An "Urban City" On The Way:State,Traffic,and The City Of Guiyang During Modernization(1926-1949)

Guizhou is located in the center of Yunnan,Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,Hunan and Sichuan provinces,and is actually the “Interior Area of Southwest China” with very prominent strategic position.The central government of all dynasties has focused on the development of Guizhou’s transportation construction,and Guiyang,located in the geographic center of Guizhou Province,has also evolved into a hub and a fortress city.In the traditional era,post roads extending in all directions connected Guiyang with the core areas of the empire.During the period of the Republic of China,this ancient transportation system was replaced by a modern highway network,and this change was promoted by the Nationalist government under the leadership of multiple crises.In the process,the state invested a lot of human,material and financial resources.During the War of Resistance Against Japan,Guiyang,as a highway center,was known as the “Geneva of the East”,and the southwest road transportation institutions and engineering institutions under the direct control of the central government were stationed there,and its city status was greatly improved.Under the double support of traffic and demographic dividend,the urban economic development of Guiyang ushered in an unprecedented “Golden Era”.All businesses related to the clothing,food,housing,transportation and use of the public are showing a flourishing scene,and financial institutions have also sprung up like mushrooms after rain.At the same time,the state-owned enterprises of Guizhou and a group of private manufacturers jointly promote the import substitution production of industrial products.However,in the national vision,Guizhou is not an ideal industrial zone,and its local industry is not a heavy industry that Chongqing authorities focus on investing in,so it has not received strong support from the central government.During the war,Guiyang’s status and economic prosperity also gave birth to a new“Urban Identity”,which was finally transformed into the power for local government to promote urban reform.No matter in terms of administrative system,urban space or municipal facilities construction,Guiyang is moving towards the goal of“Urbanization”.After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan,the highway hub status of Guiyang existed in name only,and the railway plan was abandoned halfway due to weak national investment.The loss of transportation and demographic dividends,the consumer market’s rapid shrinking and the deteriorating inflation have hit the urban economy of Guiyang hard,particularly in the decline of commercial and financial sectors.Yang Sen,the provincial chairman,tried to whitewash the slump of local development with a package of urban beautification projects and spiritual renovations,but to no avail.The development of Guizhou by the nationalist government and the urban changes in Guiyang under this background reflect the central government’s strategic logic for the western fringe society,that is,a“Crisis-Developing” model.Under this model,large-scale state investment can bring some “Spillover Effect” to local development,but it cannot fully cover the real needs of western development.At the same time,the state’s willingness to invest in this marginal zone will also weaken as the crisis eases.