The Development of the Street—Historical Investigation of Hankow Street before 1861

Abstract

For a long period of time, space has only been regarded as an adjunct or background of other things. As Henri Lefebvre believes that space is not a pure physical space, but is the production of social change, social transition and social experience. It is also the production of the complex social relations together with which space together are involved in the historical process. Therefore only incorporating the street into the framework of social history, and regarding it as a part of the same process of social history, can we grasp its true essence? This paper is based on this to give an account of how Hankow street shaped and developed before 1861 and its role in historical process. This paper also reveals the role of the natural environment in the evolution of social history.