The spatial transformation of Chinese cities in early modern times results from the growth of urban population,the transformation of urban functions,and the emergence of the municipal administration.At the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese cities began the large-scale construction or reconstruction of the urban infrastructure,whose typical examples were the dismantling of city walls,the leveling of the moats,and the construction of ring roads.Most Chinese cities followed suit.With a review of the data of the changes of the city walls in nearly 1200 cities,this paper concludes that the extensive spatial transfor-mation of the 20th century started from the southeast coastal provinces of China.This process was disturbed by the warfare of the 1930s and the 1940s.Since the founding of the People's Republic of China,the urban construction resumed while the urban spatial transformation marched on from the east to the west and from the metropolis to the surrounding areas.%近代城市人口的增长、城市职能的变化、市政机构的出现带来了城市空间的转变。20世纪初，中国开始了大范围的城市基础设施改造与新建。其中最有代表性的是拆城、填濠、修筑环城马路的工程，此后全国大部分的城市改造都遵循了相似的模式。本文通过对近1200座治所城市城墙变动信息的研究发现，20世纪大规模的城市空间改造最初主要从东南沿海省份开始，30年代末至40年代的战争打破了这一过程，但随着新中国成立后城市建设的恢复，空间改造的进程继续向西部省份推进，总体上呈现由东向西，由中心向边缘发展的特点。
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