Analysis of the Urban Morphological Evolution of Baisha Sandbank in Early-Modern Wuhan (1861–1949)

Baisha Sandbank is located outside Wuchang city and is one of the birthplaces of Wuhan dock culture. During the modernization of Wuchang city, Baisha Sandbank became a “test field” for Zhang Zhidong to establish the national industry in the early stage. The process of urban planning and construction was affected by the nationalist thought of “national salvation”. This article uses historical documents, historical maps, and cadastral maps to analyze the evolution of Baisha Sandbank's urban morphology during three periods: “sandbanks ashore, the period of Zhang Zhidong's New Deal (1861–1911)”, “transdockation developments, the early industrialization of the Republic of China (1912–1937)” and “the period of Anti-Japanese War, development stagnated (1937–1949)” The conclusion shows that the change of geographical environment is the basic condition for the evolution. Policy guidance, factory construction, and transdockation development in different periods are the main driving forces for morphological evolution. The evolution of urban morphology reflects the modernization of Baisha Sandbank from the late perspective of nationalist urban construction, and is evidence of the process from late-exogenous modernization to active modernization, and the changes in urban structure and social culture.