Xinhai Revolution And Urban Public Space

The thesis is about the history of Shanghai, the most prosperous cosmopolitan city in China, in the period of 1911-1913 when the Xin'hai Revolution swept the country. The core problematique on the one hand is: how Shanghai's different public space contributed to the Xinhai Revolution? On the other hand is how the Revolution affected the development of Shanghai public space?The thesis will be conducted by the study approach of political social history in order to prove that the true or pseudo events, rumors, procedure of ceremonies, places for memorializing and the business all contributed to the process and the image of Xinhai Revolution. Meanwhile, the Xinhai Revolution also strongly affected the protagonists and stooges, who perhaps were journalists, city elites, living or dead persons, and consumers, in Shanghai public space.The escaped officials and the refugees gathered together in Shanghai because of the disorder caused by the Xinhai Revolution that time. The stations, docks, hotels, streets all witnessed the experience of these suffering people who encountered with the complex situation before and after the Revolution with Shanghai's citizen.In brief, Shanghai's public space is the important cradle of Xinhai Revolution as a myth and historical memory. It is not only the microcosm of how people dealt with great political change, but also the representative mode of transformation of urban public space in late Qing and early Republican period.The thesis will focus on the open private parks, street corners, stores, tea-houses, theaters, stations, docks and guildhalls in Shanghai public space. Under the main study line of how Xinhai Revolution interacted with Shanghai public space, the study will also includes some parts hereinafter: the change of public opinion in the process of Xinhai Revolution, the pedigree of new heroes in the Revolution, the creation of revolutionary martyr, the real scene of funerals, the creation of great men and leaders in the process of business, the businessmen and the Revolution, the consumers and the Revolution, the mess situation in Shanghai after the Wuchang Uprising, the city control in Shanghai after the Revolution, the birth of mutiny and the civil commotion, the collection of Revolution funds, etc.The time span of this study is from Wuchang Uprising which happened in the October 1911 to the ends of Second Revolutionary Civil War in 1913. In that period, on the one hand, the Revolution was produced by the profound changes of cites in China after the year 1901. The great power of urban public space constructed a huge "database of memory for Revolution". Meanwhile, it is improper to ignore that the urban public space did dispel the divinity and legitimacy of the Revolution.On the other hand, Xinhai Revolution also added brand-new power into the sharp transformation of Chinese cities thus made a great impact on every aspects of urban public space. According to the study, we may open up a new way to know Shanghai more deeply------from the city's politics, society and culture in this great change.