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The study of urban history in the People's Republic of China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

David D. Buck
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Extract

Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, most of the topics associated with the study of urban history have languished largely unstudied beneath a pall of ideologically based neglect. The list of understudied subjects includes urban population, physical structure, social structure, economic activity, urban politics, urban planning and the environment, and urban culture. This lack of interest in urban history directly reflects the emphasis on the role of the peasantry as a creative force in Chinese history. The history of Chinese peasant uprisings and wars became the focus of attention and left little interest for what changes might have taken place in urban settings. Today, a combination of forces has generated considerable changes in the institutional structure of historical studies in China, as well as compelling historians to reconsider established research preferences. In this atmosphere it appears that for the first time since 1949 topics that concern urban historians in the West and Japan are receiving serious attention in the People's Republic of China. While it is still too early to speak of urban history in China, continuation of current trends in historical research over the next five to ten years will almost certainly bring this specialization into existence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History Yearbook , Volume 14 , May 1987 , pp. 61 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

Notes

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3 See Dixin, Xu and Chengming, Wu, Zhongguo ziben zhuyi mengya [Chinese Proto Capitalism] (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1986)Google Scholar which attempts to summarize this issue in a volume dealing with the appearance of proto-capitalist forms in agriculture, demography, handicraft production, among wage workers and in legal codes. The discussion includes conditions in trades such as silk, cotton, pottery, salt, tea, sugar, tobacco, wine and printing in traditional China and covers conditions from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. This is the first volume of a series entitled the History of the Development of Chinese Capitalism.

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24 No attempt has been made to discuss Chinese work on urban history prior to the seventh century A.D. In recent years considerable research has been done on city form, social structure and political institutions in Chinese cities during the period from 1800 to 770, but this article was written with the concerns of historians working in the modern era in mind. For a sample of work on ancient Chinese cities see Buck, David D. (ed.), ‘Archaeological explorations of the ancient capital of Lu at Qufu in Shandong’, Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, XIX, 1 (Fall 1986).Google Scholar

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27 Shu, Li, ‘Renmin qunzhong shi lishi de chuangzao?’ [‘Are the masses the creators of history?’], Lishi yanjiu [Historical Studies], V (1984).Google Scholar For some of the controversy see Guo Ruixiang's reply and Li Shu's rejoinder in Lishiyanjiu III (1986);Google Scholar Masin's, Zhu essay in Guangming ribao [Brillance Daily], 10 September 1986, 5Google Scholar, and Jijian, Tian, ‘Shixue yanjiu yingxiang “diertiao daolu” wanjin’ [‘Historical research should progress towards a second road’], Wenshizhe [Literature, History and Philosophy], II (1986).Google Scholar

28 Lishiyanjiu [Historical Studies], I (1986), 1.Google Scholar

29 ‘Architect's life: a story of success and final tragedy’, China Daily, 25 November 1986, 5;Google Scholar ‘Liang Sicheng: striving to preserve Old Beijing’, China Daily, 27 November 1986, 5.Google Scholar

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