禁阻苏州河上租界垃圾船:近代上海环境问题中的社会与外事

Banning Garbage Boats from the Concession Area from Navigating the Soochow Creek:Local Society and Foreign Entanglements in Environmental Conflicts of Modern Shanghai

20世纪一二十年代禁阻苏州河上租界垃圾船的事件中,为了维护主权并通过浚河来发展经济和改善民生,中方提前把正在吴淞江进行疏浚工作的机构调到上海来疏浚下游的苏州河。租界当局争夺苏州河疏浚权,不仅是希望把苏州河作为廉价的垃圾处理场,更是企图借助苏州河的疏浚权来扩大租界。中国官民商各界成功禁阻租界垃圾船在苏州河上行驶,其意义超越了水利和公共卫生本身。这场因苏州河上租界垃圾船引发的中外角力,反映了半殖民地半封建社会的大都市处理环境问题的特殊性以及近代中国人民为了追求环境公平而与西方列强展开的坚决斗争。

In the 1920s,a prolonged dispute unfolded in Shanghai over the prohibition of garbage boats from the concession area from navigating the Soochow Creek.This dispute engendered complex struggles involving both Chinese and foreign actors.Deliberately,the Chinese authorities redirected the organization responsible for dredging the Wusong River to Shanghai to undertake similar efforts on the Soochow Creek,which formed the lower reaches of the Wusong River.Their objectives encompassed the preservation of Chinese sovereignty,economic development,and enhancement of people's livelihoods.Simultaneously,the concession authorities'obstinacy regarding dredging rights on the Soochow Creek was driven by their aim to utilize it as an convenient dumping site while also seeking to expand the concession area.The clashes between Chinese and foreign actors over the environmental challenges posed by garbage boats navigating the Soochow Creek underscored the unique environmental dilemmas confronting a cosmopolitan city within a semi-colonial and semi-feudal context,while also exemplifying the determined efforts of the Chinese populace to advocate for environmental justice in the face of Western pressures.