| This dissertation examines the interactions of popular culture, public space, urban commoners, social reformers, state power, and local politics in Chengdu during the period 1875–1928, a social transformational stage for both China and Chengdu. Chengdu was the capital city of Sichuan province and a fairly typical inland city, with a long historical and cultural tradition. Until the late Qing, it did not receive much impact from the West. This feature makes Chengdu as an object of study especially significant. This study seeks to answer: What happened to popular culture and public space in modern Chinese inland cities? What relationships pertained between urban elites and commoners, and how were these played out in regard to the use of public space? How did popular culture and local politics interact?; By examining the street as a public space used by urban commoners as commercial space, recreational space, workplace, and ceremonial space, I explore the changes in street culture and the struggle among urban commoners, social reformers, and local authorities. Politics in Chengdu during this period experienced several stages, which I generalize those of “customary practice”, “reformist practice”, and “revolutionary practice”. Under the impact of political changes, although street culture retained considerable continuity, it also underwent important changes and developed new features in different political stages.; Commoners were often regarded by elites as an unstable element of society. This situation inspired elites to consider the issue of social order, making the street a place they wanted to take over completely. At the same time, the commoners were also the people the social reformers wanted to utilize for achieving their own political purposes. Therefore, the streets were drawn into the orbit of local and national politics, and street culture was transformed into street politics. In this process, both commoners and reformers redefined their roles on the street. In the early twentieth century, social transformation brought about an important change in the use of the street. The streets were used by the commoners, no longer only for their livelihood and recreation, but now as well for organized political protest. |
