Until Beijing was proclaimed as the new capital of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949, there were a number of controversies in the first half of the 20th century on China’s new capital. The debate of the 1940s was the most important one in its scale and influence. When the war against Japan was coming to an end, scholars and intellectuals of China argued on which city was the most appropriate for the capital city of postwar China. The debate had continued after the war, and it came to its’ peak in the National Assembly in December 1946. Different opinions and aspects on the postwar new state building were brought up, and therefore we can see what kind of ideas had competed for the construction of ‘New China’ in the 1940s Chinese society by analyzing this debate.
Writers who supported Beijing as the new capital have argued that Beijing is suitable for the new capital based on military strategic considerations, economic aspects(industrialization), historical experience, geographical conditions, cultural characteristics, convenience of transportation, and climatic conditions, etc. These various reasons can be broadly integrated into three categories, which are ‘legacy of the past’, ‘present conditions’, ‘future prospects’. They have argued that Beijing should once again become the capital city based on China’s historical experience and the age old ideas derived from it. And also, Beijing’s geographical conditions, pleasant climate, convenient transportation and fully equipped urban facilities were considered to be more suitable for postwar capital than other cities in terms of ‘present conditions’. In addition, by predicting postwar China’s military dangers and establishing the major national construction projects, the authors argued that Beijing will be the best place to deal with these problems. They had anticipated the construction of a new nation through praising Beijing’s historical heritage, realistic conditions, and the possibility of the future.
One important feature we can find is the inclination of thinking about China’s postwar national security. Not to speak of the military strategic point, even from the economic point of view, the authors insisted on industrialization for defense construction. Also, they had emphasized that it is beneficial for internal and external control even when they were analyzing the conveniences of traffic or geographical advantages. It is somewhat resonable in that in the Chinese society of the 1940s, which had been subjected to long-term warfare, the task of securing the safety of ‘New China’ became the first among others.