The Wooden Boat Transportation On The Chuan River During The Anti-Japanese War

Chuan River is a general term, refering to the main current and branch of Yangtse River ,which run inside Sichuan province.In the modern history of china, they were the main passage which related Sichuan and the southwest to the outside. The wooden boat was the traditional means. In the last stage of the Qing Dynasty, with the foreign goods flooding in and the local products were exported largely, the wooden boat transportation industry on the Chuan River thus entered a prosperous period. After the early period of the Republic of China, as the steamers began to navigate on the Chuan River and the Sichuan Warlord began to scuffle, the wooden boat transportation therefore were influenced greatly and began to decline. During the Anti-Japanese War period, the Nationalist Government moved the capital from Nanjing to Chongqing. And the national politics, the economy, the military center also transfer to the southwest area. As a result of the soecial environment in the time of war, the wooden boats that should be replaced by the modernizing transport means had obtained rapid development. Some people called it the wooden-boat transportation's golden age.The thesis details the wooden boat transportation during the Anti-Japanese War, and will deepen the study about the Anti-Japanese War. Pre-war and in the initial period of the Anti-Japanese War, the Nationalist Government has gave the little attention to the wooden boat transportation on the inland river and has not the long-term plan. But as the war developing, the wooden boats displayed the important strength in the transportation in Yichang, wich caused the Nationalist Government to hold in high esteem. The Nationalist Government moved the capital from Najing to Chongqing. Because of the lack of the railway and highway in Sichuan province, and the short of material such as the automobile, the fuel, the hardware, etc. , so the Nationalist Government is forced to foster the developing of the wooden boat transportation. The Government took a series of measures to realize this policy, such as renovating the Chuan River routes, establishing machinery beach station, loaning the shipowners to produce the new improved -wooden-boats. Although the first main goal of renovating the Chuan River routes and establishing machinery beach station was not for the wooden-boat transportation, they improved efficiency of the wooden boat transportation, and reduced the danger of navigation, so they benefited greatly the wooden boat transportation. In the measures represented above, the most important measures are establishing machinery beach station and producing the new improved-wooedn -boats. They were the emergent things. Especially the latter, the Nationalist Government helped the shipowners to produce the new improved-wooden-boats was unprecedented.At the same time, the Nationalist Government was to stabilize the order in the southwest area, it carried out the policies such as strthening the management of Chuan River shipping, carriying out the price fixing, organizing the federation of the civilian shipowers association and the labour sailors union, it aimed to control the wooden boat transportation industry. Through the implementation of these policies, the Nationalist Government really controled of the mannagemengt right of Chuan River. As to the management of the transportation on the Chuan River, it was much stricter than that of before the war.The wooden boat transportation industry on the Chuan River had developed rapidly during the Anti-Japanese War, whether the number or the capacity of the wooden boats increased much more than that of pre-war. But we can see that the wooden boat is the old transportation means on inland river. Due to its existing limitation and the harsh external competition, the wooden boats has had declined seriously before the war. Although it could restored and developed during the Anti-Japanese War, this is a special kind of historical phenomenon. With the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the developing space of the wooden boat narrowed, even the living environment also disappeared, therefore it was inevitable that the wooden boat shipping business suffered a disastrous decline. Although the wooden boat shipping business developed very much during the Anti-Japanese War, there were a lot of problems. The wooden boats on the Chuan River played a important role in the socio-economic life during the Anti-Japanese War. We should objectively judge the positive impact on the Anti-Japanese War.