From The "villagers" To "the Public"

Before opening the port,HanKow was already a prosperous town. The majority of local citizens were businessmen from all over the country,which was the distinctive migration character of local population structure and formed profound mercantile tradition in folk culture;After opening the port,HanKow's economic structure had experienced dramatic transformation,from an inland town with feudal tradition to an international port city in modern sense. The successive establishment of five concessions of British, Russia, Germany, France and Japan changed the city's layout,and caused it to become an more opening city along the river. Further, alien residents from those countries regarding concession as the model,had demonstrated to local citizens the advanced material civilization of the western world,and implemented cultural actions with western spiritual style and features,which in a certain degree set an example to local residents.Under the influence of concession culture, modern HanKow residents took on evidently different characters from before in aspects of values,social manner, life customs and so on. They thoroughly changed traditional concept, and attached importance to commercial development, and obviously heightened merchant's social position. Merchants took part in the city's autonomy actively, through establishing diversified communities and corporations. Social interaction was extremely frequent. A new social class specially engaged in communication came forth,and a new social relationship was established, which focused on contractual relationship and aimed for business profits. This newly patterned institutional environment endowed local residents, partially including women, with certain freedom and independent personality. The traditional"True of defenses"conception gradually shifted to an open mentality owned by an immigrating city. It sought for and imitated new and strange things pursued new life style, absorbed and digested western culture imported from concessions.Thus it could be concluded that HanKow residents had gradually changed from traditional"villagers"to modern"citizens"under the impact of concession culture.