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Abstract
In early modern China, several modern construction plans were carried out in Hangzhou's ancient city centre and West Lake, leading to the formation of a lake-city combined urban form, which is now valued for its uniqueness and characteristically Chinese cityscape aesthetic. The catalyst for this process of combining the ancient city and West Lake was a plan titled ‘Building a New Market’ (1914), developed on the basis of a draft presented in the Zhejiang provincial assembly during the late Qing Dynasty, striving for urban renewal by promoting West Lake. After the Xinhai Revolution, seizing the opportunity of physical and temporal changes, local officials successfully implemented this plan by using pioneering planning methods to strengthen the link between the ancient city and West Lake. The steps of this plan's implementation, namely ‘pull down the city wall – build roads – construct new market’, widely influenced other cities in the early 1920s. Also, this plan led to two subsequent projects, the Circling Road plan (1920) and West Lake Expo (1922/1927), furthering the urbanization reform of West Lake aimed at making it part of the city.
Acknowledgements
I cordially thank Prof Yukio Nishimura and Dr Setsuji Nagase for their instruction on my Ph.D. research, which forms the basis of this article. I also thank Prof Shun-ichi Watanabe, Prof Fukuo Akimoto, Prof Michael Hebbert and my anonymous reviewers for their advice, which helped me improve and finalize this article; the National Natural Science Foundation of China for its funding; and Eugenia Sokolskaya for her proofreading.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributors
Fu Shulan ME (Southeast University, China) Ph.D. (The University of Tokyo, Japan). Fu Shulan grew up in Hangzhou, China. She moved to Tokyo in 2008 and pursued a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, with a research thesis in the history of Hangzhou urban planning. After graduation, she worked as a research associate for Prof Yukio Nishimura at the University of Tokyo, primarily responsible for his culture heritage conservation project in Nepal and community-participated town planning projects in Japan. She is currently a lecturer at the Department of Urban Engineering at Zhejiang University and also a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo.
Notes
1. Li and Bao, “Famous Historical Cultural Cities,” 98–104; also see Wang and Ruan, [Preservation of Cultural Cities].
2. Wang, “Chapter 7,” 107.
3. See Nakamura, City Formed by Landscape; and Kawahara, “Old Town Planning.”
4. “Yong Huai Xie Kang Le / Zuo Xiao Shan Shui Cheng [Evoke the lasting memories of Xie Kang Le / Roaring inside Shan-shui city (a city formed by mountain and water)]” appears in Lin Jing-xi's twelfth–-century poem “Deng Xie Ke Yan [Step on Xie-ke Rock].” Ren, “Features of Lan Zhou,” 49–50.
5. Qian, “China Must Build,” 661–666.
6. Wang, “Intellectual Hero,” 352–371.
7. The public discussion about Shan-shui Cities in the academic world was started by the publication of a letter in Qian, Urban Problems, in which Qian called for a conference to discuss the Shan-shui City issue. A conference was organized, and Qian Xuesen's speech was published in two major journals, covering both architecture and city planning. See Qian, Architecture Journal; Qian, City Planning Review. This discussion was advanced by leading scholars Wu, “Shan-shui City,” and Zhou, “Shan-Shui City Construction,” and further stressed by the chief editors of major academic journals and publishers. See Bao, “The Shan-shui City”; Gu, “Ecological Civilization”; Bao, “Qian Xuesen” 2000; and Gu, “Qian Xuesen's efforts”. They did not only write articles themselves but also encouraged research and publications about Shan-shui Cities.
8. See Chen, Utilized Modern Metropolitan; Dai, Exploring the Development; Rowe and Wu, Shan-Shui City; and Fu, Shan-shui City.
9. “Hang Zhou Shi Qu Yu Xi Hu Lian Cheng Yi Ti [Hangzhou's city centre is combined with West Lake],” in Zhou, “Several Issues in Planning,” 12.
10. See Esherick, Remaking the Chinese City; Carroll, Between Heaven and Modernity; and Cook, “Bridges to Modernity.”
11. Liu, Qian Tang Ji.
12. Que, Illustrated History.
13. As stated in the UNESCO decision file for the nomination of West Lake as a World Heritage site, “[it reflects] the very specific cultural tradition of improving landscapes to create a series of ‘pictures’ that reflect what was seen as a perfect fusion between people and nature, a tradition that evolved in relevance to the present day.”
14. “Xi Hu Zhi Fan Hua Lai You Hang Zhou, Hang Zhou Zhi Fan Hua Lai You Xi Hu, Xiang Yi Wei Ming, Bu Ke Xu Yu Li Ye,” in Zhang, Landscape History 265.
15. Takasu, “Report of Japan's concession,” 120.
16. “Qing Tai Wang Jiang Er Men Zhi Pang Ge Pi Xin Men Yi, Tie Gui Tong Zhi [An extra gate was added beside Qingtai gate and Wangjiang gate, from which the railway pass through the city].” in Xu, Revised Guidebook 696.
17. “Tie Lu Gong Yuan, Zai Qing Tai Men Ce, Bu Zhi Shen Jing, Rao Hua Zhu. Gu Lin Zhi Si, Zai Qing Tai Men Cheng Zhan She Li, Yi Wei Ping Di, Yi Jian Tie Lu Gong Si, Qian Zhu Ma Lu, Yue Ling Zhi Lu [Railway Park, Qingtai gate, was planned well, with plenty of flowers and bamboo. Old Lingzhi Temple was pulled down, the Railway Company building was built; in front of the company, a road for cars was constructed, called Lingzhi road].” in ibid., 699.
18. Research Associate et al., “Li You [Reasons],” 257–258.
19. Ibid., “Ban Fa [Methods],” 258–262.
20. Ibid.,“First Meeting (October 12),” 263–264.
21. Ibid.,“Second Meeting (October 19),” 264–265.
22. “Tu Wei Zhu Fang Jiang Jun Ji Yi Er Qi Ying You Li Zhe Suo Zhu Zhong Zhi,” in Ruan, “Road Construction Policy,” 9.
23. “Ming Guo Zhi Chu, Shou Xian Chai Xie Qi Ying. Si Shi Qi Ren Zhi You Li Zhe, Zao Yi Xiang Shuai Ta Qu, Er Ping Kun Zhe Duo … Suo You Ying Fang, Da Bu Chai Hui, Jian Zhu Ma Lu, Gai Zao Ming Chan Shang Dian, Ming Zhi Yue Xin Shi Chang. Zhi Yu Ge Cheng Men, Yi Zhu Jian Chai Xie. Zui Xian Chai Xie Zhe, Wei Yong Jing, Qian Tang, Qing Bo San Men. Xi Hu Zhi Mei Bu Si Xi Shi Zhi Ping Yu Cheng Wai, Hang Ren Wei Xi Hu Ban Jin Cheng Ye.” in Zhong, Hangzhou, 179.
24. Due to the period's civil wars and regime changes, documents between 1909 and 1925 remain incomplete, especially those recording New Market construction details. In addition to the documents relating to the New Market construction plan, maps, chronicles, newspapers, and travel notes about Hangzhou and West Lake were also reviewed to provide this study with concrete historical evidence. Related materials include 13 volumes of chronicles (travel notes), 21 historical maps, 12 West Lake painting maps, 4 tour guide books, and hundreds of newspapers and magazines from the Zhejiang library.
25. Quan Zhe Gong Bao [Quanzhe Daily], 23 October 1913.
26. Zhi Jiang Ri Bao [Zhijiang Daily], 7 November 1913.
27. Quan Zhe Gong Bao [Quanzhe Daily], 29 April 1914.
28. Yan Bao [Yan Daily], June 4, 1914.
29. Quan Zhe Gong Bao [Quanzhe Daily], 19 February 1914.
30. Yan Bao [Yan Daily], 31 July 1914.
31. Quan Zhe Gong Bao [Quanzhe Daily], 20 February 1914.
32. See note 22 above.
33. Xu. Revised Guidebook. 685–728.
34. Issues of the local newspaper Zhi Jiang Ri Bao [Zhijiang Daily] between 3 August and 1 September 1917, included more than 10 news reports about foreigners from Japan, the Netherlands, UK, etc.
35. “Xin Hai Zhi Hou, Qi Ying Yi Jiao Kai Pi Ma Lu, Bi Zhi Ren Sheng Zao Yu Shi Hui, Zhan Ran Yi Lu Tou Jiao, Ruo Bu Cheng Ji Tuo Zhan, Wu Yi Xian Qi Mi Zang.” in Qi, “Plan of Construction,” 205.
36. Ibid., 205–208.
37. Hangzhou Municipal government, Special Issue, 1.
38. Not all issues of the newspaper survived, so only a part of the plan, published 4 November, is available. In the passage, the author states three of his reasons (numbered 6–8) for holding West Lake Quanye Expo: to invigorate industries, to gain experience hosting a large scale expo, and to educate through leisure. Also, the proposal part before reason 6 was recorded in the book ‘Special issue of West Lake Expo (1937)’ as ‘Former preparation plan of West Lake Expo’ by Construction Department of Zhejiang Prefecture.
39. See note 37 above.
40. “Hu Dong Jian Cheng Re Nao Chang Suo, Xi Hu Yi Wei Shi Qi You Ji. Xin Shi Chang Zhi Ma Lu Dang Ping, Bu Rang Shang Hai Zu Jie, Ceng Lou Zhi Bi … Hu Dong Zhi Xiu Shi Gai Zhi, Xin You Bi Yi, Ren Gong Tian Qiao, Xiang De Yi Zhang.” in Hangzhou Liu Yi Shu Ju. Quick Guide 983.
41. Lu, “Xu [Forwards],” 1.