环境史视角下的近代城市排污研究——从民国天津公厕谈起

An Environmental History of Urban Waste Disposal in Republican China:Public Toilets in Tianjin

公厕是民国城市的重要卫生设施,更是关系城市环境优劣、决定城市排污成败的关键环节。设置公厕可以减少随地便溺现象、改进环境,但随着大量粪秽集聚,也产生了清理问题,因此公厕状况可反映城市排污系统的运转状态。民国时期天津公厕发生近代转化,在传统旱厕之外出现了新式水冲厕所,粪夫、粪厂和粪业等人力排污系统也面临管道排污模式的挑战。排污近代化过程虽然改善了城市卫生,但也削弱了都市粪肥流入乡村的可能,从而破坏了原有的城—乡物质循环模式,造成了马克思所说的新陈代谢裂隙等问题。

The present paper, digging into the history of public toilets in Tianjin in Republican China, reconstructed Tianjin’s modernization of toilet, which was embodied in the rise of flush toilet and pipelined sewage system. It contends that, although the modernization of public toilet improved the urban health, it did destroy the original urban-rural circulation of materials.