Research On The Development Of The Cities Along Coastwise Of Xiangjiang River And Changes Of The Society (From The Middle Of 17～(th) Century To The Early Of 20～(th) Century)

Xiangjiang River is an important tributary of Yangtze River, and also the biggest river in Hunan province. Xiangjiang River has been an important strategic traffic point on water which has been used to link up Changjiang River and Zhujiang River, to connect the middle plain and south of the Five Ridges since the Ling Channel had been constructed in Qing Dynasty. Xiangjiang River is the mother river of Hunan, and acts as the most important developmental origin of Hunan. A number of cities came into being during different history periods along coastwise of Xiangjiang River. They possess different developmental courses and distinct characteristics. And at the same time they form a city group in which they contact and affect each other. Xiangjiang River is taken as a natural link to bound them together organically.The article takes the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River such as Yongzhou, Hengyang, Xiangtan, Changsha and Yueyang as its research object. These cities are intensive points and concentration places of population, natural resources and information, and also are important political, military towns or economical, cultural centers within Hunan Province, and these cities play very important roles in the civilization history of Hunan Province and in the progress of the district development. The article takes the period from the middle of 17^th century to the early of 20^th century as its research period, takes the development and changes of Qing Dynasty as its main clue, gives consideration to both the end of Ming Dynasty and Civilian period, spans about more than 300 years. And this article explores some aspects which are the developmental motivation of the cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River, the scope and construction of the development of these cities and their functional changes, the consequences and representations of the vicissitude of these cities, the characteristics of the development of these cities and the general rules of the changes of society etc. from the angle of the development of cities and the changes of society. This article also tries a long-period, wide-field of vision and comprehensive research on the development of the cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River.The article is divided into nine parts, the main body consists of seven chapters, the other two parts are introduction and conclusion, and there are a number of additional charts.The introduction mainly illustrates the academic meaning and realistic meaning of the topic, combs relative academic achievements and research trends in and abroad in recent years, at the same time analyses theoretical methods, technical means, the difficulties, essential points and creative points of research of this article.The first chapter "The Developmental Survey of the Cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River " introduces the developmental history of the main cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River such as Yongzhou, Hengyang, Xiangtan, Changsha and Yueyang, in order to gain some general knowledge about the development of every city.The second chapter "The Developmental Motivation of the Cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River" starts from the comprehensive analysis of the relative researches on developmental motivation of these cities and the motivation construction affecting the development of these cities, explores the motivation construction and main factors of the development of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River from some angles which are political and administrative system, the environment of economical development, changes of transportation and special market and influence of local culture.The third chapter "The Hierarchic Scope Construction and Functional Changes of the Cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River" takes the hierarchic scope construction system of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River in the era of agriculture as its base, analyses early modern changes of the hierarchic scope construction of cities which was brought out by the wharfs were opened and the commerce began to develop between Yueyang and Changsha and capitalist business was developed in modern times, and makes some primary explores on the functional changes of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River.The fourth chapter "The Development of the Population of the Cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River and the Changes of Society " tells that human beings are the main body of the social life, and important elements that can influence the development of society deeply. This chapter makes clear mutual active relationship among the changes of population, the evolvement of society and the development of these cities through making exploration on the population of these cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River, social customs of these cities, the development and changes of marriage and families and the cultural, educational and scientific development phenomena of these cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River.The fifth chapter is "The Business of the Cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River". Looking from the exploration of the industry and commerce of these cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River, the handicraft and the economical organization of these cities, before modern times they basically reflected the developmental characteristics of traditional industry and commerce of cities: one is serving for commercial circulation oriented to the domestic market, another is the narrowness of commercial scope, the third is that the organization and management modes of commerce is tied up within the frame of traditional economical system. With the open of wharfs and circulation of commerce at the end of 19^th century and the early of 20^th century and the corresponding shift of traditional commercial route, the industry and commerce of the cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River and the commercial organization have turned up important changes. Consequently, some cities rise, while some decline gradually. This chapter analyses the developmental situation of the industry and commerce of the cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River according to this , then explores its influence on the development and changes of cities.The sixth chapter is "The Changes of the Relationship between Cities and Countries along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River". The relationship between cities and countries is a kind of universal connection and mutual active relationship which widely exists between cities and countries and affects, influences and restricts each other, and it reflects political relationship, economical relationship, class relationship and other factors in the relationship between cities and countries under certain social conditions. This chapter inspects situation of the development and changes of the towns which connect cities and countries along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River and economical situation of the countries around cities, analyses the influences on the rural economy caused by the development of cities and changes of the rural industrial construction in modern times, and makes some primary exploration on the status and effects of the changeable rural economy in the developmental course of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River.The seventh chapter "The Social Life in the Cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River" tells that the outlook of social life in cities is a barometer of the development and changes of these cities. Changes of social construction of these cities have the closest relationship with the characteristics of residents' lives in cities and the changes of their lives. This chapter mainly investigates social lives of citizens, gentlemen, capitalists and people belong to other classes in the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River, and makes brief introduction and analysis about the religion and the activities offering sacrifice to gods in these cities. Through the investigation of social life in cities, it analyses and grasps the characteristics of the development and changes of the cities along Coastwise of Xiangjiang River from another level.The article evaluates the characteristics of the development of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River during the period from the middle of 17^th century to the early of 20^th century at the end of the article. The cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River form a regional city belt in interior of China, and their development experienced a hard change from traditionalism to modernism. This course reflects not only universal characteristics of the development and changes of cities in China, but also typical individualities of regional cities along rivers inland. From the viewpoint of the motivation pattern of cities' development, characteristics of adherence-style development are more distinct, political factors are dominant motivation of the development of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River, and other factors occupy relatively subordinate position. From the viewpoint of the process of the development of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River, on one hand it appears a certain degree of imbalance, at the same time it represents some relative independence so far as the development pattern of cities is concerned, it lacks close connection and mutual active system among every city, in the mass it restricts the development of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River. From the viewpoint of the radiation and influence of the development of cities, it lacks a core city possessing strong radiant ability, the demonstrative effect and driving operation of Changsha on other cities along Xiangjiang River are not distinct, the development of cities is more dependent on the influence and radiation of the districts in the middle of China which takes Wuhan as its center and commercial routes along Changjiang River, and regional central cities lack of developmental and radiant ability. From the viewpoint of the consequences of the development of the cities along coastwise of Xiangjiang River,the speed of early modernization was very slowly.