A Research Of The Urban Culture Of Modern Dalian (1898-1945)

Modern history of Dalian is a history of the imperialist invasion and the colonial occupation of Dalian.It is a history of how the westerners destroyed the oriental civilization, how the Chinese struggled against the invasion and colonial reigning of the imperialists. It is a history of how the Chinese fought persistently for national independence.Dalian is one of the typical cities that were established and developed after the imperialist invasion in the past hundred years. After the imperialists, Tsarist Russia and Japan, intruded the peninsular, they began ruling Dalian as a colony for 47 years off and on, and they started to rebuild Dalian in an all-round way, making a significant impact on the urban development.This paper delves into the history of Dalian, covering the time span from 1898 to 1945, to disclose the evolution of Dalian City, through a thorough examination of the changes that took place in the structure of the city, its function and the development of the material and immaterial culture of Dalian from the perspective of urban culture. The research focuses extends from the urban economic policies, the changing history of the political systems and their control over the city, to the infrastructure construction, city planning, architecture, culture and education.The whole paper consists of two parts, five chapters. The first part, including Chapter One and Chapter Two, is mainly on the material culture. The second part, including Chapter Three, Chapter Four and Chapter Five, mainly deals with the immaterial culture. The introduction explains the significance of the chosen topic and clarifies the relevant concepts, including the description of the historical background and present condition of the research, the existing problems, the underlying theory and method of the research, as well as the the organization structure.Chapter One mainly discusses, in three parts, the special historical background and conditions, in which the modern Dalian urban culture formed. The first part is about the historical origins, urbanization, and occupation by both Japan and Russia, the second part about the colonists'military control in politics and the third part about the free-port system in economy. This created the special and unique circumstances for Dalian to evolve in its own way. The urbanization and modernization of Dalian paralleled with the colonization in the course of time.Chapter Two focuses on the material culture of modern Dalian. On the one hand, it studies the exotic city designs and architecture during the colonial period. On the other hand, it studies the urban transportation, infrastructure construction, and changes of the spactial structure of Dalian at that time. In order to meet their own requirements, the colonial rulers transplanted the advanced management and urban planning from their home country to Dalian, and consequently formed an exotic pattern of its urban planning based on the foreign architectural culture. In the 40s of the 20th century, Dalian had become the world-renowned modern port city.City index and infrastructure of Dalian were far more advanced and complete than other cities, and physically enabled it to accelerate its pace of modernization. They are still playing an indispensible role in today's urban development of Dalian.Chapter Three, firstly, studies the culture and education of modern Dalian.The colonial authorities put emphasis on the culture, education and the development of science and technology in order to implement their colonial expansion, which resulted in Dalian's"cultural prosperity"objectively, and made the colonial culture quite strong in Dalian. Then the research turns to the struggles of Dalian people─especially the patriotic personage─against the colonial culture, an important part of anti-invasion history of modern Dalian.Chapter Four, in the first part, studies the population who lived under the influence of the alien culture—where they were from and where they left for, and what their features were. Then it focuses on the social customs and characteristics of the people in Dalian. Due to the special historical background, the people in Dalian are diversified, differing in quality and background, and became more westernized in customs and behavior.Chapter five, in the first, studies the social problems of modern Dalian, such as the polarization between rich and poor, the rise in the urban crime rate, etc. In the second part, it studies the development of public healthcare and charities in modern Dalian which meant to serve only the colonists. Dalian was then characterized by the sharp polarization between the rich and the poor, and the strong colonization.The Conclusion is the last part of the paper. First of all, it analyses the dual functions of external factors which played an important role in the changes of Dalian. Secondly, it reveals the human spirit and main features of modern Dalian. Thirdly, it fully analyses the reasons of urban development of modern Dalian, and causes of cultural transformation. Finally, taking the historical evolution of modern Dalian for reference, it proposes that man must respect the law of nature and the history of the city in the construction of the city. We must not lop off the urban history, and we must insist on diversification under the general laws of urban development.