Overview
The history of Shanghai is often told through the lenses of modernization, westernization, and remarkable economic growth—in short, as a “success story.” A success it certainly was. Yet in this project, we contend that the development of Shanghai as an urban territory was equally conditioned by issues of defense and conflict. Shanghai thrived and prospered in the shadow of war. From the initial military incursion and brief occupation by British troops in 1842 to the civil war (1945–1949) and its repercussions in post-war China, through civil rebellions (1853–1855, 1860–1861), revolutionary movements (1911, 1925–1927), and the Sino-Japanese conflicts (1932, 1937), the city repeatedly experienced extreme forms of violence. These episodes profoundly shaped its spatial configuration, the distribution, composition, and activities of its population, and its entire economic structure in relation to its hinterland. While political decisions—especially the creation and expansion of the foreign settlements beyond the original walled city—played a role in spatial change, issues of security and the realities of armed conflict largely determined the course of Shanghai’s spatial transformation.
Wars exert a tremendous impact on territories and populations. Many cities have, at some point, endured the severe consequences of warfare: repeated assaults, cycles of destruction and reconstruction, population displacement, and the reshaping of the urban environment. Yet only a handful of major modern metropolises have experienced such recurrent and thorough destruction, followed by rapid or gradual reconstruction, accompanied by massive demographic regeneration. We argue that Shanghai represents an exceptional—though tragic—case of a modern city repeatedly engulfed in armed conflict from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 1940s. It holds the unfortunate distinction of being the first city in the world to be exposed to and devastated by modern weaponry, and to have endured unprecedented levels of urban violence.
This project examines the spatial history of Shanghai through the prism of war and civilian violence over more than a century (1842–1952), seeking to identify the determinants and modes of urban transformation brought about by warfare. Methodologically, the project is situated within the field of digital humanities—and more specifically, digital history—with a particular focus on visualization, GIS, and geovisualization. It entails the collection and processing of large bodies of quantitative and qualitative data, justifying a four-year research plan, as well as the design and implementation of innovative digital tools. The project will be anchored in the development of a web-based research platform and will also include applications for interactive, immersive virtual reality.
最新更新 星期五 15 八月 2025 (16:51) / C. Henriot
Site created by Gérald Foliot with webActors - Hosted by TGIR Huma-num
The site is part of the Virtual Cities Project: Beijing - Hankou - Saigon - Shanghai - Suzhou - Tianjin - Zhejiang
Select language : English | 简体字 | 繁體字
页面正在处理中 0.008s