Guangzhou Municipal Administration During The Reign Of Liu Jiwen(1932-1936)

Municipal construction is one of the important dimensions that urban history studies focus on,and it is also an important facet of institutional history studies.Guangzhou,as the core place in South China,has great political and economic significance.Guangzhou’s municipal construction made great progress under the introduction of municipal concepts and the efforts of successive Guangzhou mayors,especially Sun Ke,Lin Yungai and Cheng Tiangu.The period when Liu Jiwen was in charge of Guangzhou was the period while Chen Jitang was ruling Guangdong,and Guangzhou was also developed to a certain extent during the wave of Chen Jitang’s construction of Guangdong.Under the strong recommendation of Gu Yingfen,Liu Jiwen became the mayor of Guangzhou,the longest continuously serving mayor of Guangzhou during the Republican period,maintaining the continuity of his policies for a stable period.Southwestern authorities and related subjects were differently involved in Guangzhou’s municipalities,actively participating in Guangzhou’s urban planning,public utility management,etc,and promoting the transformation of Guangzhou’s urban industrialization.Chen Jitang’s personal efforts also influenced certain aspects of Guangzhou’s municipal construction.However,from the limited information available,it is clear that civic participation in Guangzhou during this period was scarce,and that the autonomous bodies had no real name and played a limited role.Standing on the shoulders of his predecessors,the Guangzhou government under Liu Jiwen’s administration was able to make a significant improvement in the city’s urban landscape by implementing large-scale urban infrastructure construction with limited financial resources.The relatively long tenure and the relatively stable political and economic environment propelled the municipal construction to a climax.Relying on the implementation of the three-year governance plan of Guangdong Province,a large number of provincial industries landed in Guangzhou during this period,and industrial zones were also planned in the draft design of the city government,which greatly supplemented the shortage of industrial construction in Guangzhou,laying a solid foundation for the development of Guangzhou’s industries and indirectly promoting the revival of commerce in the context of economic recession.The construction of the new embankments of Haizhu and Henan,the construction of the inner harbor docks,and the planning of Huangpu port were all efforts to maintain Guangzhou’s commercial status.However,it should also be noted that financial resources did not meet the needs of all aspects of municipal construction during this period,resulting in more planning than implementation.At the same time,the shrinkage of available public land resources limited the advancement and effectiveness of Guangzhou’s municipalities,and those in power did not promote the effective development of the city’s capacity for self-government,which did not play a very important role in municipal construction.The municipal construction initiated by Liu Jiwen did not continue,and the war interrupted the process and caused great damage,becoming a major regret in the history of Guangzhou’s urban development.