Regulating the Capital for Public Interest: Property Politics in the Reconstruction of Nanjing, 1927 - 1949

After seizing power in 1927 amid political strife, leaders of Guomindang believed that a modern capital could be a source of political legitimacy for the new republic. Nevertheless, the dilapidated urban environment of Nanjing did not match its capital status. Hence, the State imposed an ambitious planning project, the Capital plan, vowing to make Nanjing more prosperous than London, Paris and New York. A major hurdle of this state-led urban transformation process, however, has been the requisition of land for the development of the planning project. How did the State legitimize the relocation of common people’s homes for urban development? This paper explores how the State used public interest as a reason to justify the development of the Capital Plan and the requisition of common people’s property. The Capital had not only provided the means for the State to acquire the regulatory power to control the development of the urban environment; they had also created class separation in the city. Ironically, the spatial restructuring of Nanjing, which was carried out in the name of public interest, had caused violent conflicts with local residents who lost their homes. To justify the requisition of private property, the State had stigmatized the opposing home owners as short-sighted, selfish, and obstructive to the modernization of the capital. Not only this, the State proclaimed that all Nanjing residents had an obligation to the urban development of the capital. The shift of emphasis from public interest to public obligation reflected the powerlessness of home owners.