Professor Oakes is a cultural geographer of China, working on issues related to regional cultural development, culture industries, tourism, heritage, regional and place-based identities. His work focuses on the ways culture is used as a resource for development and governance objectives, identity politics, and tourism. During his stay, Professor Oakes taught a postgraduate seminar course “China’s Urban Geographies”. He organized a one day fieldtrip to Baishizhou, one of Shengzhen’s  largest urbanized villages, introducing to students the village’s recent history (from the 1950s onward), socio-spatial patterns and relations, street commerce and family industries, as well as the government’s plans for re‐development and renewal.