Conflict on a Street in Changsha: A Case Study of the Relationship between Urban Space and State-making in the Early Twentieth Century

This study examines the conflict between local elites and the government in Changsha, Hunan over the naming of a street in the early Republican period to demonstrate the resistance of local merchants, who had previously dominated urban affairs, against the penetration of government power into local communities in the early twentieth century. This case illustrates the struggle between local elites and the government over the control of urban space and social resources, the alienation of local merchants from the government, and changes in local power structure.