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| THE PROCESS AND POWER MECHANISM OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF QILOU IN GUANGDONG AND SURROUNDING AREAS |
| LIN Lin, XU Xue-qiang |
| Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275, China |
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Abstract Qilou has made a great influence in Guangdong province and the tow ns nearby with the local characteristics. Qilou not only witnessed the social and economic development history of Chinese modern cities, but also experienced the strong conflict, collision and conflation between the West and the East cultures.From historical point of view, the development of Qilou can be divided into seven stages, i.e., incipient, growth, flourishing, stagnation, readjustment, decline and rejuvenation. From its spatial location, Qilou widely distributes in South-east Asia and coastal area of the South China Sea, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Fujian, Taiwan and others.There are different static characters of the spatial distribution of Qilou in three different scopes. Within the scope of the world, there are four zones. The first zone is the co re zone of Pearl River Delta; the second zone is the marginal zone of the east, the western and the northern areas of Guangdong Province; the third zone is peripheral zone of Hainan, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Taiwan; the forth zone is the outside area.within the scope of southeastern part of China, the spatial distribution characteristics of Qilou presents as three zones that are in different size and overlapped.The first zone including Guangzhou and five towns nearby is the core; the second zone including the east- wing of Taiwan is the secondary co re; and the third zone including the west-wing of Hainan and Leizhou Peninsula is also the secondary core. Through comparing and observing the patterns of Qilou and the ages of building, the author infers that the spreading mode and direction of Qilou is that it was preliminary formed in India, then spread from the Malay Peninsula to Malay Archipelago (or Southeast Asia)by the colonizers, and then further distributed to the coastal area of the Pacific in three ways. The spatial layout of Qilou displays a dynamic characteristic, spreading around based on Guangzhou, Haikou and Taiwan. Marine Silk Road and the opening of port-cities are significant elements that influenced the forming and development of Qilou. Through analyzing the space-time process of the development of Qilou, this essay reveals that the forming and development of Qilou district culture was not only driven by commercial benefit pursuits, building space and economy of times, but also resulted from the promotion and lead by local government's opening policy.
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Received: 04 September 2002
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2004, Vol. 19 
