Research On The Traffic And City Development Of Chengdu In The Qing Dynasty

Traffic is a base of civilization interchange and developing of city, which shows its developing level and denotes its radiation scope.During the Qing Dynasty, the traffic of Chengdu was transforming from traditional farming times to industry times. In this period, the sedan by using manpower gradually turned to half-machine traffic tools and to automobile by using energy power. At the same time, the plan of building Chuanhan railway was promoted and carried out. Researching the traffic of Chengdu which was in that period can make us grasp the laws of traffic development from productive forces and social change, and we can realize the goal of writing this thesis.This dissertation discusses Chengdu in a wide eyesight to Sichuan province and take the Qing Dynasty as writing background. In Sichuan province, there were four roads which were radiating from the city of Chengdu by post-road: The first one was so-called east-road connecting Chengdu and Chongqing. The second one was the central road which began with Chengdu and stretch Eastward, by getting over Longquan mountain range and go out of The Sichuan Basin at last. The third one was the west-road, the only road to Sichuan and Xizang. The forth one was the north-road, which started from the northeast of Chengdu, got touch with Sichuan and Shanxi Province. In addition, the waterway was Changjiang River trade-channel, which was relying on Minjiang River and Tuojiang River.Wheelbarrow, two-wheeled vehicle drawn by man, sedan, a kind of litter and boat were the main external traffic tools at Chengdu in the Qing Dynasty because of the restricting of low productive force. The wheelbarrow, mainly used in suburban districts, had produced important effect on economy. Sedan and litter were inside-traffic tools of city. The two-wheeled vehicle drawn by man also named rickshaw was introduced from Japan in the end of the 19th century, but hadn't been widespread. On the contrary, traditional sedan was in advantage position at the public traffic.This dissertation not only discusses the manage of post-road, vehicle, sedan and ship , but present the building of street, bridge, river and street.The emphasis of this dissertation is the moving about city population, material and information, and the main aim is to show that the developing of city must depend on systematic traffic and traffic managing.