10. Xi’an, 1900–1940: From Isolated Backwater to Resistance Center

Abstract

The history of Xi'an in the early twentieth century is that of a forlorn place inhabited by the memories of its glorious past, a place that took several decades to regain political and strategic importance and join the mainstream of modern urban development in China. This chapter begins with a rapid overview of the events that occurred in Xi'an and the Shaanxi core from the mid-nineteenth century, before focusing on various aspects of the transformations of Xi'an as a city in the first decades of the twentieth century. Xi'an's much-lamented isolation in the early twentieth century was a matter of difficult transportation in the Guanzhong region before the advent of dependable motor roads and, above all, the railway. The chapter closes with a few considerations on certain cultural and political aspects of the history of Xi'an from the eve of the 1911 Revolution through the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War. Keywords:Guanzhong; modern urban development; Sino-Japanese war; twentieth century; Xi'an