The bund

Littoral space of empire in the treaty ports of East Asia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5773838
AutoresJeremy Taylor (0000-0002-0448-0254, autor correspondente)
Ano2002
Volume27
Fascículo2
Páginas125-142
Data de publicação2002-05-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0307-1022 • E-ISSN: 1470-1200
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03071020210128364
OpenAlexW1964718741
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências citadas13

This article is a preliminary study of a spatial form known as the bund, which developed in the treaty ports of East Asia from the mid-nineteenth century to the Second World War. Though now generally associated with that celebrated stretch of waterfront known as the Shanghai Bund, many treaty ports throughout the East Asian region once claimed their own bund. The generic space of the bund was unique in that it embodied many of the principles inherent in Victorian mercantile capitalism. It also reflected the unique situation of treaty port life, in which concepts such as extra-territoriality and laissez-faire capitalism shaped the spatial layout and development of port cities. Bunds played a central role in facilitating the commercial, military and recreational activities of European, North American and, in the twentieth century, Japanese residents of the treaty ports. They furthermore marked the site at which the segregation and violence that accompanied late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century imperialism made its presence felt in Asian ports. In addressing the historical development and post-war demise of bunds, this article also questions the meaning behind the contemporary trend for nostalgic restoration of treaty port era waterfronts in many East Asian cities today

Demise · Port (circuit theory · Economic Zones and Regional Development · Socioeconomic Development in Asia