Sun Yat-sen ’s Efforts in the Construction of “Gre...
On April 12，1927，Chiang Kai-shek launched the April 12 Purge for violent suppression on the Communists.Chiang Kai-shek established the national government in Nanjing，after which the replacement of all banners of the Beiyang government in Manchuria with the flag of the Nationalist government and the allegiance of southwest China unveiled the nominal national unity.Chiang Kai-shek also obtained the substantial ruling power.In particular，the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River，including Chinese controlled districts in Shanghai，as well as provinces and municipalities such as Jiangsu，Anhui，Zhejiang and Jiangxi became the most firmly controlled areas of the central power of the Nanjing National Government.
Five political commissars of the KMT Central Committee including Chen Guofu proposed 21 articles of the Shanghai Measures （Measures） at the 102nd session of the Political Conference of the KMT Central Committee.On June 16，1927，the Nanjing National Government instructed Shanghai to “comply with the Measures immediately”.According to Article 4 of the Measures，“before the central government allows the KMT Headquarters in Shanghai to supervise the Shanghai Municipal Government，the KMT Headquarters in Shanghai shall not interfere in the affairs of any organ under the Shanghai Municipal Government”，determining the institutional principle of the government separation of the KMT Headquarters in Shanghai and the Shanghai Municipal Government.[32] On July 7，the Shanghai Special Municipal Government was established directly under the Nanjing National Government，which was the real-power organ in Chinese controlled districts in Shanghai for more than a decade.In addition to the scope of jurisdiction of the Director General ’s Office of the Shanghai and Wusong Port during the reign of Duan Qirui，the Shanghai Special Municipality had jurisdiction over Dachang Township and Yanghang Township in Baoshan County，a part of Qibao Township in Songjiang County and Qingpu County，a part of Zizhuang Township in Songjiang County，and a part of Zhoupu Township in Nanhui County，involving 30 townships in five countries，with an area of 494.69 square kilometers.[33]This was a great change in the jurisdiction of modern Shanghai，which can be called “Greater Shanghai” in terms of geography.
On the establishment day of the Shanghai Special Municipal Government，the ceremony hall hung the national flag and the KMT flag at the front of the door，a white screen with the words of“Spirit of Humanity”in the inner room，and the portrait of Sun Yat-sen with the words of“The World is Equally Shared by All”；In making salutations，the third procedure was “bow of the mayor and all the present to the national flag and the portrait of Sun Yat-sen for three times”，and the fourth procedure was “the mayor ’s reading of the will”；Chiang Kai-shek attended and said that “I hope that the extraordinary Shanghai will not only become a model for other cities through the efforts of Mayor Huang，but also implement in strict accordance with premier Sun Yat-sen ’s General Plan of National Construction”.The first mayor Huang Fu made four statements in his inaugural speech，the first of which was that “municipal facilities are purely for construction.Premier Sun was devoted his life mainly to construction.At the turn of the seventh and eighth year of the Republic of China （1918 and 1919），Sun said to me during his drafting of the construction plan in Shanghai that： ‘the purpose of the revolutionary cause is construction；without construction，revolution would be meaningless’.That was right！”[34] The first municipal slogan issued by the Shanghai Special Municipal Government was to “Implement the Premier ’s General Plan of National Construction and Build the Greater Shanghai”.[35]
Although Huang Fu had the intention of building the Greater Shanghai during his term of office，he had not clearly，systematically and publicly proposed it；the second mayor Zhang Dingfan tried to revive the plan，but no substantive progress was made for failure to raise funds；the third mayor Zhang Qun started to push forward the plan，and the fourth mayor Wu Tiecheng achieved the most achievements.After the end of the Anti-Japanese War，the mayor Wu Guozhen worked out the Draft General View of Greater Shanghai Plan again，but the war affected the smooth implementation of the plan.The Greater Shanghai Plan has already been substantially studied[36]，so no unnecessary details will be given.Only the construction activities in the name of Sun Yat-sen from 1927 to 1937 will be briefed below.