Greater Shanghai Plan
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Plan_of_Great_Shanghai_Municipal_Administation_Area_c_1930_EN.svg/300px-Plan_of_Great_Shanghai_Municipal_Administation_Area_c_1930_EN.svg.png)
The Greater Shanghai Plan (simplified Chinese:
Following the fall of Shanghai to the Japanese in 1937, implementation of the plan stopped. By October 1938, the occupying army had come up with their own "Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Plan" (Chinese:
Background
[edit]In July 1927, the Nationalist Government headquartered in Nanjing under Chiang Kai-shek established the Shanghai Special City Government (
Plan detail
[edit]The major elements of the plan were divided into four sections:
- City center plan: Comprising 1,000 mu (~ 0.66 km2) and shaped like the stylized Chinese character zhong (
中 ) meaning "centre", this area would contain government buildings each with its own exercise area. There would also have been a museum, a library, a hospital and a sports stadium suitable for staging national events. - A railway line connecting the city centre with a port on the Huangpu River and a railway line with goods depot near modern-day Qiujiang Road (Chinese: 虬江
路 ). - Division of the city into zones with the central area surrounded by industrial and residential areas.
- Traffic system:
- A grid of high speed roads leading out from the central government buildings in the centre to the west and south with a web of interconnected roads to the north and east.
- Construction of Zhongshan North (
中山北 路 ) and Zhongshan West Road (中山西 路 ) leading to the southern downtown area and Qimei Road (其美路 ), modern day Siping Road, (四 平 路 ) and Huangxing Road (黄 兴路) connecting to the International Settlement in the north west. - A further 23 roads leading to Pudong, Jiangqiao and other local areas.
Implementation
[edit]Funding
[edit]Once implementation of the plan began, the Nationalist Government issued bonds to cover the necessary construction funds. In 1929 they floated the First Phase Municipal Bond to raise 3,000,000 Chinese yuan based on marketable land values of between 200 and 600 yuan per Chinese acre. A land tax was further levied on the 5,400 mu that made up the proposed city centre area. Outside of this area, a surplus 829 mu of land was divided into two grades and sold for 2,500 yuan and 2,000 yuan per mu respectively, generating a profit of 1,795,560 yuan.
New city hall
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Shanghai_Government_Building_in_the_1930s.jpg/220px-Shanghai_Government_Building_in_the_1930s.jpg)
The 1,000 mu site earmarked for the new Shanghai City Hall lay at the centre of the planned city. On 1 October 1929 a design competition for the new building was launched with a prize of 3,000 yuan. The government announced architect Dong Dayou (
Other facilities
[edit]Work on a 300 mu (~200,000 m2) sports field began in August 1934 at the same time as a stadium and a swimming pool nearby. At the end of the same year, construction started on the Shanghai Municipal Library (
Notable buildings
[edit]- Shanghai Nationalist Government Building (
中 华民国 上海 市 政府 大 厦) - Shanghai Municipal Stadium (
上海 市立 體育 場 ) (Now the Jiangwan Sports Center) - Shanghai Municipal Library (
上海 市立 图书馆) - Shanghai Municipal Museum (
上海 市立 博物 馆) - Shanghai Municipal Hospital and Health Institute (
上海 市立 医院 及卫生 试验所 )
Denoument
[edit]The area suffered significant damage during World War II and thereafter the development focus shifted towards the southwest of Shanghai.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Bounded to the north by Zhayin Road (闸殷
路 ), to the south by Xiangyin Road (翔 殷 路 ) to the east by Songhu Road (淞沪路 ) and to the west by the Huangpu River.
References
[edit]- ^ MacPherson, Kerrie L. (2001), "Designing China's urban future: The Greater Shanghai Plan, 1927–1937", Planning Perspectives, 5 (1): 39–62, doi:10.1080/02665439008725694
- ^ "Shanghai Stories: Great SH Plan". International Channel Shanghai. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
- ^ a b "
旧 上海 市区 道路 的 三 种形态 (The three types of road in old Shanghai)". Shanghai Daily. 15 April 2012. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014. (in Chinese)
Further reading
[edit]- Henriot, Christian (2004). 1927-1937
年 的 上海 :市政 权,地方 性 和 现代化 [Shanghai 1927-1937: Municipal Power, Locality and Modernisation] (in Chinese).上海 古 籍 出版 社 (Shanghai Antiquarian Book Publishers). ISBN 9787532538157.