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A Historical Review on the Role of the Bohai Coastal Region in China’s History: Qingdao, Dalian, and Economic Rim

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From Colonial Seaports to Modern Coastal Cities

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Abstract

A relaxed political environment has fostered a maritime economy that has flourished since ancient times in Bohai Bay, a natural gateway for trade and exchanges of culture for the dynasties. With the development of maritime resources making great strides in recent years, Bohai Sea port clusters have played a significant role in the economic development of the region. Dalian and Qingdao are among the most important coastal cities of the modern era. Due to colonial rule, they both were forced to open up to the outside world. Dalian and Qingdao ports started late, but within a relatively short period of time, they were able to surpass many of the major ports. During the 1980s, both major cities opened up to the outside world in their own way, developing at a rapid rate and on an expansive scale. In this chapter, a comparative study will be conducted between Dalian and Qingdao, two of the core cities of Bohai Bay. Throughout the chapter, the reader will take an in-depth journey through the thousands of years of development of Bohai Bay, which will be translated into vivid narratives based on the insights gained from interviews and field trips. Furthermore, the chapter will discuss the strategic development and implementation of Bohai Economic Circle policies in the context of the interaction between the two cities and examine how cities in the Circum-Bohai Economic Zone can engage in deep integration and synergistic cooperation.

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Notes

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    See 马光. (2016). https://www.maguang.net/archives/4370, 马光. (2022). https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_18099666.

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    Ibid.

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    Schottenhammer, A. (2012). The “China seas” in world history: A general outline of the role of Chinese and East Asian maritime space from its origins to c. 1800. Journal of Marine and Island Cultures, 1(2), 63–86.

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    Sheng, E. L., Zhang, A. N., & Yin, Y. C. (2023). A city profile of Macau—The rise and fall of a casino city. Cities, 140, 104,431.

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    Sheng, E. L., & Share, M. (2021). Exchange between Russia and the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao greater bay area in a historical context. Revista de Cultura, 67, 46–59.

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    Saw, S. H., & Wong, J. (Eds.). (2009). Regional economic development in China. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

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    Wang, P., & Bell, D. A. (2022). Qingdao: The city of ideals. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 25(5), 667–682.

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    Wu, S. (2014). The search for coal in the age of empires: Ferdinand von Richthofen’s odyssey in China, 1860–1920. The American Historical Review, 119(2), 339–363.

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    Kunzmann, K. R., & Zhan, E. (2021). From Tsingtau to Qingdao. In Chinese urban planning and construction: From historical wisdom to modern miracles (pp. 113–131). Springer International Publishing.

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    Steinmetz, G. (2008). The devil’s handwriting: Precoloniality and the German colonial state in Qingdao, Samoa, and Southwest Africa. University of Chicago Press.

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    Caozhou Jiaoan is an event happened in 1897. German missionaries instigated believers to oppress the people in the counties near Caozhou (now Heze), Shandong, which aroused public outrage. A group of people from Juye County entered a church in Zhangjiazhuang in November and killed two German missionaries. The German government took this incident as an excuse to send warships to occupy Jiaozhou Bay.

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    Goodman, B., David, S. G., & Goodman, S. G. (Eds.). (2012). Twentieth century colonialism and China. Routledge.

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    Bin, W. A. N. G. (2018). Conflicts and adaptations in technology transfer to modern China: The Jiaoji railway case. In Philosophy of engineering, east and west (pp. 201–213). Springer.

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    Zhang, M., & Rasiah, R. (2013). Qingdao. Cities, 31, 591–600.

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    Mühlhahn, K. (2012). Negotiating the nation: German colonialism and Chinese nationalism in Qingdao, 1897–1914. In Twentieth-century colonialism and China (pp. 37–56). Routledge.

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    Metzler, M. (2006). Lever of empire: The international gold standard and the crisis of liberalism in prewar Japan. University of California Press.

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    Gu, X. H., Sheng, L., & Yuen, C. Y. (2019). Inbound tourism, hospitality business, and market structure. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 43(8), 1326–1335.

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    Marine News China. (2011, January 11). Four Chinese ports ally with ROK’s largest port. https://web.archive.org/web/20130111024439/http://www.marine-news-china.com/china-news/china-ports/item/418-four-chinese-ports-ally-with-roks-largest-port.html.

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    Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide. (2020). New Qingdao model of BRI cooperation. https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/new-qingdao-model-of-bri-cooperation/.

    Jiang, B., Li, J., & Gong, C. (2018). Maritime shipping and export trade on “Maritime Silk Road.” The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, 34(2), 83–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajsl.2018.06.005.

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    中华人民共和国自然资源部. (2023). 青岛制定现代海洋城市"工作图谱". https://www.mnr.gov.cn/dt/hy/202304/t20230411_2780770.html.

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    World Port Source. (n.d.). Port of Dalian. http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/commerce/CHN_Port_of_Dalian_238.php.

  34. 34.

    Hess, C. A. (2006). From colonial jewel to socialist metropolis: Dalian, 1895–1955. University of California.

  35. 35.

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    Konishio, Y. (1923). Port of Dairen. South Manchuria Railway Company.

  37. 37.

    Li, N., & Dong, B. (2022). The legacy of colonial rule: On the impact of the railway zones in modern China. Australian Economic History Review, 62(3), 234–264.

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    Gu, X. H., Sheng, L., Yuen, C. Y., & Lei, C. K. (2021). Modeling the economic effect of statutory taxation on gaming hospitality. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 45(2), 325–344.

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    Liu, Y., Dupre, K., Jin, X., & Weaver, D. (2020). Dalian’s unique planning history and its contested heritage in urban regeneration. Planning Perspectives, 35(5), 873–894.

  40. 40.

    Gu, X. H., Sheng, L., & Yuen, C. Y. (2019). Inbound tourism, hospitality business, and market structure. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 43(8), 1326–1335.

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    Dong, Z. (1985). Forty years of Dalian: 1945–1985. Liaoning People’s Publishing House.

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    Beasley, W. G. (1987). Japanese imperialism, 1894–1945. Oxford University Press.

  43. 43.

    Hess, C. A. (2011). From colonial port to socialist metropolis: imperialist legacies and the making of ‘new Dalian’. Urban History, 38(3), 373–390.

  44. 44.

    Sheng, L. (2011). A political economy approach to foreign investment and local welfare. The Social Sciences Journal, 48(1), 52–71.

  45. 45.

    Qingdao Port: Container Throughput 2021. (2022). Statista. Retrieved 20 November 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1317321/container-throughput-qingdao-port-China/.

  46. 46.

    Sheng, L. (2016). Explaining US-China economic imbalances: A social perspective. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 29(3), 1097–1111.

  47. 47.

    Zhu, P., & Hein, C. (2019). The Dalian port cluster: Spatial practice of the one belt one road initiative. International Journal of Transport Development and Integration, 3(4), 344–354.

  48. 48.

    Song, L., & van Geenhuizen, M. (2014). Port infrastructure investment and regional economic growth in China: Panel evidence in port regions and provinces. Transport Policy, 36, 173–183.

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  1. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Research Institute and School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University, Qingdao, China

    Edmund Li Sheng

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Sheng, E.L. (2024). A Historical Review on the Role of the Bohai Coastal Region in China’s History: Qingdao, Dalian, and Economic Rim. In: From Colonial Seaports to Modern Coastal Cities. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-9077-1_3

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