Since the founding of modern China in 1949 up until the present, the national housing system has changed drastically. Originally, the PRC adopted a socialist residence system, confiscating private housing and allocating houses and properties through government bodies. This arguably peaked during the collectivisation movements of the era, before changing course in the late 1970s. Afterwards, a general trend of privatisation occurred in Chinese housing, fundamentally altering the nature of the domestic housing market.

This book tracks these changes in government policy and attitudes towards residential housing, as well as the trends of modernisation, urbanization, and development that contribute to shifts in living conditions and expectations of Chinese citizens. The author also includes 25 real-life stories from his students' personal experiences--a college project in which the students interviewed their parents and grandparents on every house they had lived in since 1949. Any reader curious on the nature and change of Chinese residential housing can find answers in this book.