China's coastal region between Shanghai and Hong Kong is one of the most dynamic regions in the world, having undergone a transformation widely attributed to economic reform. This insightful account shows that rapid economic growth in China has a history and a geography, and demonstrates how regional restructuring is far from an economic 'miracle'. Instead of a linear historical approach, the analysis shows how history matters in contextualized geographies, in regional places and their transnational connections. The book situates the analysis in the contemporary globalization debates and the most current ideas in human geography to develop a cultural economy perspective that anticipates the 'new regionalism'. Globalizing South China provides readers with an invaluable evaluation of 'Greater China', the Chinese diaspora, regional identity formation, the gendered conditions of the regional economy, nature-society relations, and world city transformation. The book concludes by anticipating the futures of Hong Kong and Shanghai and relations between China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore in the wider Asian region. By contributing to theory building and interdisciplinary studies, and based on numerous examples of comparative empirical research, the book is engaging and provocative, and will change the way we understand the region of rapid development in South China.