Research On Shantytowns In Nanjing (1927-1937)

The modern shanty problem derived from the ills of Chinese city modern transformation. Driven by urbanization pattern of weak industry and developed commerce, a steady stream of farmers leave villages to cities becoming the marginal people. As the capital of Republic of China, Nanjing’s shanty problem is particularly serious. After the openness of Xiaguan trading ports in1898, the earliest shantytowns appeared. In1928, the Republic of China established a capital in Nanjing. The scale of shantytowns expanded with the rapid growth of population. Up to the time of shanty population, it accounted for one fifth of the city’s total population. Nanjing’s streets were filled with broken humble shacks. The formation of Nanjing’s shanty problem ostensibly derived from the housing shortage because of the population expansion and poor reform of lands, but it was actually a special product of the transmutation of Nanjing’s modern urbanization.The shack-dwellers lacked the skills to make a living. They can only rely on their own brute force engaged in the most humble occupation in society. Although they run out of energy, but their income were very meager. Their living conditions were really worrying. All the basic needs reflected their poverty. As a major player in the modern urbanization, shack-dwellers experienced the gradient from the rural society to urban society and traditional culture to modern civilization. They were both the country folk in the city and the new generation of urban in the influence of modern. The coexistence of tradition and modern, with the customs and legal present in them, they became truly a marginal man.The huts not only impeded the appearance of cities, fire and health, more directly related to the governance capacity and political authority of Republic of China. The renovation of shanty showed the characteristics of progressive, systematic and relief. The essence of renovation of shanty was that the Republic of China and Nanjing municipal authorities adjusted the spatial structure and reconstructed the order of the capital. The purpose of the renovation of shanty was to protect the capital unsightly no the surface. The deep political connotation was to strengthen the authority of the Republic of China and municipal authorities. They established a benchmark for the national municipal urban management and political domination by distinct spatial order and residential isolation. The political authority of the Republic of China determined the public policy was the output of political system. The policy process was essentially a political process. Despite Nanjing municipal authorities subject to different degree of relief in the renovation of shanty, even trying to construct the remedies mode of buffet cooperation and labor self-help, before Republic of China and the municipal authority supplied a complete employment system and residential facilities, they attempted to place the shanty among the clear hierarchy spatial structure, which inevitably failed in shanty’s self-defense. Nanjing’s renovation of shanty reflected the value and benefits of Republic of China and municipal authority in the policy process. It also reflected the tortuous course in Chinese city modern transition.