Centre And Margin: Cultural Space And City Life Of Qingdao (1898-1937)

Cultural space is another measure of city life. This dissertation, based on analysis of specific physical spaces between the year of 1898 and 1937, discusses formation and change of different cultural spaces as well as their roles in shaping social life and city style by selecting three typical spaces from west to east part of Qingdao city—downtown streets in and around Zhongshan road, Huiquan Bay area and Laoshan Mountain. It is trying to prove cultural space, as a kind of productive force, under what conditions can be achieved, what kind of city life has been created and how does it affect city changes under temporal and spatial overlap from various levels.The preface as an introductory part explains the significance of studying the relationship between cultural space and city life and the value of Qingdao research, reviews academic history and briefs basic thoughts and methods of the dissertation.Chapter 1 discusses the cultural function and spatial foundation effect of downtown streets in and around Zhongshan road. The construction of port and railway, on the one hand, it built comprehensive communication network by land and sea, on the other, it helped shape business and cultural space of Zhongshan Road. There had been both modern westernized consumption for rich and leisure class and enjoyments for civilians and lower class people at the downtown street networks spreading out around the axis of Zhongshan Road which contained shops, financial institutions, recreational places and so on. They interwove population and merchandise gathering by port and railway and vividly displayed various aspects of marketplace and daily life of Qingdao, making it the the most dynamic part of the city. In the development of the industrial-commercial center around Zhongshan Road, interesting interaction of demographic and climatic factors had been formed, which became a major feature of Qingdao market economy. Zhanqiao Pier which sprung from military port, became famous as a tourist attraction and finally developed into a landmark of the city for being close to daily life and helpful to cultural imagination promoted the role of space-constructing of Zhongshan Road.Chapter 2 demonstrates spatial function and cultural significance of Huiquan. This part selects Huiquan Bathing Beach and Zhongshan Park as representative targets and introduces briefly the racetrack, stadium and aquarium. By using materials such as newspapers, archives, travel notes and literature, it gives a description of the role Huiquan recreational centre played in the formation of public mentality, daily life and city style, reveals the most fashionable recreational life of Qingdao and the internal conditions under which Qingdao became a summer resort and analyzes the public spatial function of Huiquan and its impact on city reputation, tourism and the overall spatial layout.Chapter 3 analyzes the change of traditional social space of Laoshan Mountain. Laoshan plays a unique role in the history of the development of of Qingdao. The term of Laoshan discussed in this dissertation is neither a simple place of interest nor an administrative division unit. It is a culture unit, which triggered flourish imagination of people about Taoist practice.Topographically, minor hills in urban districts are all offshoots of Laoshan Mountains; historically, the mode of social production, cultural tradition of Taoist and life style of villages all embodied vivid Laoshan characteristics. As a matter of fact, the areas which are administered by the city of Qingdao after it opened as a commercial port belongs to Laoshan cultural system. After the rise of the city, Laoshan areas became suburban quarters regionally and were socially marginalized. The colorful history gave way to modern fashion of Europeanized Qingdao.In fact, the spatial role of Laoshan is profoundly important in the development of the city. In the aspect of social economy, great changes started to take place in the traditional agriculture, fishery, forestry, industry and commerce when it was confronted with the impact of urban economy; in the aspect of tourism, the scenery of the mountain and the sea as well as long history promote the cultural value of the travels in Qingdao, increase the reputation of the city, and cultivate national identity and modern concept of leisure life among Qingdao citizens; In the aspect of social structure and local customs, differences and relation in life style and faith world exist between Laoshan and urban areas. As a cultural unit, Laoshan bore fashion of modern city as well as Indigenous spirits and cultural origins of Qingdao. It enriches and balances the city life, providing broad expansion space for today's changes.The last one summarizes the dialectical relationship between centre and margin among the three locations discussed in this dissertation. There are several reasons why the three are chosen from broad spatial structure of the city:First, they had been playing the most prominent role in shaping city life and seen as the most recognized signs for cultural traits of Qingdao. They hold extremely close ties with development orientation, urban style and prestige, social life, values and fads, etc; Second, from the view of regional and cultural origins and development of urban space, Laoshan was originally the centre while Zhongshan Road lied in the margin. After Qingdao was opened, they reversed their roles. However, Huiquan has always been in the position of transition. Today, Laoshan becomes the new cultural centre of Qingdao. Looking back on the process of development in more than 100 years, the cultural centre of Qingdao has evolved along the track discussed above, which implies a logic of history and culture.