ABSTRACT
Chinese cities have a long history, the development of which has never been interrupted since ancient times. In the 1930s, academic circles had debated about China’s economic development road and argued whether China should rely on agriculture or industry. During the first 30 years after the founding of the PRC, because class struggles had been considered as the guiding principle and cities had been regarded as the breeding ground for the bourgeois ideology, it had been impossible to conduct research on urban history. Urban history research started late in China, but has developed rapidly. In July 1988, the Institute of History of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Shanghai Historical Society held the first “Symposium on Concession and Modern Chinese Society” concentrating on the double influences of concessions on Chinese society.
