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ABSTRACT
Urban developments steered by major events have a long history. Already from the second half of the nineteenth century, World Expositions were mobilized as opportunities for urban upgrading. This article highlights the spatial effects of three Chinese major expositions on their host cities in the early twentieth century (1906–1929). It will in particular highlight the impact on urban development and planning, such as the construction of modern public complexes, the promotion of new urban districts, and the catalysis of structural urban transitions. Considering the significant historical, political, and social analogies, we argue in this article that expositions were adopted under the influence of foreign examples as a model of planning interventions to prompt the modernization of the host cities in China. However, while there was an important transfer of spatial concepts and models, we contend that Chinese authorities played a leading role in importing and exploiting these expositions as strategic instruments. They did so by actively and consciously mobilizing multiple urban actors such as social elites, but also civil society leaders and merchants. This article based on archival research on three expositions, provides novel insights into the urban history of the host cities during the exposition period.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Zhe Liu is a PhD candidate at the School of Architecture, Southeast University (China). She has worked as a visiting researcher at Ghent University in Belgium from 2017 to 2018. She has a keen interest in the urban planning history in modern Nanjing, with special focuses on exposition history and urban park history.
Pieter M.K.J. Uyttenhove is Professor in theory and history of urbanism at the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at Ghent University. He is Co-director of the UGent laboratory for urbanism Labo S, and has developed and directed in recent years research on urban design, heritage and landscape, and on topics such as (chrono)photography; new landscapes; urbanism and conservation of First World War landscapes and villages.
Luce Beeckmans is a post-doctoral research fellow funded by the Flanders Research Foundation (FWO) and affiliated to Ghent University (Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, head office), University of Leuven (Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre) and Antwerp University (Urban Studies Centre) in Belgium. She has a keen interest in the circulation of spatial knowledge between Europe and Africa, both within the framework of colonization and development cooperation and as a result of trans-national migration.
Xin Zheng is a full professor at the School of Architecture, Southeast University (China). His research interests include the history of landscape architecture, heritage conservation, urban regeneration and urban design.
Notes
1 Metropolis, “Impact of Major Events.”
2 Chalkley and Essex, “Urban Development,” 369.
3 Gold and Gold, Olympic Cities; Gold and Gold, “Event Spaces,” 350–65; Steinbrink, Haferburg, and Ley, “Urban Renewal,” 15–28.
4 Monclús, “International Exhibitions,” 215–39.
5 See, for example, Gold and Gold, Cities of Culture; Roche, Mega-Events and Modernity; Walden, Becoming Modern.
6 See, for example, Caramellino, Magistris, and Deambrosis, “Mega Events,” 617–20; Monclús, International Exhibitions; Roche, Mega-Events and Social Change; Gold and Gold, Cities of Culture.
7 Robinson, Ordinary Cities.
8 Sheppard, Leitner, and Maringanti, “Provincializing Urbanism,” 893–900.
9 Other valuable research on expositions in the East Asian region, see Urushima, “1970 Osaka Expo,” 635–47.
10 Chan and Li, “Entrepreneurial City,” 666–86.
11 Roche, Mega-Events and Social Change, 223–45.
12 Regarding historical scholarships, see, for example, Greenhalgh, Fair World; Jackson, Expo.
13 Findling and Pelle, World's Fairs. It refers to Godley, “China's World's Fair,” 503–22.
14 See, for example, Ma, “First Exhibition,” 73–8; Hong, “Social Development,” 204–10.
15 Xu and Aoki, “Nanyang Quanye Hui,” 641–54; “Quanye Exposition,” 388–95.
16 ‘Quanye’ means ‘encourage industry’. Although it was an exposition indeed, the official organizer did not prefer this name. We use Quanye Hui instead of ‘industrial exposition’ in this article with reference to Duan, “Preparing,” 1568–70.
17 Other typical and large-scale Chinese expositions include Chengdu Shangye Quangonghui (成都商業勸工會 1906), Shanghai Quanye Bolanhui (上海市勸業博覽會1908), Wuhan Quanye Jiangjinhui (武漢勸業獎進會1909), Shanghai Zhonghuaguohuo Zhanlanhui (上海中華國貨展覽會1928).
18 Regarding placing the importer at the central place of the investigation, see Nasr and Volait, “Introduction,” xi–xxxviii.
19 On the notion of ‘borrow’ and ‘edit’, see Ward, “Diffusion of Planning,” 40–60; King, “Planning Histories,” 1–14; Beeckmans, “Editing African City,” 615–27. On modernism in non-Western contexts, see, for example, Lu, Third World Modernism; Lim and Chang, Non West Modernist Past.
20 Sorkin, “See You in Disneyland,” 210.
21 Esherick, Chinese City.
22 Dong, “Development and Change,” 32–5.
23 On the production of urban space in historical Asian contexts, see Yeoh, Contesting Space.
24 Rabinow, “Space, Knowledge, and Power,” 437.
25 Building further on Foucault's notion of governmentality, see Legg, Urban Governmentalities.
26 On the power relations between the Chinese central state and municipal authorities, see Chu, Central and Local Governments; Li, Central and Local Governments.
27 Hosagrahar, Indigenous Modernities, 2.
28 Ong, “Worlding Cities,” 1–26. The concept of ‘worlding device’ is taken from Nkula-Wenz, see Nkula-Wenz, “Closer Look,“ 207–26.
29 Zhou, “Records,” 26–8.
30 Among them, 356,857 in Chinese areas; 61,709 Chinese citizens and 5987 foreigners in the concession. Source: Li, Chinese Population, 49.
31 After the second Opium War (1860), the United Kingdom, France, and the United States delineated the concession. Germany and Japan took the opportunity of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895 to open up concessions. In 1900, Russia, Italy, Belgium, and Austria set up concessions. This made a total of nine. The United States Concession was incorporated into the British Concession in 1902, so eight concessions remained. Source: Tianjin, Concession, 39–61.
32 Zhang and Hong, “Urban Morphology,” 93–8.
33 Rogaski, “Hygienic Modernity,” 34.
34 From the late Qing to early Republican era, the coastal areas of China could be divided into two parts: Beiyang included the northern provinces of Zhili, Liaoning, and Shandong; Nanyang covered the southern districts including Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
35 “Regulations of Hebei's New District Development 13 Terms.” Beiyangguanbao benshenggongdu [北洋官报·本省公牍], 23 February 1903.
36 Zhou, “Teachers Propose a Park,” 35–6.
37 Zhou, “Park Site Selection,” 19–20.
38 Zhang, Li, and Sun, “Public Park,” 33–40.
39 See note 37.
40 Zhou, “General Table,” 3.
41 Sun, “First Modern Park,” 10–13; Zhang, Li, and Sun, “Public Park.”
42 Guanyin refers to the bodhisattva venerated by Mahayana Buddhists and followers of Chinese folk religions, also known as the ‘Goddess of Mercy’ in English.
43 Zhou, “General Records,” 1–2.
44 Ibid.
45 On expositions and parks, see note 11 above, 180–219.
46 Morris, Marrow of the Nation, 17; Zhang, Li, and Sun, “Public Park.”
47 Gan, “Commerce Regulations,” 1486–8.
48 Hebei, Real Estate Records, 69.
49 Song, Tianjin Records, 265.
50 Tianjin, Construction Records, 540.
51 Xu and Aoki, “Quanye Exposition.”
52 Nanjing, Nanjing Population, 54.
53 Su, Literature Collection, 234.
54 “Political Ministers,” 10–12.
55 Chen Qi was the manager of the Jiangning Park Office and an important organizer of the NQH. He was inspired by a visit to the St. Louis World Expo and later travels across several European countries, including Germany, England, France, and Belgium.
56 Chen, “Establish Exposition,” 384; “Petition to Minister,” 5–8.
57 Duan, “Preparing,” 1568–70.
58 “NQH Records 1,” 8.
59 “On Relationship between Quanye Hui and Revitalization,” 1–2.
60 “Discussion,” 113–14. The report was based on an interview with Xiang Ruikun.
61 See note 59.
62 The Eight Banners were divisions combined with military, social, economic, and political functions, into which the Manchu officers, soldiers and their dependents were all placed. They provided a basic organizational framework of Manchu society and served as armies during war. Source: Elliott, Manchu Way, 39–42.
63 Xiang Ruikun graduated from Meiji University Japan in 1908 and served as the Principal of the Ministries of agriculture, industry, and commerce.
64 Zhang, “Petition on Arrangement,” 107–10.
65 Zhang, “Petition on Closure,” 10–13.
66 The primary source is Nanyang, Survey Book, 121–23; see also Xu and Aoki, “Nanyang Quanye Hui.”
67 Su and Yu, Inllustration, 18.
68 “China's First World's Fair,” 691.
69 Comparative studies between NQH and Osaka Fifth Domestic Quanye Exposition (1903), see Hong, Nationalism and Exhibition, 287–316.
70 “Quanye Records,” 11–13.
71 Nanyang, NQH Visit Guide, 47.
72 See note 70.
73 See note 71 above, 58.
74 See note 66.
75 “NQH Records 8,” 314.
76 Wang, Chinese Population, 61–2.
77 Sun Yat-sen, Guominzhengfu Jianguodagang, 1924.
78 “Political Declaration During the Political Administration [训政时期施政宣言].” Shenbao, 27 October 1927.
79 Zhang Renjie, Chairman of Zhejiang Provincial Government, a famous businessman, and Chairman of the Preparatory Committee had travelled to Europe and the United States, and visited the 1915 World Expo in Panama.
80 Quanguo, “Why Exposition,” 160.
81 Fu, “Shan-Shui Myth and History,” 363–90.
82 Fu and Yukio, “City-Lake Urban Morphology,” 15–22.
83 Wang and Zhao, Illustration, 182.
84 Quanguo, “General Report,” 265.
85 Zhou, Hangzhou, 8.
86 Xu, “Preperarion Process,” 27–62.
87 “The Grand View of Domestic Products [国货之大观].” Shenbao, 24 July 1929.
88 See note 85.
89 See note 82.
90 Hangzhou, Special Issue.
91 Ibid.
92 Referring to Fu, Scenic City, 85; and Wang and Zhao, Illustration, 182. In addition to the official visit manual published during the exposition, A Guide to the West Lake International Exposition (1929), An Essential Manual for Visiting the West Lake International Exposition (1929), other books such as On the Spot Walking Hangzhou West Lake Tour Guide (1929), West Lake Attractions Fast Tour (1929, the third edition), West Lake (1929), and more were published.
93 Monclús, “International Exhibitions”; Geppert, Fleeting Cities, 5.
94 Ward, “Diffusion of Planning,” 43. For a discussion of Ward's concepts, see Beeckmans, “Editing African City.”
95 We borrow the notion of ‘inter-referencing’ from Ong, “Worlding Cities,” 13–20.
96 On the notion of ‘innovation’, See Ward, Planning the City, 3–6.
97 See note 95 above, 3.
98 The notion of ‘editing’, ‘cut and paste’ are borrowed from King, “Planning Histories,” 11. Also inspiring, Beeckmans, “Editing African City.”
99 Cited from the translated version: Monclús, “International Exhibitions.” The primary source is Galopin, Les Expositions, 9–10.