Studies On The Evolutionary History Of Yangzhou And It’s Spatial Morphology In The Ming Qing Dynasties

Yangzhou, with a history of 2,500 years, was one of the first 24 historic cities announced by the State Council of China. Historical and cultural traces can be easily found in the city. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, Yangzhou was an important source area of table salt in China and the key area of the north-south canal that was for transportation of foods supplied to the capital. In addition, the Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong made six inspection tours to the South during their reigns, making Yangzhou a city flourishing with wealth and culture. At that time, Yangzhou represented the highest economic and cultural development level among all Chinese cities and earned its reputation as one of the most important metropolises in China. As for the nature of the city, Yangzhou was a metropolis of commerce and trading(table salt business) at the downstream of Yangtze River back in Ming and Qing Dynasties.There are already many monographs and papers on Yangzhou, most of which elaborated the history and development of the city from the perspectives of sociology, economics and urban culture. Efforts were mostly put on studies on a small number of particular issues while studies on the overall history of the city in Ming and Qing Dynasties were rather inadequate.With the urban development and spatial form of Yangzhou back in Ming and Qing Dynasties as the subject of study, this paper employs the long-period method and focuses on the period between the year 1488 when Hongzhi Reign Period of Ming Dynasty started to the year 1850 when Daoguang Reign Period of Qing Dynasty ended. On the other hand, the key-element method is adopted when it comes to studies on urban spatial form, which is deconstructed into spatial and architectural elements such as city walls, roads, river systems, temples, gardens and guild halls. In addition, an overall picture of the urban space is obtained through the cross reference among field investigations, historical literature and archaeological discoveries. Methodologies used in urban planning, urban morphology and architectural history are drawn on to relate various political, economic, cultural, religious and social events in Yangzhou with the evolution and development of Yangzhou City in terms of scale, structure and form.Through studies on the geographical factors that drove the development of Yangzhou City in Ming and Qing Dynasties as well as investigations on the social and historical background of major events, such as construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, salt law reform, capital city relocation in Yongle Period and inspection tours by Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong, this paper reveals the innate strengths and powerful external driving forces that facilitated the rise and development of Yangzhou?s urban spaces. Through studies on the urban and cultural spaces of Yangzhou in Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is noted that the city had a prosperous economy back then and the pursuit of culture and education by the affluent class and literati and officialdom greatly promoted its cultural development with obvious impact on the city?s architecture. Through studies on the religious spaces of Yangzhou back in Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is noted that temples were one of the city?s important spatial types. Religious buildings of different sizes were seen everywhere on streets and larger temples were built in scenic spots in suburban areas as well, which affected the micro-morphology of its urban spaces. Through studies on guild halls in Yangzhou, it is noted that they significantly differed from those in other cities as they were closely related to the table salt business and were mostly located in residential areas where salt dealers gathered. Studies on folk customs and living styles as well as majro urban public spaces like tea houses, bathhouses, streets, Buddhist/Taoist temples, Slender West Lake and military practice fields reveal the ways urban spaces were utilized and the daily activities people had in the city. Studies on disaster prevention measures taken in Yangzhou back then show that the construction of disaster prevention facilities has well secure the city?s expansion and set the direction of urban space development to an extent. Furthermore, the establishment of social security system effectively eliminated social conflicts within the city and led to the emergence of new types of buildings like charity houses.The most significant part of the paper is to, from the perspective of urban planning, urban morphology and architectural history, conduct comprehensive and holistic analysis and studies on the urban spaces of Yangzhou City in Ming and Qing Dynasties, from the evolution of external form, internal planning layout and composition, as well as the internal spatial components, such as city walls, roads, river systems, residential buildings, gardens and government offices, portraying a full picture of urban spatial form of Yangzhou in Ming and Qing Dynasty.In addition to analysis of physical spatial forms, this paper also conducts systematic and comprehensive studies on driving factors behind the evolution of the physical spatial forms of Yangzhou in Ming and Qing Dynasties, i.e. the political, economic, cultural, religious and social activities in urban development as well as geographical and traffic factors. This way, the various non-physical spaces and physical spaces that made up the spatial form during urbanization are combined together to reveal the inherent driving forces behind the evolution of urban spatial form of Yangzhou back then.This paper is anticipated to enrich and promote the research work on the history of Yangzhou City as a case study of researches on the history of Chinese cities.