Postwar Urban Reconstruction in China 1937 - 1958

This research explains how urban reconstruction in China during and after World War II (WWII) laid the foundation for the country to become the world's largest urban society. In focusing on the war as a transformative period in the development of China's cities, instead of the Communist Revolution, it writes the country into the global history of urban change throughout the 20th century. This research begins with the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, which is when widespread urban destruction commenced. It ends with the start of the Great Leap Forward in 1958, which marked the intensification of policies to create industrial socialist cities.

The research proceeds in two stages. The first stage establishes a national picture of wartime urban destruction during WWII and the civil war between the Communists and Nationalists that followed. It then traces the ideas circulating nationally about cities, and how they influenced successive governments' ideologies about the type of urban society that should be created. Finally, it explores central government plans for postwar urban reconstruction. The second stage takes five cities as case studies to investigate the relationship between central and local government, and to explore how local inhabitants reconstructed their cities. The cities that form case studies are Changsha, Lanzhou, Shenyang, Xuzhou and Wuxi. Different regions in China experienced war differently depending on whether they were occupied by the Japanese, or were under Nationalist or Communist Government control. Comparing the experience of these cities across the country demonstrates that how these varying experiences influenced the development of China's urban society in the second half of the 20th century.

The methods for investigating the four research questions are described below.
a. What was the extent of wartime destruction in Chinese cities?
Statistical data on damage to buildings, the number of wartime casualties and refugees, and losses to business will be collected from a newly published collection of archival materials in the National Library of China in Beijing. I will work with a research assistant based at the project partner in Shanghai to create a database of wartime destruction across China as the foundation for the project.

b. What ideas about cities influenced postwar urban reconstruction?
Ideas on urban reconstruction and development in China were circulated in books and journals on urban planning. Working with the research assistant in Shanghai, I will record who was writing about cities, what ideas they were writing about, and where they worked. This will show how China was part of a transnational discussion on postwar urban reconstruction, and make it possible to track continuities in ideas, people and institutions throughout this tumultuous period.

c. What was the role of successive governments in reconstructing Chinese cities?
Documents on the relationship between central and local government planning before 1949 are accessible in the National Archives in Taiwan. Municipal archives in all the case study cities provide information on how local officials and social organizations managed postwar reconstruction.

d. How did urban populations rebuild their lives after war?
Oral histories conducted by the Communist party between the 1950s and 1980s contain important information on how people found food, shelter, and began to rebuild their lives.

Throughout this project I will work with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), which will provide the assistance necessary to conduct research in archives and libraries in China. I have collaborated with this organization for over ten years, and last year successfully completed a project on the habitable city in Chinese history. I have detailed knowledge of the archives, libraries and electronic databases that I will need to find historical resources, and the linguistic skills necessary for this project.

Who will benefit?

In the UK, teachers of Mandarin Chinese and their students will benefit from lesson plans and teaching materials designed specifically for secondary schools. I will work with Katharine Carruthers, the director of the UCL Institute of Education Confucius Institute for Schools (IOE CI). IOE CI supports schools that teach the Cambridge pre-U Mandarin Chinese syllabus. There are currently over 30 schools in England teaching this syllabus, and this is projected to rise to over 45 next year. Some of these schools are part of the Mandarin Excellence Program, which IOE CI runs in partnership with the British Council. Supported by funding from the Department of Education, this is designed to deliver 5,000 speakers of Mandarin to a high level of fluency by 2020.

In China, urban planners, architects, heritage practitioners, government officials, and other professionals will benefit from this research. They are involved in the planning, design, construction and management of cities. The project partner, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), is part of a national network of academies of social sciences, which are research organizations that work with the Chinese government. The project will use this network to identify individuals who use urban history to inform contemporary planning and heritage. SASS will also assist in creating a social media network in China to enable knowledge exchange.

How will they benefit?

Helping students to understand the history and culture of China is essential to creating a global knowledge economy in the 21st century. The government recognized this when it set up the Mandarin Excellence Program. Teachers of the pre-U Mandarin Chinese syllabus are required to teach Chinese culture, which contains a history component covering the period from 1937 to 1956. Students will benefit from having a deeper insight into an important area of Chinese history. Teachers delivering the Cambridge pre-U syllabus are trained in the delivery of Chinese language, but not history. They will benefit from having input into the creation of teaching materials and lesson plans specifically tailored to the subjects they have to teach. The website will also contain teaching materials that will be useful in class. Text will be carefully chosen for the Mandarin level of the students, and will be translated, so it can also be used in language teaching. This could help to inspire interest in taking Chinese at university.

Professionals and policy makers often focus on discrete projects with a short timescale. History reminds us of urban problems that persist, and solutions that have worked or failed in the past. Taking an historical approach to understanding Chinese cities reveals the limits of policy-making. It shows how complex political, economic, social and cultural processes can derail attempts to plan and manage cities. It exposes the unintended consequences of government policies to plan and manage urban growth. History also provides examples of successful policies. Cities in China survived the experience of war, and postwar reconstruction laid the foundations for the emergence of China's urban society. The lessons of success could provide inspiration for those seeking solutions to contemporary problems. Successful strategies of the past could be adapted to contemporary urban problems such as migration, natural disasters, and the impact of rapid urban change on communities. Heritage professionals and museum curators could also draw inspiration from the research for exhibitions. They can use the resource to remember and to commemorate wartime experiences in Chinese cities. This will benefit the wider public in China by bringing communities together, and allowing individuals and families to engage with their own wartime urban past.