A Study On The City Development Of Chongqing And Changchun During The War Of Resistance Against Japan

The Mukden Incident in1931signaled the outbreak of local Anti-Japanese War, and the July7Incident of1937signaled the outbreak of national Anti-Japanese War. Because of that, modern Chinese architectural history transformed suddenly from its heyday to a slum, with overall construction activities stagnating and cities and buildings being devastated by wars. However, during the period of1937to1942, there were still a small amount of construction activities in the Tianjin concession area. During national Anti-Japanese War, some cities such as the then alternate capital Chongqing had enjoyed certain development. After1931, the Japanese invaders carried out activities of city planning and construction in north-eastern China, in particular, in Changchun.This paper is to study the city developments, during China’s Anti-Japanese War, of Chongqing, then alternate capital, and Changchun (then called Xinjing), the capital of the puppet Manchucho. It will also make studies of city planning of China’s cities as well as of the establishment of construction regulation system.In light of relevant historical documents and existing research achievements, this author determines the content, methods, and framework of the research in this paper, and gives definitions to such basic concepts as "Anti-Japanese War period" and "management system on modern city construction".This paper looks back on the city development history of Chongqing and Changchun before the Anti-Japanese War period, including the city construction management and history of those periods such as Chongqing’s opening to the outside world in1891, establishment of commercial port supervision institution in1921, and founding of the city Chongqing in1927. It also includes the city construction management and history of areas like Kuanchengzi old town in Changchun, Kuanchengzi railway dependent territory of Russia, Manchuria railway dependent territory, and some commercial ports.This paper first analyses the sudden changes of political status of Chongqing and Changchun during the Anti-Japanese War and the subsequent transformations in economy, culture, population,etc. Second, based on resources of relevant historical documents especially the city construction regulation issued at that time, this paper discusses different city construction management systems of Chongqing and Changchun during the Anti-Japanese War including changes of city construction management institutions, city planning, as well as the establishment and implementation of construction regulation systems. Finally, the paper analyzes different process of city development of Chongqing and Changchun due to different political purpose, varied investment channels, and various construction regulations and planning control during the Anti-Japanese War period.Major innovative research results are:first, the establishment and development of China’s city planning and construction regulation system at the national level during the Anti-Japanese War period, which was mainly reflected in a series of construction regulations formulated and issued at that time. The relevant construction regulations issued by the puppet Manchucho helped promote city construction of China’s north-eastern area to certain degree, and they were complementary to China’s city planning and construction regulation systems. Second, the Anti-Japanese War period was an important stage in the development history of Chongqing and Changchun when modern city construction management institutions gradually perfected themselves, city planning and construction regulation systems were gradually established, and establishment and implementation of modern city construction management systems helped promote city construction to be more modern and institutionalized. Third, the achievements of Chongqing’s city construction during the Anti-Japanese War period were demonstrated mainly in its modern city road network starting from opening up channels for air defense and fire prevention, laying a foundation for modern city development. After drawing out its city planning programs, Changchun started its city construction. Due to successful operations of money, the construction of city central area was implemented in a rather short time. However, as the city construction was aimed at building the capital of the puppet Manchucho, it lost its very supporting basis along with the demise of the puppet Manchucho, leading to the consequence of unsustainable city development.The thesis is one of research achievements of the project A Study on the history of Chinese modern architecture based on the innovated idea and method, which supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.(Grant No.50838007)...