The Vicissitudes Of Urban Material Life In Initial Stage Of The People's Republic Of China (1949-1957)

Initial stage of the People's Republic of China, is an essential period in Chinese city development. In the background of urbanization and modernization's development, and the process of socialism's establishment and consolidate, Chinese urban material life took place a series of vicissitudes. Based on the describes of urban material life, this thesis starts with clothes, food, residence, and traffic life in daily life, studies the vicissitudes of urban clothes and decoration life, food and drink life, residence life, and traffic life in initial stage of the People's Republic of China separately.In initial stage of the People's Republic of China, the vicissitudes process of urban clothes and decoration life is remarkable. Clothes and decoration is the barometer of social vicissitudes. Behind political factor's guidance, popular clothes in the People's China, such as cheongsam, western-style clothes were abandoned, regarded as rotten thing of feudalism and capitalism. Clothes with socialism feature were popular, represent with Lennin suit and cadre suit. Tidy and regular trend came into being, every social stratum's clothes and decoration became same, sexual distinction became vague gradually, these are the features of vicissitude. In initial stage of the People's Republic of China, urban food and drink life, was bring into planned economy system with the policy of unified sale and bought, at the same time, whole level of urban food and drink was improved andraised, and the atmosphere of food and drink was simplified more and more. Residence life's vicissitudes took place surrounded the government control and allocated urban houses. In the government control, house rent declined, and confused rent relationship was improved, because of allocate of public house, general laborer residence level are improved largely, small family residence mode came into being. Vicissitudes of traffic life was relatively slowly and vague. However, modern transportation represent with railway had a relatively big development, and it made a contact with west and east city, but urban traffic life's development was unbalanced yet. In cites, modern public transportation, as rickshaw disappeared in city before modern public transportation's development.Generally, in initial stage of the People's Republic of China, level of urban material life was raised by year as economic recovery, but still not so high, because of limited economic growth, at the influence of the policy "more produce, less consume" in the first five years plans construction period. Moreover, at political power's affection, urban material life style was brought into socialism planed economy's track gradually, and a simply thrifty life style of socialism came into being. The vicissitude of urban material life made affections on urban economy politics social psychology, even traditional culture.