In the Qing Dynasty,there appeared some commercial towns in Xiangxi(in the west of Hunan Province),where economy were not highly developed.

It is determined that public participation plays a significant role in construction of commercial center at city level owing to its serving targets,functions,marketing orientation,industrial categories,industrial structure,spatial location,traffic,and facility establishments of constructing a commercial center at city level.

In the traditional urban background, the city retail centers have one-to-one correspondent relationship with the accessibility centers.