The Blocks Of Hangzhou City And The Social Change During The Qing Dynasty

Considering the changes of the blocks of Hangzhou City during the Qing Dynasty as the research object, this paper analyzes the changes of the block layout, the block management and planning, the block cultural memory and propagation, and the changes of the block markets and economy. From above four aspects, the social changes of Hangzhou city during the Qing Dynasty are presented.The layout of Hangzhou City during the Qing Dynasty is the approximate continuation of the overall layout of Linan City during the Southern Song Dynasty. Wall, gates, government office buildings, lanes, alleys and streets are main components of the blocks, which constitute the so-called communities today, and they become main field of the residents’ daily lives. Among them, the quantitative and structural changes in the layout of lanes and alleys are important features of block changes.As the field of urban residents’ activities, block management and planning naturally become an important part of local government’s administrative functions. Walls of protection, opening and closing the gates, management of the fence, formulating rules on regulating building behavior and making room according to different criteria, constructing the road etc, which make the block spatial structure orderly. Public health management makes the blocks clean. The above measures become new contents of municipal administration, which become one of the important symbols of urban modernization.From the perspective of cultural memory and propagation, the blocks, such as Pipa Street, Xiahou Alley, Baner Alley, Zhaozhong Temple, Jianqiao Street, carry the deep memory of folk cultural activities, such as Lantern Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Wen God-receiving Party, Zhusheng Party and Ullambana Party. Qingyun Street, Yongning Street, Jiandao Alley, and Baimamiao Alley etc, all of the blocks carry the deep memory of traditional examination culture. In the late Qing Dynasty, the emergence of new schools and newspapers is an important symbol of the block culture modernity.From the perspective of the block economy, the blocks are the field of the economic changes. There are so many markets among the blocks, which facilitate the daily life of residents. In the late Qing Dynasty, the establishment of the vegetables market marks the transformation from the small and scattered markets to a big and unified market. All kinds of shops as the main components of the blocks economy, their distribution show the real state of people’s daily lives. Since ports opened, Western-style shops have become a characteristic of the block economy; the abnormal development of the Gongchenqiao Block reflects the feature of the semi-colonial.In summary, the changes of the block layout of Hangzhou City in the Qing Dynasty are affected by the military, political, cultural and economic factors, which sketched out a rough track of the changes in Hangzhou City.