Opening And Jinan Early Urban Modernization (1904-1937)

The author's purposes are to reconstruct the historical facts on the Tsinan's City Modernization ( hereafter as the TCM ) during early period of the Trade Ports Opened Voluntarily ( hereafter as the TPOV) and to explain them.The historical Tsinan had shown its important status increasingly as a territorial feudalistic govern center. From spring and Autumn Period and Warring States to Ming and Qing Dynasty, Tsinan was developing from a military fortress at first to The First County of Qilu along with its rise of political status. As a net hinge center of Shandong local administrative power, Tsinan closed the door solidly and was self-contained. The city's economic, social and special constructions including their characteristics, showed that the city was a typical feudalistic political city and a feudalistic city. In the nearly closed and traditional economic system, Very limited resources could be provided to Tsinan's economic system by the dispersive peasant economy and the handicraft industrial economy. The resources that could hasten productive forces leapingly and transform the formation of urban economy into capitalist economy were not enough obviously. It was impossible to create capitalism spontaneously just only by the slow growth of some feeble rudiments in the closed economy.Now that couldn't we hope to start up the TCM by accumulating the modernistic factors or rudiments spontaneously inside the traditional city society, we had to compensate the necessary precondition of modernization. We could naturalize the modern productive forces elements and modern cultural elements which were the lack in Tsinan traditional society from exterior, Hesperian capitalistic industrial countries.That means the outside force to inspire the organism of Tsinan's traditional economy was the key element to start up the TCM. Fortunately, Tsinan met the good lucky chance at the moment when 20 century was hardly coming.After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, The Hesperian Big Powers invaded into China more intensely. China faced more austere crisis which if the country and the nation could exist or not. After being aware that Ports Open had a half gain and a half loss even much more gain than loss, and the war force had not been powerful and effectual enough, an idea of Ports Opened Voluntarily made by WeiYuan in 1840s was so famous in 1870s that the government accepted it gradually. Then the idea was put in practice as an important action and was spread all of the country seriously at the beginning of 20 century. The local authorities of Shandong grasped the chance incisively, put Tsinan opened as a trade port by a self-determination way in 1904. The city Tsinan became the first provincial capital as a trade port opened voluntarily.The TPOV became the historical beginning of the TCM.The trade port opening and the following trade relations had put some new resources into Tsinan' traditional economy. The new resources contained some new commodities and machinery equipments, craftwork, managing system and working wise, also included scientific technics, ideas and concepts even the lifeways. On this background, the city modernization began to appear in the city. The first motivity for city economy was commercial trade. It broke out of the old, self-circular mode which had been going round and round, and then set foot on the modern way in gradual, transitional course which was full of conflict and being washed outThe TPOV and commercial trade had fastened the modern change in city business and finance. At the same time, it supplied both marketable and financial aid to emergence and development of modern industry. So, being along two ways: to establish modern machineryindustry, or to improve traditional handicraft industry, Tsinan's city modern industry made a new foundation which included new marketable system and new requirement structure. It also regarded making innovation technic and system as the key contents. It went ahead slowly by the ways of establishing factory system and getting new productivity factors (such as machinery,...