民國時期 北京의 衛生改革과 '環境暴動'

Abstract

In the Republican Beijing, the nightsoil disposal business and water business pursued to be independent from the government intervention, and at the same time supplemented the government functions. For contributing to improve the public hygiene, the nightsoil workers and water supply workers were granted exclusive rights from the nation intreating human faeces and selling well water. However, these sanitary workers had conflicting interest of serving the public and pursing private interest. By the Republican period, their work did not satisfy the needs of the citizen, and as the municipal government attempted to reform the practice, conflict and protest arose. This study endeavored to illuminate how the conflict between the municipal government and the sanitary workers deployed and were addressed. With advancement of urbanization, the expectation for environmental hygiene elevates, however the leaders of the sanitary workers focused on exploiting their interests instead of taking initiatives in the reform. The ordinary workers readily bought into the idea that the health reform would take away their jobs. Especially, the nightsoil workers had an experience of successfully impeding the first reform of the municipal government, which made the negotiation in the second time even harder. In comparison, although the water supply workers temporarily engaged in violent act of interfering with installation of water pipes and destroying facilities, they did not continue the violent protest in the long run. Partly, this difference can be explained by the relationship of each business with the municipal government. But more than that, the result largely depended on how extensive the implementing power of the municipal government was since it took over the initiative of the health reform. The nightsoil disposal business became fully private by the nightsoil workers, and the government hardly had control over each dealer. It had to intervene directly through administrative penalty or armed interference. On the contrary, in water business, the municipal government owned more than half of the water wells, which prevented water supply workers from exercising exclusive rights, and this helped to mitigate the conflict between the municipal government and the water supply workers