2 Dalian in Modern Times

Dalian was originally a small fishing village of dozens of househoulds named San
Shanpu which was changed to Qing Niwa later. In the districts of Jinzhou, Lushun,
Wafangdian and Zhuanghe, civilization can be traced back to the Neolithic Age more
than 6,000 years ago. However, the young coastal city has only about 100 years of
history of urban modernization construction. Before restored in 1945, Dalian
underwent two historical periods of being leased by Tsarist Russia and invaded by
Japan.

2-1 The Beginning of the 20th Century: New Trend of Western Urban Construction in
Modern and Contemporary Times

At the turn of the 19th into the 20th century, the global industry was relatively of a low
level. Even in the most developed capitalist countries, agriculture played the major
role. The average proportion of urban population was 13.5%, while the remaining
86.5% of global population was in rural areas. The modern and contemporary cities
formed mainly in raw and fuel materials mining areas or around previously formed
ports and commercial cities.

In the 20th century, the housing problem and legislation of city construction laid the
foundation of modern and contemporary cities. In 1898, Ebenezer Howard published
his book To-morrow: a Peaceful Path to Real Reform which was reissued as Garden
Cities of To-morrow in 1903. Similarly, Paris chief architect tried to
resolve traffic hazard by way of urban construction and proposed the theory of
. After the beginning of the World World , Baron Haussmann was in charge
of rebuilding Paris, whose formalistic efforts and the unprecedented scale were
praised and taken as a model by architects, and became an example to later urban
construction and had a broad and deep influence.

Although some theories on urban construction had been brought up and concerned the
two problems of housing and traffic, they had little practical meaning of urban
construction in this period. This is the time when the urban modernization
construction of Dalian began.

In 1880, Qing government invested a huge amount of money to dredge Port Arthur
designed by Constantin von Hanneken (German). As a result, capital ships like
Zhenyuan and Dingyuan can harbor there. Besides, docks were built, and Port Arthur
became Asian first naval port at that time. Moreover, Qing government constructed
forts for maritime defense, and set Port Arthur as the naval base of the Northern Fleet.
There were altogether about 20,000 garrisons of navy and army. As the garrison
increased, there was continuous immigration of ordinary residents who were more
than 20,000 in 1894.

In 1887, Qing government began to build a naval port in Liushutun in Dalian. Before
that time, Dalian was called Qing Niwa, which was composed of several scattered
fishing villages, such as East Qing Niwa which contained 17 households, West Qing
Niwa which contained 20 households and Heizuizi village which had 12 or 13
households.

In 1897, German invaded and occupied Jiaozhou Bay. Tsarist Russia took advantage
of the occasion and occupied Lushun by Siberian fleet, and signed with Qing
government the Sino-Russian Treaty to rent LD and its revised treaty in Mar. 27th in
1898 and May. 7th in 1898 respectively. The treaty came into force in Mar. 28 th in
1898 and the lease term was 25 years. At 8 am in the following day,
raised the Russian flag on top of Huangjin mountain in Lushun.
Meanwhile, Tsarist Russian warships harboring in the port fired to celebrate. By way
of these warships, Tsarist Russian marines occupied Dalian Bay. Thus one part on
Liaodong Peninsula Lvda area (12048~12313 east longitude and
3820~3925 north latitude) was reduced to a state within a state of Tsarist
Russia. It can be said that the history of Dalian as a modern city began in the roar of
guns.

In military terms, Tsarist Russia took Lushun as a station of invading China and the
Pacific rim, so they made city planning and construction of Lushun as a city of naval
port. At the same time, they decided to build Dalian Bay to be a free port in the Far
East second to none, an outgoing sea port of the Middle East railway, and a new
industrial and commercial city.

The construction of Dalian commercial port was under the charge of , who
had experience of building Haishenwai. He was later the mayor of Dalian then
(Dalny). There were two explorations on how to make Dalian planning and
construction. One was to hire two German architectural technologists
and . The other was to invite , the engineer of Chinese
Eastern Railway, to make urban planning. The planning area was not just the former
Qing Niwa district, but covered the northeastern Laohutan Bay in the east, Malantun
col in the west, Paoai in the north, and Heishijiao in the south. The latest European
planning thoughts were also introduced.

The urban planning area of Dalian then was composed of administrative area,
European area, and Chinese area. The European area was subdivided into commercial,
civic, and residential districts, the constitution of which was different from each other.
This feature resembled the rebuilding of Paris. The city center was the Nicholas
Square (now Zhongshan Square) with a diameter of 213 meters. The square had 10
avenues radiating from it and around it prearranged public buildings like a municipal
office, banks and a theatre to beautify the city. The urban avenues take big squares as
the starting points and Nicholas Square as the center, forming radiation form from
several centers.
Around the square there were temples, museums, railway station and other big public
buildings as landmarks and must be noticeable at ends of main roads. Moscow
Avenue (now Renmin Road and Zhongshan Road) was a 33 meters wide main road
and connected European market starting from the dock and railway station through
Big Plaza and "Zhonghua Theater" (later ). was a broad
boulevard starting from Big Plaza, and stretched toward Great Monk Mountain. It was
a pedestrian street with beautiful scenery.

Obviously, the urban planning of Dalian was an imitation of rebuilding of Paris, and
was a reflection of the European planning concept at that time.

First of all, Dalian in modern times was basically a consumption port. It was
partitioned according to races and classes. The population of Dalian was 4,1268 in
1903, among which 2,6429 were Chinese and 1,4464 were Russians and 307 were
Japanese, and the rest 83 wee other foreigners. The European area stretched to
northern foot of Nanshan in the south and the dock in the north, with flat terrain and
spacious architecture. It had the most of the advantageous land in the city. The area
was subdivided into commercial, civic, and residential districts. The squares, roads
and the infrastructure were all planned and built as a whole. Contrary to it, the
unshaped Chinese area was a hellish slum area which was separated by the greenbelt
of the West Park (now Labour Park).

Secondly, the urban planning of Dalian was an expression of European classical

formalism. It provided a big stage for the colonists. The radiation form of the roads
was not a necessary result of geographical factors. Tsarist Russia could have built a
small "Saint Petersburg", but as a mediocre country in culture at that time, Tsarist
Russians tried their best to show their strength not only in military and economy, but
also in culture.

This plan inherited the urban planning thoughts in Renaissance period and Baroque
urban planning technique. It borrowed the rebuilding form of Paris to build a strong
visual system with emphasis on streetscape design. Around squares which roads
radiate from, some landmark buildings were arranged, which become the background
of the roads and make them beautiful pedestrian streets. The design of squares and
roads was mainly on the basis of visual analysis. A few of the ten roads radiating from
the Nicholas Square had no definite purpose, which reflected formalistic thoughts of
the planners.

Thirdly, Dalian city planning provided a somewhat suitable environment for future
development, such as the squares, broad streets, dense rode network, large parks and
greenbelts, and infrastructural facilities in European area, proved to be visionary.
The lease term of Tsarist Russian lasted for five years. In 1904, Dalian had a built-up
area of 4.25 square kilometers and a population of more than 40,000. Several
preserved buildings manifested the influence of European retro trend, but the earlier
ones still had ethnic Russian style, such as the former Dalian Museum of Natural
History and Lushun railway station. Few of the later public buildings had a
compromised expression in form, which was in tune with the main key of the city
planning. These buildings took up the space along or on both sides of main roads and
the space near squares at intersections of roads. Due to thoughtful consideration on
visual effects, the framework of the city had been built up basically. The early form of
Dalian city emerged, and laid the foundation for the city's future development.
After the Russio-Japanese war, Japan replaced the colonial rule of Tsarist Russia in
Dalian, and basically continued the city planning in Tsarist era, with changes only in
city management. But in 1906, Japan worked out and announced the "
", which was the first act of urban planning of Dalian. According
to it, Dalian was divided into military district, Japanese residential district and
Chinese residential district, on the basis of territorial division in Tsarist era. The
military district corresponded to eastern part of the European area. Moreover, Japan
made a "Dalian urban planning" to the east of "central park", on the basis of the
planning in Tsarist era, in January 1907.
The main public buildings in this period strengthened and perfected the city and
architectural structure of Tsarist classical formalism. However, the architectural style
was identical to Japanese native trends, and the mainstream was eclectic western
style. If the native Japanese architects hesitated over "Japanese style" and "western
style", the Japanese on the colony based on Tsarist Russian planning were enthusiastic
and unconstrained about western-style architecture.
When Dalian city planning was finished in 1907, the city began to develop
westwards. In 1919, the population broke through 100,000. In June 1919, the
authorities issued "Dalian building regulations" which made a comprehensive
amendment to previous building regulations. The new regulation applied "
" originated in New York in 1916, which was also newly practised in Japan. This
important urban planning method divided the city into four functional areas
residential area, commercial area, workshop area and mixed area. The planning of
building density and building line were also determined.

2-2 From 1920s and 1930s to Prewar Period of WW: Western Urban Construction
and Its Basically Mature Theories and the Trend of Conservative Thoughts in Modern
and Contemporary Times
The five years between 1924 and 1925 was a relatively stable period of capitalism and
was storied. The most evident expression was the urban planning. Big cities, no
matter in a suzerain or colonies, got rapid development.
In this period, a road system of grid plus diagonal was formed in western part of
Dalian. It took the experience of urban layout of New York and Washington, which
was more suitable for transportation development in auto age. Choja Machi Square
(now Renmin Square) at the intersection of diagonal roads, the center of western part,
was a wide municipal plaza. Around the square were "Kanto State Office", local court
and red cross hospital. The urban regional distribution had been decided basically by
1924.
This planning not only broke away from the relic of Tsarist Russian planning, but also
smashed the retro trend. This was the second milestone in Dalian urban development
history, which was permeated by functionalist concept and determined the layout of
western Dalian.

Dalian urban planning commission was established in March 1930. The planning and
management were on the right track and formalist planning method stood its ground.
The commission decided the newly planned area, which was 415.96 square kilometers
with the center of Changpanqiao (now Qingniwa) and radius of 16 kilometers. The
development planning in 1939 decided the idea of developing industrial zone in
Ganjingzi district. In 1935, planners also planned urban population development.
They calculated that Dalian's population would reach saturation 41 years later, of
1,230,000, and the density of population would be 20 square meters per man. In this
period, reforming backward region, such as Siergou area, was also placed on the
schedule of the planning. The most important issue then was the building and
reconstruction of Changpanqiao area, where eastern and western parts of Dalian
joined together and traffic flow was the biggest. The land price of Naniwa Machi
(now Tianjin street) and Tokiwa Machi old commercial street was very high. In 1928,
folks raised funds to pioneer a new commercial streetcommercial chain street and
Tokiwa Mitsukoshi, transforming the form of this area and broadening Naniwa Machi
and the east and west roads of Changpanqiao to 33 meters. It increased transportation
convenience and economic vitality of the area and had been the communication and
commercial center of Dalian until now.

The shift of the center of was of great significance. It was located in the heart of the
city. The newly-developed western area became a dynamic part of the city, with
commercial and transportation support. Therefore, it was necessary to make unified
planning and construction in Changpanqiao area. The eastern and western parts ere
unified, consolidating the trend of westward development. Meanwhile, the old
European area fabric was valued and protected.
The building development of Dalian in this period was the most intricate and
abundant, and was various even at that time. The style freed itself from eclectic
classical form gradually. It paid attention to functions, applied new materials and
techniques, simplified decoration, and emphasized building masses combination and
lines application. Modern architecture got the upper hand.
Compared with some large-scale public buildings, the residential buildings were still
the most in number in this period. They may fall into three categories. One was of
superior villas distributed in the northern root of Nanshan mountain and seaside
scenic areas like Xinghai Park, Heishijiao and Tiger Beach. The second category was
of town houses of tract development spreading mainly in western Dalian and
greenfield site in previous European area. There was usually one or two kinds of
standard dwelling units, which combined to form a unified residential region. They
were scattered in every district of the city without centralized residential area. The
last category was of the residential area of Chinese laborers and foreign transients,
gathering around Xigang district steadily. The poor ones lived in borders of the city,
such as the red house in Siergou and shanty town in Shidao Street.
In this period, Dalian city planning was regulated for four times. The first time was
1905 to 1915 with 14.5 square kilometers of planned land; the second 1916 to 1924
with 56.5 square kilometers, the third 1925 to 1928 with 70 square kilometers, and the
fourth 1929 to 1939 with 170 square kilometers. The Pacific war broke out in 1941,
when Dalian urban construction was mainly stagnant. By 1945, the built-up area had
been 45.7 square kilometers and the population had been more than 700,000.

Part Three: Reflection on Urban Development of Dalian in Modern Times

Throughout the history of Dalian city development, it was a neoteric and modern city
originating on the basis of western classical formalism at the turn of the 20 th century.
Cultural features and architecture movements at various periods were obviously
expressed in evolution of structural forms, thus allowing urban fabric relatively
unified and integrated. Therefore, to develop new architectural culture dynamically
was the necessary way. Certainly, artistically perfect architectural style, like a
scientific invention, did not happen overnight. It was not only a creation of genius,
but also the fruit of the craftsmen's collective efforts. Now Dalian faces a golden
opportunity for development and it will have a greater prospect.