Nantong is the first city in modern China. Comparison between Nantong and the modernization of cities at home and abroad at that time In the mid-1980s, when I was writing the main item of "Urban Planning" in the Encyclopedia of China, I discussed the position of "Nantong" in the modern urban construction of China as follows: After the Opium War, a new urban planning theory appeared in China. Kang Youwei put forward a utopia to build a living environment in Datong Book. Sun Yat-sen's General Plan for the Founding of the People's Republic of China is a grand program of "territorial planning" and regional urban development planning. In practice, it is particularly worth mentioning the urban planning and construction of Nantong. 1895- 1925 under the impetus of China industrialist Zhang Jian, Nantong has opened up new industrial zones and port areas, developed modern industry and shipping, established a multi-core city system, built shopping malls, schools, museums and roads in the old city, and carried out modern municipal construction. In August 2002, I came to Nantong for my first investigation. When meeting with Mayor Luo Yimin, I put forward the preliminary inference that Nantong was the first city in modern China. This is just a "bold assumption" based on my limited historical knowledge at that time, and the next job is to "carefully verify". Thanks to the comrades of Nantong Planning Bureau, Cultural Bureau, Museum, Zhang Jian Research Center and other units for providing me with a lot of information for correction. Later, Mr. Zhang, the grandson of Mr. Zhang Jian, gave me some precious books. I keep gaining experience, and the work of "verification" continues. My basic understanding at present is this. 2. 1 comparison between Nantong and western contemporary cities 100 years ago, due to the rapid development of industrial revolution, the living conditions of workers in western big cities became worse and worse. In order to improve the living environment of the city, some "industrial philanthropists" began to appear, trying to improve the lives of workers. For example, in 18 16, Roberto Wen established a cooperative commune. 1824, He and his four sons and some disciples engaged in the experiment of establishing a new "new harmony" in Indiana, USA, and later completely failed; 18 15, the British capitalist titus Sartre built the Saltel, which was started in 1853 and completed in 186 1 year. Western urban planners call it "the housing construction of philanthropists". PortSunlight was built in 1887 to improve the environment and improve workers' lives. These activities were close to or earlier than Zhang Jian's time. On this basis, Zhang Jian also founded some charitable and social welfare undertakings, mainly including: 1906, 19 12, Nantong Nursing Home, 19 13, Nantong Hospital (with some free treatment later),/kloc. If we compare Zhang Jian (1853 ~ 1926) with E Howard (1850 ~ 1928), a pioneer of modern urban planning in almost the same period, they have one thing in common, that is, they are both figures in the history of modern cities. Huo manages a "garden city" and explores the road of social reform; Zhang Jian managed Nantong, carried out a series of urban construction, explored ways of local autonomy, and "established the embryonic form of a new world for the shame that China could not be autonomous". However, they have different backgrounds and different ways; From the perspective of western urban construction, since the industrial revolution, large-scale production has risen, and population and capital have gathered in cities, but the quality of living environment has declined. Huo Shi and others strive to find a way to comprehensively plan and design the ideal development of the future city. Haworth wrote a book called Tomorrow-A Peaceful Road to Real Reform (1902 was renamed as Tomorrow Garden City when it was reprinted). Later, some critics pointed out in his book SocialCities: "People who have lived in slums for a long time have houses, the unemployed have jobs, the landless have houses, and the pent-up energy has a chance to be released. All these situations have appeared everywhere, and the reconstruction of existing cities has really begun, focusing on exploring technical ways to solve social problems. " ⑨。 Urban problems first appeared in Britain, and Britain and Western Europe also took the lead in exploring modern urban construction. From 65438 to 0909, the "Housing, TownplanningAct" appeared in Britain, which showed that the planning concept and technology of urban construction had a certain foundation. Compared with the so-called "company city" in western Europe and Howard's "garden city", Nantong operated by Zhang Jian should belong to different historical stages. It was in China, where science and technology lagged behind the West for more than one hundred years, that the exploration of urban construction began in the process of seeking modernization in the early 20th century. It is a miracle that Nantong built by Zhang Jian is similar to the new city run by Howard (Lechworth and Wehrwein) in time and manner, and can rival each other in content and scale. Try to compare Zhang Jian's urban regional thought with Gajdys (P. Geddes, 1854- 1932), another pioneer in the history of western urban planning. Gajdys believes that the realization of order in the new technological era needs to combine the dual goals of cities and villages, and puts forward a "regional concept" to reveal the phenomenon of "metropolis". Gai advocates regional planning, which is based on biology and philosophy, but its achievements are mostly ideological and theoretical achievements. Zhang Jian is not only based on China's national conditions, but also considers urban construction and regional development as a whole, and he is a construction practitioner with indelible historical achievements. Both Howard and Gaddis are facing all kinds of "urban diseases" brought by the agglomeration and development of big cities after the industrial revolution, and strive to find solutions from the perspective of the disintegration of big cities and regional development. Kao Zhangjian's footprints were limited to Japan and Seoul, and he didn't go to Western Europe (it can't be said that Zhang Jian knew nothing about modern western urban construction). His urban construction thought is based on China's farming society, and comprehensively considers from villages and towns to urban development, and "integrates" scattered villages and towns with 10 cities to develop areas, which can be called "Nantong model" and is an urban area under the unique social and cultural background of China. 2.2 Comparison between Nantong and other cities in China in the same period: Shanghai, Tianjin and other concessions were the bridgehead of imperialist aggression against China. They were created by western municipal planners using modern technology and the hands of China people, which promoted the modernization of China city and played a historical role, but they could not be the representatives of early modern urban construction in China. Qingdao, Dalian, Harbin and other cities were all built during the imperialist occupation; Tangshan has industrial construction and railway construction. A valuable step has been taken in the early modernization of China, but there is no comprehensive management of industry, transportation and residence in urban construction, and a complete pattern has not been formed. Zhang Zhidong needs to be mentioned here. Zhang Zhidong is an important figure in promoting China's early modernization. He and Zhang Jian are both thinkers and industrialists in China. They have their own merits, so the history of modern cities should be studied in depth. For example, Wuhan opened its commercial port as early as 1858, Britain and France began to build concessions in 186 1 year, and Zhang Zhidong implemented the "Hubei New Deal" in 18 years after he became the governor of Huguang in 1899, and made great achievements, such as It was Zhang Zhidong's pioneering work that built modern libraries, newspapers and other cultural undertakings, making Wuhan a modern metropolis after Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and an important symbol of China's early modernization. Zhang Zhidong seems to have a broader career and has made positive achievements in the whole country and Hubei Province. However, in terms of urban construction and related theories, Zhang Jian's Nantong Management is more typical and relatively complete. According to the data, Tongzhou Normal School, Nantong Museum, the first privately-run museum in China, Nantong Textile Specialized School, the first textile university, and Gong Ling College all rank first in China. It is important that a series of construction undertakings and facilities can be comprehensively planned and relatively concentrated in one place. A feudal county town has begun to transition to a modern city (also known as a "model county town") in a short time, which cannot but be considered to be of epoch-making significance. The planning, construction, management and operation of Nantong city and its region are integrated and interrelated, and the coordinated development of urban and rural areas is incomparable to other cities and of great significance. From today's perspective, its positive role still has a reasonable core worth learning from. To sum up, the thesis of "China's first city in modern times" can be understood from many aspects: Nantong is the product of China's early modernization, which is different from the cities developed under the occupation of concessions, commercial ports or foreign powers, and is the first representative city that China people consciously and creatively planned, built and operated comprehensively based on the China concept. Based on the above reasons, China city history and world city history should give Zhang Jian the historical position he deserves. Of course, compared with the western pioneers mentioned above, Zhang Jian's influence on later generations seems to be less than this, and there are not many works in the modern urban history of China (even the urban construction in Zhang Jiu Ji is not listed), and it is only slightly reported in foreign literature. This is because there is a general lack of understanding of the importance of cities in China society, and it is also a manifestation of backward urban construction theory and insufficient research.