An Urban History of China by Chonglan Fu & Wenming Cao

Author:Chonglan Fu & Wenming Cao
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811382116
Publisher: Springer Singapore

10.3 Literature and Academic Thinking on Chinese Urban Squares

Records about city squares and the square-related cultural activities are abundant in Chinese ancient documents. These records are not only scattered over historical records and collected works but also frequently found in works about Chinese ancient cities. Among those literatures, there are some representative works, such as Notes on Buddhist temples in Luoyang written by Yang Xuanzhi (the Northern Wei dynasty), Records of Kaifeng, Dongjing written by Meng Yue (Song dynasty), Annals of Lin’an in Xianchun Period written by Qian Yueyou (Song dynasty), Records of Lin’an written by Wu Zimu (Song dynasty), Annals of Chang’an written by Song Minqiu (Song dynasty) and Textual Research of Records of Beijing completed in Qing dynasty. However, in these works, squares were not studied as an independent object.

In China, Squares haven’t been studied as an independent object until the twentieth century. Nowadays, though monographs of the Republican period named after squares haven’t been discovered, the study of squares could be found in some works about urban research. Research on Urban Land Use written by Lü Sijian which was collected in Land Documents of Chinese Mainland in the 20 Years of the Republican Period published by Cheng Wen Publishing Co., Taiwan focused on squares study. The first chapter discussed the significance of square construction. It also referred to Qianmen Square in Beijing and Gulou Square in Nanjing. But the starting points were also the Western Squares. From 1949 to 1976, central squares were built in the large and middle-sized cities. Since then, monographs named after squares came out. For instance, Talking About Squares on the Event of National Day written Shi Genyuan was published by People’s Daily on September 26, 1958. In addition, Tribute to Tian’anmen Square, written by Hou Renzhi and Wu Liangyong, which was published in Cultural Relics in 1977, depicted the development of royal squares since Tang dynasty in details. It also expounded the changes of Tian’anmen Square and its reconstruction in the new period. This article could be regarded as the first monograph on Chinese squares. Later, Planning and Design of Urban Roads and Squares written compiled by Li Zemin was published in 1981, but the study of square was only a small portion of this article.

The definition of squares is quite different between Chinese and Western culture. In Western culture, the notion of square emphasizes the openness to the public. Due to this cultural tradition, in 1966, Zucker mentioned that if an enclosed space in a city could not serve the function of public life and transportation, it could not be called a square.9 Indeed, if we follow the Western definition, most squares of Chinese ancient cities could not meet this standard. Even the time-honored, grand and magnificent Tian’anmen Square could not be labeled as squares in ancient times. Therefore, it seems that the culture of Chinese squares is very thin. However, if we “discuss this question from the perspective of human survival or from the point of how urban residents create

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