Studies Of The Quay Porterage In Chongqing Of Modern China(1891—1949)

The quay porterage is an indispensable part to the development of Chongqing’s economic, from the opening of Chongqing to the establishment of New China. The quay porterage also made significant advances in scale and organization in this period. In the same time, the life of porter presented different characteristics due to different economic conditions in different period. This paper aims to study the development course of dock transport, through three aspects:the establishment of longshoremen union’s impact on the port transportation, the management of government to the docker, and the living condition of the docker.After the opening of Chongqing, with the development of transport, the quay porterage got preliminary development. Benefiting from the development of trade and special Geographical Conditions, quay porterage became to an indispensable part to the transportation in Chongqing. The quay porterage of Chongqing began to expand from the period controlled by21Army. In this period, Chongqing city kept the political stability and got a enhancement of political status under the control of Liuxiang. During the anti-Japanese war, Chongqing was the temporary capital of China. the quay porterage realized the unprecedented development when the Xiajiang people rushed into Chongqing in this period, after the war, the quay porterage was under the tight control of the government, and then the situation of quay porterage became complex.At the beginning of Chongqing open to outside world, Wharf gang had the features of strong monopoly guided by the PaoGe force. When Chongqing was controlled by21Army, Wharf gang transferred union. Even though the union had some characteristic of gang, but organization tend to modernization, which can better safeguard the interest of the worker. The establishment of union also made workers form a kind of "modern spirit "together during the wave of nationalism. In the guide of Union, the worker can fight for a part of their own interests, and resist with the gang and government. In order to regulate the wharf order, the government not only strengthened its management to the union, but also adjusted the organizational form of the union. The government action made the transformation of wharf order to modern industry in economic aspect.The living condition of the docker presented different characteristics in different periods. At the beginning of Chongqing open to outside world, the worker could not maintain their proper rights due to the restrictions of the gang. At that time, the padrone made use of their resources to exploit the worker. Because of the work hour and labour intensity, generally speaking the lives of the worker was very hard. At the early stage of the Sino-Japanese War, the improved administrative status and the concentrated materials bought a temporary prosperity to Chongqing. The accompanying job opportunities made the lives of the worker better. But with the following deterioration of the national economy, those dockers in the bottom of the population became the first victims.