https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0551-5778
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ABSTRACT
Canton (present-day Guangzhou) has long flourished as a port city. As the city expanded in the nineteenth century, the risks of conflagrations increased; streets became more crowded, buildings were more often made of wood, and there was more use of open fires. The reconstruction of Canton after conflagrations provides an excellent way to observe the resilience of urban space, understood here as the result of interactions among different stakeholders. This paper explores how authorities, local communities, foreigners, and Hong merchants addressed fires and rebuilt through laws, regulations, technologies and cooperation, and how responses to fire destruction shaped urban space. Divers stakeholders affected the reconstruction of buildings and streets. The government made laws to widen streets, communities built watchtowers, and foreigners made new plans for Thirteen Factories, a neigbhorhood along the Pearl River. At the same time, conflicts between communities and foreigners obstructed plans for urban transformation and maintained the stability of urban structures. The communities kept the traditional local community organizations the ‘Kaifong’ (local organization in street) who opposed the widening streets and fought against proposed fire zones around Thirteen Factories, thus pitching local interests against those of the foreigners in a complex social, political, and cultural context.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Bankoff et al., Flammable Cities.
2 Hein, ‘Resilient Tokyo’; Hein, ‘Shaping Tokyo’.
3 Noble, A Voyage to the East Indies, 219.
4 Zhang and Liu, ‘The Exploration of the Late Qing Dynasty’s Fire Disaster,’ 30–35.
5 Peng, Modernity and Locality; Farris, Enclave to Urbanity.
6 Yang, ‘The Relationship of the Construction of Long Bund,’ 12–17.
7 Abeel, Journal of a Residence in China, 76.
8 Zhang, ‘The Several Conflagrations,’ 193.
9 Bridgman, ‘Fire Insurance in Canton,’ 30–37.
10 Huang, The New Regulations of Guangdong Province.
11 Gray, Walks in the City of Canton, 16.
12 Zhang and Liu, ‘The Exploration of the Late Qing Dynasty’s Fire Disaster,’ 30–35.
13 Qiu, ‘The Negotiation in Temples,’ 187–203.
14 He, ‘The Development of Kaifong Organization,’ 37–46.
15 Gray, Walks in the City of Canton, 31–32.
16 Bridgman ‘Regulations to Prevent Fires and Promote the Public Security,’ 332–333. This article was translated from Chinese. The original one was missed. It is said by the translator that the document appeared as early as 1817, recorded by Li Changjin of the District of Nanhai. Printed and published by Kung, at the Kingshu Office.
17 General Affairs Section of Guangzhou Municipal Council, The Abstract of Municipal Affairs of Canton, 2.
18 Liang, Study of Thirteen Hongs of Guangdong, 307–303.
19 Morse, The Chronicles of the East India Company Trading to China, 327.
20 Bridgman. ‘Fire Insurance in Canton,’ 30–37.
21 Morse, The Chronicles of the East India Company Trading to China, 66.
22 Becket and Dehondt, A Voyage to the East Indies, 223.
23 Conner, The Hongs of Canton, 39.
24 Dyke, Images of the Canton Factories, 83.
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Notes on contributors
Xueping Gu
Xueping Gu is PhD Student at School of Architecture, South China University of Technology and Visiting Student at Delft University of Technology with a grant from the China Scholarship Council. The article is related to her PhD research.
Carola Hein
Carola Hein is Professor History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology, Professor at Leiden and Erasmus University and UNESCO Chair Water, Ports and Historic Cities. Her recent books include: Oil Spaces (2021), Urbanisation of the Sea (2020), Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage (2020), The Routledge Planning History Handbook (2018).