Abstract:During the long years from Ming and Qing Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, three urban spaces of different natures was formed in Tientsin in succession. The first one was the urban space of Middle Ages. Supported by the Waterborne Transportation (including canal Transportation and marine transportation), it had propelled the development and prosperity of traditional industry and commerce and reached the commanding height of the economic development of Middle Ages. Thus it had formed a typical urban space of Middle Ages and created the brilliance of social civilization of Middle Ages. The second was the space of foreign concessions. After Tianjin became an open port, the great powers leased forever the concessions. Therefore, the space of foreign concessions was formed and it was the result of the colony. However, though the concessions was leased forever by the great powers, the constructors, taxpayers and the supervisors of the administrations of the concessions were the merchants, bankers and industrialists of the Western countries. They were hosts of the space of the concessions, not invaders. Under their construction, the concessions had became the bases of spreading modern civilization. The concessions had also promoted and participated in the renewal and development of the social civilization of Tianjin. The third was the urban space of the inside and outside of Tianjin City Proper. After Tianjin became an open port, the great powers of the West had carved up and expanded the lands on the two sides of HaiheRiver outside Tianjin city and finally took these lands as concessions leased forever. Therefore, the city area of Tianjin became more divided and the inner and outer Tientsin City Proper combined was 12 times smaller than the area of the concessions. The urban space of the inside and outside of Tianjin City Proper was in fact the continuation of the urban space of Middle Ages as well as the urban space in which the new and old, the Chinese and western cultures coexisted as the result of China’s effort to modernize itself by studying the western countries.Besides the above, there was also the troop stationing space of Tientsin. It served as the first base in China to train troops in accordance with western rules and reorganize a modern and new Chinese army. It should have been an important prop of the urban space of Tianjin. The multiple forms of the urban space of Tientsin could certainly produce a multiple and well-developed social civilization.

This paper had mainly explored the evolution of the urban space and social civilization of Tianjin, the complicated phenomena of the two’s complementing each other, and the historical course of their development from Middle Ages to modern times.

Keywords: social civilization; urban space; social space