Research On Railway Development And Modern Urbanization In Northeast China

Because of superior natural and geographical conditions, the Northeast China became the focal point of the invasion in modern times, facing a severe crisis in frontiers. In1861, under the impact of the "inception" of Yingkou, the Northeast China was forced to be opened to the outside world. The government of the late Qing dynasty constructed the Imperial Railways of North China, which marked the beginning of the railway construction in Northeast China. Britain, Russia, Japan and other imperialist powers also had joined in the competition to carve up the right of the construction and control the railroad in Northeast China, as for a further crazy colonial expansion. Until the1920s, the local authorities in Northeast China started the movement of building their own railway, which breaks the situation of Russia-Japanese monopolization. Under the both influence of international and domestic forces, the self-contained railway networks appears in Northeast.In pre-modern, the Northeast was the low-density areas among the cities in China. Both the emergence of city and the development of urbanization in Northeast China have close relationship with railway. As a basic unit of railway network, owing to the unique location advantages, railway hub city becomes the core of regional social and economic development. Then in barren area, small towns emerged along the railroad. These cities have close association with each other, clear division of labor function, and form the city system which is characterized by industrial-urban agglomerations. Under the Railways influence, urbanization in Northeast has its different characteristics. These cities appear speedy along the way, and urbanization level ranks first in China; urbanization reflects colonization and the instability; the city migrant has surged. At the same time, under the influence of the urban railroad development of the city, which rely on old transport industry decline. Under the influence of the railway, parts of cities of the modern begin to reverse in Northeast China.In the urbanization process, the role of railway influences, even determines the development of urbanization in Northeast China. This is the inevitable result of the Russian-Japanese colonial aggression. On the one hand, the railway accelerated the process of urbanization process:it promoted the development of economy and city modernization, accelerated the diversification of city culture, led the northeast areas make the overall development. On the other hand, the railway also had a negative impact on the urbanization northeast:it accelerated the colonization of the Northeast China; economic plunder further intensified; city deformity development appeared; the gap between urban and rural areas became more obvious. The process of Northeast urbanization proved once again, that traffic is the first step to promote the social progress, and the development of city without sovereignty is abnormal.