The Research On The Shipping Of Qiantang River During The Republic China (1912-1937)

Qiantang River is the "Mother river" of the Zhejiang province. Its shipping is impacting the social development of Zhejiang profoundly. While boosting the development of the relative towns of the coast, the shipping of Qiantang River had been the decisive factor of the regional traffic in the thousands of years.In modern times, it was inevitable that the shipping could be involved in the tide of modernization. Modernity, the decisive factor of facilitating the progress of our world, had penetrated all aspects of the shipping. While the coming of mechanization era, the shipping companies changed the style of shipping business. Additionally, the professional institute of shipping regulated the market partly. Of course, the modernization of Qiantang River shipping was inferior.The new traffic tools impacted shipping, although, sometimes, it was not mutual supportive between shipping and land transportation. There was complex correlation between the shipping and land transportation which reflected competition and complement. It was not necessary that advanced tool of traffic could meet the society needs.Admittedly, the towns could profit from the development of the shipping. Before the modern society, the shipping had played a crucial role in the distribution of towns and the constitution of societal system. The Qiantang River, for instance, was the line beside which the town existed. Moreover, the shipping had been an imperative element of the regional market, cultural network and the thriving of itself.In the period of the Republic China, it was the symbol of the process which the regional society began to modernize that land transportation was more and more importance than the Qiantang River shipping. Jianghua, for example, had replaced Lanxi and became the core city in the region. Qiantang River shipping was the mirror of the towns which could reflect the boom and gloom for each other.