Introduction

On December 13, 1978, at the end of a routine gathering of the Chinese Communist Party, held in the wake of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping as the new leader of the Party following Hua Guofeng, stood up to set out a pragmatic vision for the future of China. In his speech he broke with the route adopted for the Socialist Planned Economy in 1949. He proposed that China should aspire to defeat poverty that afflicted some 90 percent of its population, and set in motion a strategy for revival that would surpass the world’s most advanced economies. Several days later at a CCP conclave, Deng’s visionary proposal was formally adopted. It represented in many ways the culmination of more than a century of persistent change, conflict, and confusion. A contemporary view of one city’s history, is a matter of both reference and reconstruction, helping to infuse our perspective on the past with our knowledge and evidence from the present. On top of this there lies an elusive topography of association and interpretation that must be woven into the existing record by both local and national events. Canton has for several centuries held a central position in regard to economic, social, and urban change in China, and is one of its oldest cities, extending back some 3,000 years to the Qin dynasty. The city represented a major trading center during the T’ang dynasty and became a provincial capital in the fourteenth century. Defensive fortifications around the city extended through the Ming dynasty while maintaining a symbiotic relationship with its agricultural hinterland. Three centuries later it was placed under siege for almost a year by the invading Manchurian army before its fall in 1650. Accelerating urban growth reflected new trading trajectories and the commercial undertakings of its merchant guilds together with their overlapping affiliations. The growth in population led to its gradual expansion to the southwest, outside the city wall, relatively independent of the older city, with an elaborate web of narrow streets and thoroughfares containing different quarters for its Chinese and Tartar inhabitants. Its wealthier sectors housed mansions for the leading mandarins and “Co-hong” traders, while foreign merchants from the nineteenth century constructed their trading houses or “factories” fronting onto the Pearl River, serviced from the port of Whampoa.ORO Editions Canton, with its associated foreign capital and buccaneering knowhow, undoubtedly propelled new economic and social trajectories but these were largely ineffective as a politically integrating force in the

face of fundamental social and political change. Technological innovation became a less than material tool of modernization with trade, finance, and industrial production in total contributing only a small amount of gross domestic product prior to the end of treaty port operations in the early 1940s when Western influence became increasingly marginalized before being extinguished entirely in the post-1949 period.

The residue from a historical interaction of cultures and events still swirls around contemporary relationships and occasionally creates unfathomable tensions, but this challenges the need for necessary forms of understanding derived from mutual interests. In the post-modern world, China’s economic success reflects a resourceful exploitation of globalization’s many benefits without suffering national fragmentation or disintegration. In this, government treads a narrow line between maintaining responsive economic development with measures that ensure stability and cosmopolitan values. As a technologyled development model propels China to the forefront of the global economy, the country continues to pursue an aggressive urbanization strategy that is necessary to anchor domestic consumption.

The book is set out as follows:

Chapter 1 The Mandate of Heaven explores the ancient rules governing city development in China that can be traced back to the Zhou dynasty and an established social protocol known as the Zhou-li—the mandate allotted to the Emperor. This reflected the Confucian conception of place in harmony with the natural order and a hierarchical organization of urban quarters.

Chapter 2 Avenues of Trade examines the early maritime connections that led to the development and growth of the trans-oceanic trade, that along with the Maritime Silk Road helped to consolidate a supporting system of port cities in Southern China.

Chapter 3 Adventurism and Hostilities sets out the situation that revolved around the evolving trading associations and the opium trade that formed a catalyst to hostilities.

Chapter 4 Beachheads of Foreign Influence sets out the Treaty Port settlement pattern, extended trading access and treaty law. Together these contributed to a new direction of development in Canton following the Treaty of Tientsin in the aftermath of the Taiping Rebellion.

Chapter 5 An Emerging Modernism examines the responsiveness of Canton to new ideas and interventions as a result of increased economic influence. By the early part of the twentieth century Canton, as the principal gateway into China, was becoming receptive to innovative planning and restructuring initiatives as part of a new Republican program, shaped by investment in urban infrastructure.

Chapter 6 Forces of Transformation discusses the compelling forces of revolution. These began to emerge in the early twentieth century in the wake of the Boxer rebellion, and gradually stoked up a wave of nationalist sentiment and opposition to the imperial system. Chapter 7 sets out the ramifications of the Socialist Planned Economy between 1949 and 1976. The Sino-Japanese and civil wars had left Chinese cities in a state of degradation. At that time the ORO Editions country was somewhat isolated internationally with trade restricted to Communist Bloc countries, effectively constraining the inherent locational advantages of Canton.

Dragon boats on the Pearl River in 1840. The national festival dates back to the third century BCE when a learned advisor to the Emperor, whose advice was rejected, threw himself into the river and was saved through his friends and supporters making a great noise through the use of gongs, drums, and fire crackers to distract the fish from devouring him. It is celebrated annually on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (from a drawing by Thomas Allom).

Chapter 8 Reforms, Challenges, and Resurgence examines the steps taken to set China on a new path that was to transform Guangdong Province and China as a whole through a commitment to establish a new policy of reform. By 1978, the socialist transformation had stagnated and Deng Xiaoping was in a position to set China on a new economic and social trajectory.

Chapter 9 Remaking the Canton Metropolis focusses on the reconfiguration of the Canton conurbation, and the production of increasingly diversified urban initiatives, with a gentrification of older urban districts, and new business, residential, and cultural urban quarters reflecting a restructuring and upgrading of the city, with urbanization becoming the driver of economic growth.

Chapter 10 The Political Paradox charts China’s alchemy of contemporary factors that have fashioned a political system responsive to the unified tradition of Chinese society. It is argued that this is closely related to the three harmonious belief systems of Chinese culture—Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism that are centered around philosophical teachings that appear to be suited to the unified tradition of Chinese society. It is arguably the “Chinese characteristics” associated with the current political model that accords with the goal of a more equal society and best meets community needs as a whole. As a global power, China now aspires to shape and influence an international order by driving multi-lateral agreements that meet the so-called “four-pronged” political goals of governing the country by law, deepening reform, maintaining a disciplined political approach, and building a prosperous society.

ORO Editions

Temple of the Five Immortals or “Genii.” The shrine extends back to the Song dynasty.

The present temple was erected along with the bell tower under the Ming dynasty in 1378 and was effectively reconstructed in 1889.