[History and Culture] The modernization transformation process of Chengdu in the early years of the Republic of China

This article contains "Bashu History", No. 2, 2022

The modern transformation process of Chengdu in the early years of the Republic of China

The inspection centered on "Chinese Province's Better Bianzhi · Sichuan Province"

Yang Xiangfei

The so -called modernization, from the concept of Western, is based on economic industrialization and political democratization. Modernization is a comprehensive concept, including the transformation from traditional society to modern society, and the emergence of various modern things. The late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China were the beginning of the modernization of Sichuan. During this period, the East Asian Tongwen Academy organized students to conduct multiple detailed investigations on Sichuan and formed a large number of investigations. "Sichuan Province" retains a large number of precious historical data during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

1. Overview of East Asia Tongwen Academy and its "big travel"

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan's national strength rose rapidly and became the number one power of Asia. At the same time, the Qing dynasty was in the predicament of the decline of the national situation, internal and external problems. Seeing China's backwardness, Japan began to start. Therefore, since the 1870s, Japan has begun public or secretly dispatching a large number of intelligence personnel to conduct comprehensive and systematic inspections of China, and formed a number of investigations.

In 1894, the Sino -Japanese Sino -Japanese War broke out, and the Qing government was defeated and forced to sign the Maguan Treaty. At the same time, the relationship between China and Japan did not break due to war reasons. Instead, they have launched extensive cooperation in politics, economy, culture, and even military. It is the era of affinity between the Japanese and China. " Moreover, the two countries have set up a boom of the other party at the same time. The East Asian Tongwen Academy is the product of this so -called "affinity" background condition.

East Asia Tongwen Academy was founded by the East Asian Tongwen Association. In May 1900, Nanjing Tongwen Academy was formally established. In August of the same year, due to the influence of the Boxer Movement, the academy moved to Shanghai. In August 1901, it was renamed Shanghai East Asia Tongwen Academy. In 1939, the East Asian Tongwen Academy was upgraded from a college to university, and was renamed "East Asian Tongwen Academy University". In 1945, Japan surrendered, and the University of East Asia Tongwen Academy was closed. The East Asian Tongwen Academy has a total of more than 40 years. It has a great influence in China. Many famous characters such as Sun Yat -sen, Lu Xun, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, etc. are closely related to the school.

"Big Travel" is a traditional activity of the East Asia Tongwen Academy. From the establishment of the school to the school to close, the activity runs through the school. There are more than 5,000 participants and more than 700 inspection lines. All provinces. During the inspection of these students, they all wrote a visit to the inspection; after the inspection, the inspection report was submitted to the school. The school sorted out the reports of the students and conducted a comprehensive study of relevant information to form books such as "Chinese Economic Books", "Chinese Provincial Provincial Ford", and "New Chinese Provincial Provincial Provincial Full Records".

2. The modernization process of Chengdu under the field of vision under "China Provincial Provincial All -Bianzhi · Sichuan Province"

As the Sichuan Provincial Congress, Chengdu is the key inspection object of the "big travel" inspection team in Sichuan. In the 18 inspections of Sichuan, I have been in Chengdu many times. In their pen, a large number of first -hand information about Chengdu about the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China can be seen from the beginning of the initial twists and turns of Chengdu.

(1) The difficult development of new industries. Industry is the foundation and first driving force of modernization. The modern industry of Chengdu can be traced back to the Sichuan Machinery Bureau founded by Ding Baozheng in the three years of Guangxu (1877) in the Qing Dynasty (1877). It is also the earliest and larger modern industrial enterprise in the country. By the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, although more than 30 years of development, it was restricted by factors such as environmental occlusion and economic backwardness, Chengdu did not form a complete industrial system, not only the gap with the coastal areas, but even far behind Chongqing. For example, between 1895 and 1927, the number of new factories in Chengdu was only 3.3%of Shanghai; new capital was only 1%of Shanghai and 50%of Chongqing. From 1890 to 1919, there were 115 private industrial and mining companies in Sichuan Province, of which 52 were in Chongqing, accounting for 45 % of the total; and only 7 in Chengdu, accounting for 6 % of the total. Therefore, people said that Chengdu Industry "is still naive."

In "China Provincial Provincial Provincial Unification of Sichuan Province", the seven representative industrial enterprises in Chengdu are recorded, namely the Model Film Workshop, the Sichuan Revolutionary Factory, the Tongren Education Workshop, the Huichang Match Factory, and Yude Soap factory, powder workshop and Lelly paper company. From the records of "Chinese Province's Bian Zhi · Sichuan Province", it can be clearly seen that the Chengdu Industry at that time has the following characteristics: First, the main industrial enterprises that have attracted the attention of the Japanese people, all of which They are all light industry companies. Heavy industrial enterprises were also in Chengdu at that time, but they were mainly concentrated in the military industry and casting fields, and there were few quantities. There were few heavy industrial enterprises related to people's livelihood. Chongqing in the same period formed a relatively complete heavy industry system. The second is the small quantity and a small production scale. Take the match industry as an example. At that time, there was only a Huichang match plant in Chengdu, with an annual output of 3,150 boxes. Only Senchangtai and Senchangzheng No. 2 Factory produces more than 4,500 boxes each year. Third, technological backwardness and low level of mechanization, many industries still stay in the handicraft stage, such as Le Li Paper Company. Although "the capital is the most among local private industrial companies", the equipment is backward. Non -rotating), 6 raw materials mixed grooves, although there are all equipment from raw materials to papermaking equipment, this is only the equipment that is the first half of the work. Now it has several square wooden grooves to make hand -made paper manufacturing. Only There is a pressing machine driven by mechanical power "; as well as the model silk workshop," the seats of female workers include 90 cars (small cars) and 60 reappeared cars (big cars), all of which are operated by manpower. " Other traditional industrial products such as silk fabrics, bambooware, vines, wood, and metal wares are almost hand -made. It can be said that Chengdu's modern industrialization is "inherently inadequate". The weak industry cannot provide a stable source of power, which has caused the modernization process of Chengdu to be difficult and slow.

(2) The rise of modern postal business. Sichuan Postal Business started in Chongqing. In the seventeenth year of Guangxu (1891) in Guangxu, Chongqing set up a postal department. In the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897), the Chongqing Daqing Post Bureau was established. Until the 27th year of Guangxu (1901), Chengdu established the Daqing Chengdu Post Bureau, which is under the management of Chongqing General Administration, and is very small in scale. "There are only 3 people in the overall situation. Light, only twice sent by Chongqing email a week. " In the second year of Xuan Tong (1910) in Qing Dynasty, the postal community was re -divided. Because Chengdu was Sichuan Province and the postal business developed rapidly, it was changed to the postal community, and Chongqing was reduced to the deputy mail industry. In the third year of the Republic of China (1914), the Sichuan Post Administration was established in Chengdu to control the province's postal affairs, and Chengdu officially became the center of the province's postal.

The postal cause is of great significance, and then people call it: "The progress of Sichuan civilization, the postal promotion is promoted ... Chengdu's atmosphere depends on it." Chengdu Post has three significant modern characteristics: First, the range of mail is wide, not only the whole country, not only the whole country Most provinces can be directly mailing, and even direct mail to Japan, France, Britain and other countries. The second is the fast speed. Third, the postage was cheap. After the Tongwen Academy traveling team came to Chengdu, he was amazed by the low sending fee and sent from Chengdu to Japan. The Tongwen Academy conducted a detailed inspection of the Sichuan Post Office centered on Chengdu. In "China Provincial Provincial Provincial All -Bianzhi · Sichuan Province", it not only records the first, second -class bureaus, and third bureaus, but also nearly 500 The grass -roots agency office has great data value for scholars to study the development of Chengdu and even Sichuan Postal Industry in the early days of the Republic of China.

(3) The emergence of the telegram business. Chengdu Cable Telegraph Business started in the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886) in Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. By the second year of Xuan Tong (1910), the Chengdu Telegraph can be connected to all provinces in Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, and Tibet, and even passed through Shanghai to foreign countries abroad. Essence In the first year of the Republic of China (1911), the Chengdu Telegraph Bureau had a telegram line of 1,500 kilometers. In the next few years, the development speed was extremely fast. By the sixth year of the Republic of China (1917), the Chengdu Telegram Bureau "laid the length of the wires to officially set up 2700 Hiley (900 900 (900 Miles), Democratic 2874 Herry (958 miles) ". In "China Provincial Provincial Provincial Bian Zhi · Sichuan Province", Chengdu's telegram business pays great attention to it and records it in detail. For example, the external line: "Sichuan laid wires through the ground: the front line starts from Hubei, along the Yangtze River via Liangshan and Putch River, to Chongqing. From Chongqing, the second line is from Yongchuan and Luzhou to the south, passing the Syria, to Bijie in Guizhou. The third line is from Luzhou. From Luzhou. To the north, through the capital state, to Chengdu. From Chengdu, the four -line line, via Ya'an to the arrow furnace. " In addition, "China Provincial Provincial All -Bianzhi · Sichuan Province" also records the location of the 40 grass -roots telecommunications bureaus under the Government of the Chengdu Telecommunications Bureau.

However, objectively speaking, the development of the telegraph business of the Chengdu Telecom Bureau in the early Republic of China is relatively backward, which is very different from Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu and other places, and even in the western region. "". This also shows that Chengdu's modernization process is slow.

(4) The slow development of modern newspapers. The earliest newspaper in Chengdu was the "Journal of Shu" founded in the twenty -fourth year of Guangxu (1898) founded by Song Yuren, but the newspaper was suspended in only 3 months. Since then, the survival environment of Chengdu Newspaper has been unsatisfactory. By the second year of the Xuan Tong (1910), only the Sichuan official newspaper, Chengdu Daily, Chengdu Business Daily, Education Official Daily, "Popular Pictorial" 6 kinds of newspapers and periodicals, and most of the circulation volume, far from the prosperity of the Chongqing newspaper at that time. "China Provincial Provincial All -Bianzhi · Sichuan Province" also believes that "Although Chengdu is the capital of a province, the newspaper industry is not mature. In the thirty -first year of Guangxu Daily newspapers are issued, but it is not necessary to say that there are only editors and one or two journalists and editors of practitioners. This newspaper is narrow. The reason for the main reason was that the total population in Chengdu at that time was small, and the education level of citizens was not high. It was difficult to understand the important role of the newspaper "enlightened the people's wisdom". The effect is very limited. Nonetheless, these newspapers have brought a new weather to Chengdu, slowly pushing Chengdu to move towards modernization, and laid the foundation for the prosperity of Chengdu's newspaper industry after the 1911 Revolution.

(5) Change of water supply methods. As an important part of the urban public cause, the water industry is one of the signs of a urban development level. At that time, the living water used in Chengdu citizens was generally two types of river water and well water, and most of the well water quality was extremely poor. Therefore, the most important drinking water is the river of the Jinjiang River. However, Jinjiang is located outside the city, and the residents living in the city are inconvenient. Therefore, "tap water" came into being. In "China Provincial Provincial Provincial Bian Zhi · Sichuan Province", the earliest tap water situation in Chengdu is recorded in detail: "32 years of Guangxu, that is, the 39th year of Japan's Meiji (1906), the scale was laid, and its scale was different from Japan. The pipeline of the water diversion is used in a large bamboo tube, which is connected to the wrapped part of the story, and it is coated with cement. Each neighborhood must be dug water wells. The surrounding and bottom of the well is the same as the Japanese well. External leakage can also prevent rainwater penetration. Use water to draw from this kind of well, and the tortuous place uses a wooden barrel. The water source is the Jinjiang River, but it is not directly connected to the waterway in the city. It is located in a corner of the city and a cement storage pool is stored. It is diversion to various districts. "However, because the reservoir is too small, the water supply capacity is extremely limited, and the citizens rarely use it, but it is used by merchants around the reservoir. However, in the "Chinese Province's All -Bianzhi · Sichuan Province", it still gives a high significance to its significance: "Although it is a test, the water of the Shu capital began."

Here are the "Limin Water Company" founded by Chengdu businessmen headed by Ma Zhengtai and Yin Dejun. The company was founded in the thirty -two years of Guangxu (1906) in the Qing Dynasty. It chose a depth of water near the Wanli Bridge of the South Gate of Chengdu as the starting point. Six place storage pools are set up in six including Xuedao Street, Presidential Street, and Puyi Farm. The river water is transported to these 6 pools through pipelines, and then sold to consumers through human bearer and car transportation. Although this kind of tap water transportation method is relatively simple, it has not been filtered and disinfected. It is not the same as the advanced tap water system in Shanghai at that time. However The change to modernization is of great significance.

Three, conclusion

In general, although the modernization of Chengdu in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China has achieved certain results, compared with the same cities, the process is relatively lagging and slow. From the records of "Chinese Province's All -Bianzhi · Sichuan Province" Prefecture. As a result, there are two main reasons for this situation: First, Chengdu is in the inland inland, with inconvenience of external traffic, and strong closedness of natural conditions. Compared with cities along the coast and river areas, the location advantage is severely restricted, resulting in modernization of Chengdu's modernization. Inadequate development and uneven development. Just as some scholars say, "In the case of relatively closed economy in the agricultural era, Chengdu relies on its own superior and natural geographical conditions to achieve better development. Important obstacles. At the same time, closed geographical conditions have caused Chengdu to be less directly affected by foreign countries. After the opening of the coast and the cities along the river, it was quickly integrated into the historical process of modernization, and Chengdu "in a long period of time, there are great difficulties in the entry of foreign goods, and the impact of foreign capitalism on this area has also greatly weakened." The development of Chengdu's development is still the traditional economy. The modern industries, commerce, financial industry, and transportation industry have not been fully developed. Foreign capitalism has a weak role in disintegration of Chengdu's feudal economic foundation. Second, the cultural conditions of Chengdu are closed, and the traditional power (that is, the "basin consciousness") is too strong, which leads to the significant late transformation and slowness of modernization. It was not until the "New Deal of the End of the Qing Dynasty". Essence Mr. Feng Tianyu said: "Compared with the modernization of Western Europe 'or' self -born ', China's modernization can be called" secondary type' or "post -hairstyle '." Chengdu is this "secondary type, secondary, The typical representative of the post -hairstyle "modernization.

It can be seen through the above two reasons that the closed natural conditions limit the external traffic of Chengdu, while the "basin consciousness" seriously binds people's thoughts. Among them, the "basin consciousness" is the biggest obstacle to development.Therefore, since the 1980s, Sichuan Province has conducted several major discussions on "basin consciousness".Peng Qinghua, Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, pointed out that "the governance of Shu Xingchuan in the new era must further emancipate the mind, break the" basin consciousness ", and inject strong driving forces to promote Sichuan's transformation and development, innovation and development, and leapfrog development."In the process of continuous socialism's modernization, Chengdu must continue to break the "basin consciousness", adhere to comprehensive and open development, continue to optimize external traffic conditions, and achieve socialist modernization at a high level.(This article contains "Bashu History", No. 2, 2022)

Source: Sichuan Provincial Local House Work Office

Author: Yang Xiangfei (Office of the Chengdu Local Chronicle Compilation Committee)

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