Suzhou in Transition by Beibei Tang Paul Cheung

Author:Beibei Tang, Paul Cheung [Beibei Tang, Paul Cheung]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367439903
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 53731245
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Although the double system of water and road became less functional, Suzhou people’s attitudes towards the new horse-road were to some extent influenced by the long-term consumer culture formulated throughout Suzhou’s history as one of China’s seminal commercial places. Carroll (2006, 45) describes how the novelty of the construction in the Pan area made the site a popular spot for leisure crowds from the city.

After 1949, under the planned economy and national distribution system, the street in the work-unit-based city swiftly began to dominate Chinese cities. Socialist China quickly institutionalised the work-unit (translated from danwei, 单位). In pre-reform China, the Maoist work-unit city, with its cellular structure and mixed functions, was a designated functional and cultural enclave according to a centrally planned directive. Xu and Yang (2009) argue that though wide variation existed among work-unit compounds in terms of scale, layout, supplied facilities, social services, and so on, the overwhelmingly ubiquitous presence of walls and guarded gates built along the boundaries of most, if not all, work-unit compounds was the most visible common feature. Lu (2006) notes, “The work-unit-based city displays an urbanism quite distinct from other societies”. The dominance of this spatial unit cast negative effects on street life as well. Activities were inclined to happen inside the community, with comrades working and living in the same work-unit, instead of on the street.

If one were to go out of Panmen and cross the city moat at that time, one would see the new scenario out of the changing urban form that had replaced the crowds of people jostling one another on the street, since work-unit-based planning was gradually implemented along with the nationalisation of enterprises into State-owned enterprises. One such example is the Sulun (苏伦) spinning mill, which was established as a government enterprise in Suzhou outside Panmen in 1896. It was privatised in 1912, since it never achieved any substantial profits (Köll 2003, 80). From 1927 to 1949, the Sulun mill was relatively stable under the management of the Yan Clan. Beginning in 1949, it began the transfer to public ownership. Accordingly, the layout and facilities were gradually changed to align with the ideology and institution of the work-unit.

In 1955, the Sulun mill scaled up its canteen to a bigger canteen for collective living. It constructed a shower hall for collective use as well as a kindergarten, gradually organising the workplace and housing space as one enormous spatial unit. The self-sustained work-unit compound was gradually formulated to diminish the importance of public street life. As pointed out by Lu (2006, 69),

As strict limits were imposed upon private commercial establishments under Mao, urban residents bought most of their daily essentials from cooperative shops run by the work unit. The streets had fewer shops restaurant, advertisements, recreational centers and other urban facilities.

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