Evolution Of The Spatial Structure Of Xi'an City From 1840 To 1949

Xi'an, the leading city in the northwest of China, experienced the great changes from a traditional inland city on the basis of agricultural civilization to a modern city on the basis of industrial civilization in the period of more than 100 years from 1840 to 1949. However, the great changes took place on the foundation of the traditional social-economics of China, being free from the influence of the colonialism. The function and spatial structure of Xi'an City changed and developed gradually with the development of the industry. The changes are mainly due to the transformation of geographical and political structure. This dissertation probes into the evolution of the spatial structure of Xi'an City from 1840 to 1949. The thesis is composed of the following 9 chapters:Chapter 1 serves as the introduction to the dissertation.Chapter 2 focuses on the geography foundation and the history social-economic background of Xi'an City from the view of the macroscopic district. In the late Qing Dynasty, the city was still characterized by its agricultural civilization thanks to its superiority in terms of geography, agriculture, water conservancy, transportation and military defense. After the Revolution of 1911, the spatial structure of the city experienced the evolution from reform to revolution with the historical development in the transformation of administrative management system, in the process of the industrialization and in the transformation of the national and local political system.The evolution of the City's general structure is the main concern of Chapter 3. In the Wagon Ages of the late Qing Dynasty, the gathering and spreading of the goods were mainly fulfilled by the Mountain wharf in the south and the River wharf in the north of the city, which led to extension of the City's function and scatter in the region, gave rise to the appearance of the space layer with the mansion city, pass city and the outer circle knot node. Up to the Minguo period, the City's transportational function declined when wagons were taken place gradually by cars and trains as the main transportation tools. Therefore, the space layer dissolved and the transportation began to concentrate, and the east pass city became prosperous and as a result a development stalk came into being from west to east.Chapter 4 and 5 discuss the evolution of the interior spatial structure and the causes of the evolution.