Research on the Modern Urban Development History of Xiamen (1900-1937)

Author: Zhou Zifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: Xiamen is located in the southeastern part of Fujian Province, China, and is the second-largest city in the province as well as the regional economic hub of Minnan. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhou Derxing, the Marquis of Jiangxia, ordered the construction of Xiamen City to support coastal defense, marking the beginning of Xiamen's history. After the middle Ming Dynasty, private maritime trade in southeastern China flourished, and Xiamen gradually evolved from a military outpost into a trading center. In the late Ming Dynasty, Zheng Chenggong occupied Xiamen as a base to resist the Qing Dynasty. Later, after the Qing court pacified Taiwan, Xiamen was designated as an important hub for trade between Fujian and Taiwan, establishing a special relationship between Xiamen and Taiwan. With the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, the area was designated as a trading port, allowing foreigners to engage in commerce and missionary activities in Xiamen. In 1895, Japan annexed Taiwan, and Xiamen lost its status as a transshipment port for trade with Taiwan. However, due to the development of colonial economies in Southeast Asia and the high demand for labor, Xiamen became a labor export port and a gathering place for overseas Chinese from Fujian, stimulating urban development in Xiamen. The rise of Xiamen symbolizes China's shift from a land-based to a maritime-oriented development trend, exhibiting characteristics of "Oceanic China" urban development and holding significant research value. This book is divided into seven chapters: Chapter 1 is the introduction; Chapter 2 examines the impact of historical and geographical factors on the urban development of Xiamen in the early 20th century; Chapter 3 discusses the relationship between foreign economic development and the urban development of Xiamen in terms of population flow (people), capital flow (wealth), and material flow (goods); Chapter 4 explores urban internal structure issues such as urban development, population structure, and spatial distribution; Chapter 5 takes the study of Xiamen's chambers of commerce as a starting point to analyze the evolution of the relationship between the state and society during the period of urban transformation in Xiamen; Chapter 6 examines the changes in Xiamen's folk society in the modern era from three social phenomena: the three major clans of Xiamen, the issue of local residents, and the "Hometown Heroes" of Jiaotou; Chapter 7 is the conclusion, providing a comprehensive evaluation of the urban development of modern Xiamen.