TengChong:Research On The Modern Changes Of An Inland Frontier County (1902-1949)

Modern era is a period with dramatic changes in Chinese history. Scholars have made many achievements in the researches on the history of modern Chinese, but there is a serious regional imbalance. Generally speaking, there are many researches on the changes of North China, South China, and Yangtze River Delta in modern times, but very few researches on the changes of inland frontier regions. As an inland frontier county, the modern changes of Tengchong have its characteristics, so the research on the modern changes of Tengchong can enrich the study on the changes of China in modern times.In politics, the modern times were a period with fickle politics in Tengchong. Firstly, modern Tengchong gradually became the administrative center in the west of Yunnan Province. Its formation was very closely related to the facts that Tengchong was opened as Yunnan’s third treaty port, and had far-reaching influence on the local social changes of Tengchong. Secondly, the administrative division of modern Tengchong experienced a big adjustment, and finally it became a standard county-level administrative unit. The Tengchong’s administrative division not only met the needs of developments of local politics, but also was closely related to the exploration of Sino-Burmese boundary. Thirdly, a bourgeois democratic revolution once happened in modern Tengchong. In modern Yunnan, Tengchong was one of areas where the bourgeois revolutionaries earlier started their activities, eventually this area first obtained the victory of the democratic revolution in Yunnan, and established a revolutionary regime, which had great influences to the developments of local politics in Tengchong even Yunnan. In the end, Tengchong also tried to pursue political democratization. Tengchong led the trend in carrying out modern bourgeois democratic revolution in Yunnan, but had slow progress in political democratization.In economic, the various economic categories in Tengchong experienced the development with different speed. In the traditional Chinese society, agriculture was fundamental, but for Tengchong, the development of modern agriculture in general was very slow. Tengchong’s industry, like other parts of China, started relatively late, and was at a small scale, mainly in the sectors of light industry. Among all economic categories, Tengchong’s business grew the quickest. Before modern China’s door was opened, Tengchong had been the foreign trade center in western Yunnan. So, after Tengchong became a treaty port, its business grew more quickly. In modern transportation, modern Tengchong once carried out the construction of railways, highways and aviation, but didn’t get significant results.In the social aspects, modern Tengchong experienced great changes in some aspects. For the concepts of social customs, during modern times, especially in the Republican era, many folk customs and concept in Tengchong was classified as bad habits, and was reformed by local government and civil society. For the social life, due to located in the border region, Tengchong maintained close exchanges with the outside world, so many new things appeared in the social life of modern Tengchong, such as western-style architecture, foreign goods, foreign languages etc. For social services. Modern Tengchong achieved varying degrees of development in western medicine, communications, banking and other aspects. For the national consciousness of the people, with the changing times, facing the crisis of the country and the people, Tengchong people gradually had the national consciousness on the basis of homeland consciousness. During the Anti-Japanese War, the national consciousness got fully sublimation.For the culture and education, modern Tengchong obtained great achievements. With the frequency of contacts between modern Tengchong and outside world, some modern associations that once played important roles in some western world and mainland cities began to appear in Tengchong. Among these new associations in modern Tengchong, Heshun Chongxin hui was the representative one, which made outstanding contributions in promoting the development of Tengchong society. As the carrier of diffusing cultural knowledge, the books were paid attentions by people of insight in modern Tengchong very early. Heshun library and other modern libraries were established in modern Tengchong, which effectively promoted the development of local culture of Tengchong. Besides, for propagating their stand, various groups and associations in modern Tengchong founded a number of influential newspapers and magazines, including Heshun township and Tengyue daily and so on. Before the modern times, as an inland border area, Tengchong’s education started earlier. In the modern times, due to the attention of all walks of life, a relatively complete education system was established in modern Tengchong.It is concluded that in the process of modern changes, Tengchong had rapid development in some areas, such as business and cultures, and had slow development in some areas, such as agriculture and industry. However, whether it is fast or slow development, businessmen, overseas Chinese and elites in the village always played important roles. Meanwhile, border region, nationality and war also exert profound impact on the changes of Tengchong in modern times.