按城市的性质和职能,可以把城市分为两个基本类型:综合性城市和专业化城市。中国古代大多是以行政中心为主的综合性城市,到明清时期,专业化城镇才大量出现,如丝织业的盛泽、震泽;棉纺织业的松江、南翔;制糖业的东莞,罗定等。近代专业化城镇进一步发展,出现了一批工业城市。由于生产的集中,各门类生产中形成了一批全国规模最大的专业化城市,分别称作钢都、煤都、瓷都、锡都和盐都等,成为具有代表性的城镇典型,各具特色,又有共通的一面。所以选取这些有代表性的典型城镇进行个案分析,不仅能了解一座城市的历史特点,而且对探讨近代以来中国城市的发展规律有重要意义。 According to the nature and functions of cities, cities can be divided into two basic types: comprehensive cities and specialized cities. In ancient China, most of them were comprehensive cities dominated by administrative centers. It was only during the Ming and Qing Dynasties that specialized cities and towns appeared in large numbers, such as Shengze and Zhenze in the silk industry, Songjiang and Nanxiang in the cotton textile industry, and sugar industry. Dongguan, Luoding and so on. Modern professional cities and towns have further developed and a number of industrial cities have emerged. Due to the concentration of production, a number of professional cities with the largest scale in the country have been formed in each category of production. They are called Steel Capital, Coal Capital, Porcelain Capital, Tin City, and Salt Duct, etc., and have become representative examples of towns. Characteristics, there is a common side. Therefore, the selection of representative cities and towns for case studies can not only understand the historical characteristics of a city, but also have important implications for exploring the development laws of Chinese cities since modern times.