The Port Makes City Rise:a Study On The Construction Of Urban Modernity Of Yingkou By The Port

In the second half of the nineteenth century,Yingkou was opened to the public as the first commercial port in the northeast of China and was officially connected to the global communication network.Materials,people,systems and ideas met and intersected here through the port,and the modern city of Yingkou,then known as the "trade hub of the East",developed from the swampy and beachy "Mogou Yingkou".However,the existing studies on modern Yingkou have only skimmed over the opening of the port as a historical starting point,and have not paid sufficient attention to what happened through the port.At the same time,traditional studies on the modernity of Chinese port cities generally use the "impact-response" model,in which the port,under the strong transformation of Western technological capital,becomes only a port to receive stimuli or an implanted symbol to show its modernity,while the real life of local residents is hidden.It is important to re-examine the relationship between the port and the city during this historical period in order to present the vivid and multi-layered transformation process of modern Yingkou.Through the collection of historical documents related to Yingkou Port and Yingkou,the modernity of Yingkou as a city is embedded in the practices of local residents,and it is found that the role of the port goes far beyond the connection with the outside world and the circulation of materials.The construction of the port’s modernity in the city is developed through a practical logic,from three levels:physical space,production space and interaction space.The study found that at the physical space level,the port influenced the layout of urban planning,the laying out of transportation networks,the provision of functional facilities,and brought about a mixture of styles in the architecture of the commercial port;in the production space,the outward-looking economy relying on the port became the main industry,and changed from cottage industry to the rise of national industry and commerce,and the introduction of advanced machinery through the port led to the large-scale development of industry;under the influence of the Western system,traditional economic organizations such as the guilds also underwent institutional reform,and the chamber of commerce system was established.Under the influence of the Western system,traditional economic organizations such as guild houses were reformed and the chamber of commerce system was established.Public space and civic culture developed hand in hand.In modern times,the dock and port area has been transformed into a cultural and historical street,carrying the city’s historical and cultural memories.The essence of communication lies in the construction of relationships.Yingkou Port opens up its mediality and connects,converges and regulates people,things and objects originally scattered in different places,and initiates new relationships and building a special urban modernity.