Studies on urban modernization in early twentieth century South China usually attribute the development of rural areas to the effort of government and some returned overseas Chinese. In Wuyi, a region in Guangdong Province, South China, traditional clanship which dominated the rural society has usually been considered as a factor slowing down their urban modernization. However, most of the modernized rural markets were in fact developed by the local clan organizations.
This thesis attempts to investigate the neglected role of these clan organizations in the process of urban modernization. Focusing on the rural market townscape in Wuyi during the Republican era (1912-1949), this thesis aims at answering two questions: (1) what was the urban morphology of Wuyi market towns in terms of their geographical distribution, market form, building fabric, and architectural form; and (2) how was the form of urban modernization in these towns influenced by civilian power of extended kinship? Answering the questions, this research presents a morphological analysis by mapping the rural markets based on extensive fieldworks in the region, and explores various models to understand the relationship between market form and social forces.
The mapping starts from the market distribution in Duanfen, a town in Wuyi. By looking into the changes of “marketing areas” where new markets would emerge in the town from time to time, the changes in power among the clans are identified. It is shown that the geographical distribution of the markets could reflect the process of inter-clan competition. It is also discovered that the
agglomeration process of neighbouring markets would result in different modes of twin-markets in Wuyi. During the Qing Dynasty, many local clans complained to the government that the new markets were founded too close to their original ones, thereby forcing those new markets to be relocated farther away. However, during the Republican period when free inter-market competition was allowed, more abutting twin-markets emerged as a new mode. In these twin-markets, the clanship buildings were imparted with symbolic meaning which proclaimed the territories and powers of competing clans.
The morphological study on the thirty-eight market cases in Wuyi illustrates two different sets of market characteristics. Most of the central-square markets, especially those regular ones, were developed dominantly by a single clan. In contrast, markets founded without the domination by a single clan tended to have irregular linear-street forms without any central square.
The study on the architectural forms in Wuyi identifies different shophouse styles developed during different periods of time. It is evident that the development of the two styles were closely related to the market form of the original regular fabric, as compared to the later irregular alterations.
This research concludes that the clan organizations acted as a form of intermediate agents between the government and individual civilians, and facilitated the increase in the number of rural markets in Wuyi during the Republican era. In many aspects, the morphology of market townscape reflected the unique society in the Republican South China where traditional clanship and quasi-modern capitalism were merged. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/198820 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Lai, Tung-yiu, 黎東耀 |
| Contributors | Wang, WJ, Lau, SSY |
| Publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) |
| Source Sets | Hong Kong University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | PG_Thesis |
| Rights | The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works., Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License |
| Relation | HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) |
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