National Port, Local City: The Making of Port-City in Haizhou, China, 1895–1938

Haizhou had long served as a coastal fort and maritime frontier since the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911). With the decline of imperial power in the late nineteenth century, local gentry broke free from the constraints of the frontier and built a local port-city to participate in maritime networks. During the Republic era (1912–1949), the state, operating within a national framework, developed Lianyun Port to bolster national coastal defense against Japanese aggression. However, port authorities and city elites pursue divergent strategies, leading to a separation between the port and the city. The provincial government sought to reconcile this duality by constructing a new porty-city of Lianyun to promote local development. Nevertheless, conflicting national and local interests ultimately rendered the development of Lianyun unfeasible. By examining the making of port-city in Haizhou, this article offers an alternative perspective for conceptualizing China’s coast and understanding the complex dynamics shaping China’s port cities within the modern Asian maritime world.