At the CSCC, she not only served as student photographer but was also researcher in the CSCC-sponsored Student-Initiated Research and Creative Inquiry Project “Woven Currents: The Mekong’s Flow Through Art and Ecology” and the CSCC Community Service Project “Transitions & Traditions in Bacheng.” We sat down with her to talk about how both projects came together, what she learned from the people she worked with, and how creative practice can help preserve stories that might otherwise be overlooked. Read More
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