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ABSTRACT
This article examines the planning intentions and practices of sixteen administrative cities in Taiwan during 1683-1895, focusing on their relationship with the giant city system of Qing Dynasty. Since Taiwan was brought under Qing’s rule in 1683, sixteen cities were gradually planned and constructed as government seats to achieve spatial governance of new territory. These cities thus became a small but typical group within the entire city system, which included over 1500 members at that time. How were these cities planned and constructed in such remote, undeveloped territories? What principles and methodology had been strictly complied with or actively adjusted in their planning, facing the reality of various topography, unstable policies, diverse social demands, and changing situations of different times? This article attempts to answer the questions from four aspects: city site selection, city-wall shaping, functional facility configuration, and planning and construction sequence. Multiple study materials were employed in this research to reconstruct and analyse historical planning practices, including officially compiled local gazetteers, multisource historical records, digital elevation model(DEM), and field survey data. This study aims to enrich the understanding of city planning history in Taiwan, and to reveal these cities’ conformity and variety to the age-old Chinese city-planning tradition.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Professor Elijah Sheng-Lin Chang(Taiwan University) and Professor Hwa-San Kwan(Tunghai University) for their help during the author’s field survey in Taiwan, and Professor Baihao Li(Southeast University) and Professor Congrong He(Tsinghua University) for their advice on this study. Additional thanks would be given to Dr. Meng-Ying Lee and Dr. Yao Wang.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Davidson, The Island of Formosa Past and Present; Mancall, Formosa Today; Knapp, China’s Island Frontier: Studies in the Historical Geography of Taiwan; Rubinstain, Taiwan: A New History; Zhang, and Tao, A History of Taiwan: From Prehistory to the Present.
2 Chiang, “Walled Cities and Towns in Taiwan”; Pannell, T’ai-Chung, T’ai-Wan: Structure and Function; Schinz, The Magic Square; Lamley, “The Formation of Cities: Initiative and Motivation in Building Three Walled Cities in Taiwan”.
3 Yin, “Taipei Shefu Zhucheng Kao”; Hsiao, Qingdai Taiwan (Tainan) Fucheng Kongjian Bianqian De Lunshu; Lai, 1945 Nian Yiqian Taichung Diyu Kongjian Xingshi Zhi Zhuanhua; Huang, “Qingdai Taiwan ‘Hsinchu Cheng’ Chengqiang Zhi Xingzhu”; Chen, “Qingdai Changhua Xiuzhu Zhuancheng Zhi Yanjiu”; Zhang, Magong (1604-1945): Yige Taiwan Chuantong Chengzhen Kongjian Xiandaihua Bianqian Zhi Yanjiu; Liu, “Qingdai Fengshan Xiancheng De Yingjian Yu Qianyi”; Chen, Kongjian Zhi Lishi Shehui Bianqian: Yi Ilan Wei Ge’an.
4 Schinz, The Magic Square; Skinner, The City in Late Imperial China; Chang, “The Morphology of Walled Capitals”; Steinhardt, Chinese Imperial City Planning.
5 Besides these administrative cities, there were several spontaneously constructed towns in Qing Taiwan. These towns are not discussed in this article but are illustrated in Figure 1 for reference.
6 Zhou, Zhongguo Difang Xingzheng Zhidu Shi, 203.
7 Wu, A Brief History of Ancient Chinese City Planning; Fu, Zhongguo Gudai Jianzhu Gongcheng Guanli He Jianzhu Dengji Zhidu Yanjiu; Sun, “Qianlun Zhongguo Gudai Chengshi Guihua De Sange Chuantong”; Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Vol.II; Feuchtwang, An Anthropological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy.
8 Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. I, 120, Vol. III, 517-520; Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature.
9 The other five prefectures and counties, namely Taipei, Taiwan (Taichung), Pulishe, Keelung, and Nanya, hadn’t compiled local gazetteers before 1895 due to their late establishment.
10 Chen, Taiwan Dizhi.
11 Such as Fort Zeelandia(1624) in Anping, Fort Provintia(1653) in Tainan, Fort San Salvador(1626) in Keelung, and Fort San Domingo (1628) in Taipei.
12 Average City-designating Time refers to the average time that a new city was designated in each stage. It equals the time length of this stage divided by the number of new cities established. This indicator is used in this article to quantitatively compare the speed of city establishment in three stages.
13 Taiwan Prefecture, Taiwan County, Fengshan County, and Chulo County.
14 Gao, Taiwan Fuzhi (1696), Vol.5; Zhou, Chongxiu Taiwan Fuzhi (1712), Vol.5.
15 Chen, Qingdai Taiwan Yimin Shehui Yanjiu.
16 Changhua County, Tamsui Subprefecture, Penghu Subprefecture, and Komalan Subprefecture.
17 Yu, Xuxiu Taiwan Fuzhi (1761), Vol.5; Lien, Taiwan Tongshi, 128-130.
18 Zhou, Chongxiu Taiwan Fuzhi (1712), Vol.2; Yu, Xuxiu Taiwan Fuzhi (1761), Vol.2; Zhou, Changhua Xianzhi (1834), Vol.2; Chen, Tamsui Tingzhi (1871), Vol.3.
19 This policy was initiated by Shen Baozhen(1820-1879) in 1875 and was implemented in the following decades until the end of Qing’s rule in Taiwan.
20 Taichung got its name during Japanese colonial period (1895-1945). When initially established as a prefectural capital in 1887, the city’s official name was Taiwan Prefecture, which had belonged to present-day Tainan city for the previous 204 years.
21 Li is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. 1 Li in the Qing Dynasty equals approximately 576 m.
22 Zhou, Chulo Xianzhi (1717), Vol.1.
23 Wang, Chongxiu Fengshan Xianzhi (1764), Vol.1.
24 Liu, Chongxiu Fujian Taiwan Fuzhi (1742), Vol.3.
25 Zhou, Changhua Xianzhi (1834), Vol.1.
26 Zheng, Tamsui Tingzhi Gao (1834), Vol.1.
27 Chen, Komalan Tingzhi (1852), Vol.7.
28 Ke, Komalan Zhilue (1837), Vol.13.
29 Li, Guanzi, Vol.1.
30 Shen, “Taipei Nijian Yifu Sanxian Zhe (1875).” In Fujian Taiwan Zouzhe, 55-59. Shen Baozhen (1820-1879) was an imperial envoy assigned to Taiwan to deal with defensive and foreign affairs in 1874. The following year, he proposed setting up Taipei Prefecture in northern Taiwan and determined the city site after field survey.
31 Liu, “Taiwan Junxian Tiangai Checai Zhe(1887).” Liu Mingchuan (1836-1896), the first governor of Taiwan Province, surveyed several alternative sites in the Taichung Basin and determined the final one for the provincial city.
32 Zhou, Changhua Xianzhi (1834),Vol.1.
33 Ding, “Choushang Dayuan Yizha Taiwan Houshan Shu(1877).” Ding Richang (1823-1882) led the site-selection work for Pulishe city during his tenure as the governor of Fujian Province.
34 Shen, “Qing Langqiao Zhucheng Sheguan Zhe (1874).” In Fujian Taiwan Zouzhe, 23-25. In 1875, Shen Baozhen also proposed setting up Hengchun County in southern Taiwan. He surveyed the terrain and approved the site of Hengchun city proposed by his subordinate Liu Ao (1829-1887).
35 A traditional core geomantic principle that was believed to be proposed by Guo Pu (276-324).
36 Liu, “Bingfu Chouyi Yizhu Geqingyou (1881).”
37 Schinz, The Magic Square: Cities in Ancient China.
38 Steinhardt, Chinese Imperial City Planning, 12.
39 Han, Qingdai Fucheng De Chengzhi Yu Yingjian Huodong Yanjiu.
40 Chang, “The Morphology of Walled Capitals.”
41 Liu, “Qingdai Taiwan De Zhucheng”; Lamley, “The Formation of Cities: Initiative and Motivation in Building Three Walled Cities in Taiwan.”
42 The length data of city walls are recorded in each city’s corresponding gazetteers in the unit of Li. The area data are measured and calculated by the author according to city plans and other materials.
43 Su, “Suitang Chengzhi Leixing Chutan (Tigang).”
44 Schinz, The Magic Square: Cities in Ancient China. 410.
45 Lai, 1945 Nian Yiqian Taichung Diyu Kongjian Xingshi Zhi Zhuanhua, 50.
46 Within the twenty-three provincial capitals in Qing Dynasty, eighteen were inherited from Ming and had been planned and constructed before 1644. As for the other five built in Qing period, four of them were initially planned as prefectural or county-level cities rather than provincial ones.
47 Sima(c.145-c.86BC), Shi Ji, Vol.8.
48 Sun, “Qianlun Zhongguo Gudai Chengshi Guihua De Sange Chuantong.”
49 Da Qing Hui Dian[Collected Statutes of Great Qing] was initially compiled in the Kangxi reign-period and revised four times in the reign-periods of Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, and Guangxu respectively. The Qianlong version (published in 1764) was mainly adopted in this article to investigate the compliance of facility constructions in Taiwan cities.
50 Yuntao, Qinding Da Qing Hui Dian(1764),Vol.72.
51 Compliance Rate of a specific facility refers to the ratio of the number of cities that have constructed this facility to the total number of sixteen cities.
52 Yuntao, Qinding Da Qing Hui Dian (1764),Vol.72.
53 Ibid, Vol.32, Vol.45.
54 Ibid,Vol.12, Vol.72.
55 Lien, Taiwan Tongshi, 416-417.
56 Yuntao, Qinding Da Qing Hui Dian(1764), Vol.43,Vol.45,Vol.46,Vol.47,Vol.49.
57 Ibid,Vol.19, Vol.32.
58 Prior Construction Rate refers to the ratio of the number of cities that prioritized building this facility among the four representative facilities to the total number of cities that have built this facility. It indicates the priority degree of the facility’s construction in a city’s planning and construction process.
59 Zhou, Chongxiu Taiwan Fuzhi (1712), Vol.10.
60 Last Construction Rate refers to the ratio of the number of cities that built this facility posterior-most among the four representative facilities to the total number of cities that have built this facility. It indicates the hysteresis degree of the facility’s construction in city planning and construction process.
61 Li, “Xinjian Chenghuang Miao Ji (1719).”
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Shimeng Sun
Shimeng Sun is an assistant professor of Urban Planning at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University (China). She graduated with a PhD in Urban and Rural Planning from Tsinghua. Then she did research at Taiwan University in 2015, the University of Nottingham (UK) in 2016 as a visiting scholar, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US) in 2019–2020 as a SPURS Fellow. She has published six books and more than 30 research papers, including Nature and Morality: The Planning and Design of Cities in Historic Yongzhou Region (2019). Her research focuses on the history and theory of urban planning in East Asia.