If we compare Chinese mainland to a huge department and compare foreign countries to a bigger department, the coastal port is the hub connecting the two departments. Most of China's foreign trade is conducted through coastal port cities. According to the data provided by the General Administration of Customs, which manages the import and export trade of various customs in modern China, most of China's total import and export volume is completed by coastal customs, followed by coastal customs, which are insignificant. It happens every year.
The importance of coastal port cities in trade is also reflected in domestic trade. China is a vast country. Before the rise of new means of transportation such as railways, highways and aviation, water transport was the most convenient mode of transportation. Most rivers in China are east-west and flow into the sea near coastal port cities. Port cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen and Ningbo can not only connect the mainland by rivers, but also connect the coastal ports of China by sea. Therefore, these port cities are not only the commercial and foreign trade centers along the coast of China, but also the seaports and commercial centers in their basins. After the rise of modern transportation, railways, highways and ships are still the most developed in the east. Coastal port cities are often the starting points of important railways and highways, and rivers and seas also meet here. With the help of convenient transportation, coastal port cities have transported their commercial influence to the distant inland of China, which has increased the contact density with various regions and is more important in the commercial and economic fields of China.
Because the railways in China are mainly distributed in the east, and there are few in the central and western regions, the Yangtze River plays a role in connecting the eastern, central and western regions. Therefore, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Wuhu, Jiujiang, Hankou, Yueyang, Chongqing and other port cities along the river have long been the transportation centers of various regions. After the rise of new traffic, most of them are places where railways and important highways pass, so they occupy a certain position in China's trading port system. If the opening of ports along the coast makes China open to foreign capitalism, the opening of ports along the Yangtze River makes the influence of foreign capitalism directly enter the mainland of China.
Although the opening of major trading ports is the result of external forces, a series of unequal treaties have seriously damaged China's sovereignty. However, the impact of opening trading ports is not all negative. Before the opening up, the trade volume of port cities, except Guangzhou, only faced the domestic market with low purchasing power and stayed at a low level; After the opening of ports for trade, the markets of these cities expanded from the domestic market to the vast foreign markets, which laid a good foundation for these cities to take the road of prospering the city with ports and prospering the city with commerce.
In modern cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Hankou, Xiamen, Zhenjiang, Jiujiang and Guangzhou, foreigners live and manage administrative, tax, police and judicial concessions. Among them, the earliest and largest concession in Shanghai. Shanghai Concession is a real economic center, with many new shops and modern factories, developed financial industry and real estate, and dense population. New roads, gas, electric lights, telephones, running water, public transportation and garbage disposal systems built according to scientific planning first appeared in the concession. Coupled with strict and effective western-style urban management, China people were deeply impressed by the completely different urban features in the past. Concessions in most cities have experienced changes similar to those in Shanghai. In addition, the earliest western medicine, western medicine, western-style hospitals, new newspapers, new schools, new performance stages and publishing institutions in China also mostly appeared in port cities first. With the initial modernization factor of China imported from western capitalism, the trading port city has become a window to show the modern politics, economy, culture and urban appearance, and a sample for China people to build their own modern homeland.
The coastal port cities along the Yangtze River are not only the most developed areas of commerce and transportation in China, but also the most concentrated areas of modern industry. 1933 among the twelve cities with the most developed industries except northeast China and Taiwan Province province, six coastal port cities, such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Shantou, account for 72% of the total workers and 85% of the total output value; Followed by Nanjing, Hankou, Chongqing and other three port cities along the river, accounting for 10% of the total number of workers and 5% of the net output. At the same time, the coastal ports along the Yangtze River are also the areas with the fastest urban growth and the highest level of urbanization in China. During the Republic of China, among the seven municipalities directly under the Central Government and the twelve cities under the jurisdiction of the Institute, the trading port cities accounted for 86% and 83% respectively. In terms of population size, Shanghai, the largest city in China with a population of more than 2 million, was a trading port in the 1960s, three of the four megacities with a population of1-2 million were trading ports, and the four megacities with a population of 500- 1 10,000 were all trading ports. Even in cities with a population of 200,000-500,000 and cities with a population of1-200,000, trading port cities account for 67% and 52%.
For the vast mainland, the advanced economy and culture of port cities have a strong radiation effect. The growth and expansion of these cities not only promote the development of their areas, but also affect the transportation to the vast rural areas through various traffic routes and commercial networks. Almost all port cities are the leaders of regional modernization in different spatial ranges, and they are the most noteworthy places in China in the past century.