Study Of The Urbanization Process Of The Modern Shandong Peninsula

As the raising of the phrase "Shandong Peninsular City Group", studies of "Shandong Peninsular Cities" is increasingly becoming a focus in the historical circle. But "Shandong Peninsular City Group" does not refer to the traditional geographic concept or the administrative concept, but refers to these eight cities, i.e. Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai, Rizhao, Dongying, Weifang, Zibo, which are along the east coast and the Jiao'ao-Jinan railway. However, there are almost no studies of these cities as a whole. Although some relevant articles have been published, they are restricted to investigate the development of the current peninsular city as a whole and work for the economic purpose. Depending on its district advantage, these areas developed quickly into the provincial backbone ever since the beginning of the trade openness, which played an important role in the development of Shandong province not only at the modern times but also at the contemporary age. Therefore, it is undeniable of the realistic significance of the studies of the development of "Shandong Peninsular Cities". China's urbanization beginning from 1840 started from the coastal cities and then extended to the hinterland along the artery of traffic. In this process, these port cities lead and instill the outside civilization into the hinterland relying on their geographical advantage. The urbanization in Shandong Peninsular at the modern times began from the openness of Yantai, Qingdao to foreign trade. In 1861,Yantai was opened to foreign trade as the first commercial port in Shandong Peninsular. Thereafter, through the sea-lane and Yanwei trade route and its extension line, Dongying, Rizhao, Weifang, Zibo and Jinan set up their trade relationship with Yantai-Wei which was increasingly close. After the openness of Qingdao in1899, it recruited Rizhao ,Weifang, Zibo, Jinan in its economic circle through the modern sea-lanes and railway. In 1904, Jinan, Wei County (the present Weicheng District in Weifang), and Zhou Village (the present Zhoucun District in Zibo) were opened to foreign trade at the same time. Until now, the openness to foreign trade was extended from the coastal cities to the hinterland, and then they gradually became an inseparable whole through the modern sea-lane, railway, highway and post and telecommunication utilities. The district advantage was becoming obvious and the peninsular urbanization fully started up. However, it must be admitted that the development of Shandong Peninsular's urbanization at modern times is not balanced. Qingdao developed into the leader and played a more and more important role in Shandong and even Northern China, depending on its natural geographical advantages and district advantage after the Jiao'ao-Jinan railway began to work. As Shandong's political center and the junction of Jiao'ao-Jinan and Tianjin-Pukou railway, Jinan's district advantage is increasingly visible and thus the urbanization process of these two cities is faster. As Shandong's industrial and commercial cities of strategic importance from the ancient times, Weifang and Zibo were crossed by modern highways and railways since their openness to foreign trade which accelerated their development. As far as Dongying and Rizhao are concerned, they were not opened at all. In addition, they don't have rich natural resources, which determined that they would not make great progresses and therefore, their urbanization lagged behind. This pattern is still affecting the further development of contemporary Shandong.