In the Luoyang Basin during the Han, Wei, Sui, and Tang dynasties, the flow patterns of the Yi, Luo, Chan, and Jian rivers were closely related to their geological setting. The orientations of these rivers are predominantly determined by the underlying geological fault lines of the basin. The orientations of the Yi and Luo rivers are mainly determined by east-west and northeast-oriented fault lines, with the flow path of the Luo River primarily influenced by the Matun-Yanshi fault and the Yi River influenced by the Yiyang-Yanshi fault. Jian and Chan Rivers share simultaneous spatial similarities and transient transformation similarities, both following city site migrations, turning from being sectioned eastward during Han and Wei dynasties to falling back to the natural southward flow during Sui and Tang dynasties. Luo River exhibited a trend of continual northward transformation during Han, Wei, Sui, and Tang dynasties, while Yi River constantly extends eastward and southward. Over historical periods, the Yi and Luo rivers gradually separated north and south, with their confluence point shifting eastward. Unequal north-south subsidence and a northward tilt of the sedimentary center caused Luo River to migrate northward, while a central bulge and ‘two cut first base’complex fault depression caused Yi River to extend eastward and southward.
During the Hongzhi Period, Bai Ang (白昂) dug the Kangji River, a new waterway in the east of Gaoyou Lake through farmland, thus an extensive lake field called ‘circle field’ (圈田) was created between the new river and the lake. It acted as a barrier of the canal to circumvent the dangers posed by the lake’s turbulent floods. In the period of Zhengde and Jiajing, changes in land cultivation along the lakeside and alterations in levy methods led to the disruption of canal infrastructure and organization, which resulted in a worse trend of canal siltation and lake water level rise. From Longqing to Wanli era, the canal embankment repeatedly breached, leading to different views among local elites and river officials regarding whether to retain the Kangji River and the circle fields or not. The former tried to consolidate the field as taxable assets, while the latter emphasized on the importance of the embankment. Finally, Wu Guifang rebuilt the Gaoyou canal and the old embankment. The Kangji River was abandoned. The submerged circle fields also lost their significance. The dynamic interplay between the lakeside fields in Gaoyou and the changes of the water environment, intertwining in the process of the reform of the tax and levy, jointly influenced the canal projects.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the seat of Lewen County (乐温县) was firstly set up at Linfeng, which located in the hills alongside the lower reaches of the Longxi River. Yong’an’s seat, on the other hand, was at Yangjiao Bao by the mouth of the river. The administrative center of Lewen County was relocated to the riverside street close to the abandoned Yong’an’s seat after the two counties merged in the late Kaiyuan period, and remained until the Jiaqing’s reign in Qing Dynasty. The spatial process reflects a functional transfer from inland to port. The misunderstandings regarding the relocation of the country seat, which was believed to have taken place in early Ming Dynasty, may be attributed to the loss of local memory caused by the tremendous geographic and demographic changes since late Southern Song Dynasty. It would be useful for the study of local toponym as well as the revitalization local culture to clarify the historical facts.
The reasons for establishment and the setting process of the four Anfu Si Lu (安抚司路) located to ‘Hebei’ (the north of the Yellow River) during the Song Dynasty are still subject to debate. Through the perspective of historical political geography, this study traces the entire process of the formation of Hebei Four Anfusi Lu. It also draws from two clues of administrative division and organization to offer new interpretations and to enrich several historical details. The military administration of Hebei underwent a transition from generals guarding the borders in division during the reign of Emperor Taizu, to the deployment of Dubushu (field headquarter, 都部署) in Emperor Taizong’s era, to the deployment of three Dubushu in Emperor Zhenzong’s era. In the eighth year of Qingli under the reign of Emperor Renzong, the formal Hebei Four Anfushi (安抚使) established. Yet, the court did not adopt the proposal of establishing a Hebei Jinglue Anfushi (河北经略安抚使) in spite of the border crisis in the Qingli era. The frequent rebellion problems caused by arrogant soldiers and weak generals during the Qingli period were the fundamental reasons for the establishment of the clearly delineated Hebei Four Anfusi Lu.
After the control of Xinjiang was restored, Qing Dynasty established the Kashgar Dao (喀什噶尔道) and Aksu Dao (阿克苏道) in the southern Xinjiang area in 1882, which was an important preparatory step for the Xinjiang Province and a concrete manifestation of continuous deepening of the national political system in the border regions. Subsequent territorial expansions and adjustments based on the basic concepts of ‘Liang Di Zhi Yi’(量地置邑) and ‘Zhi Guang Yi Xia’(治广以狭), were specific responses to the border defense crisis, territorial crisis and governance crisis in the administrative setting under the drastic changes of the current situation. This move highlighted the role of the political district setups in consolidating the border and perfecting grassroots governance, while laying the foundational framework of current administrative divisions in southern Xinjiang. Alongside the setting of ‘Zheng Qu Fen Deng’ (政区分等), there was a relatively mature system for the selection and appointment of officials, in order to maximize the achievement of local social governance on the ‘Ren Di Xiang Yi’ (人地相宜). Despite the clear lack of hierarchical grades in the newly established political district, they did not do so according to the rules, and the ‘Zheng Qu Fen Deng’ basically deviate from the selection of officials, which became the precursor of the national state and county ‘Ting Bu Xuan’(停部选) in 1908.
This article attempts to restore the main land traffic roads in the northern part of Yangzhou City during the Tang and Song Dynasties based on the location of the posts and delivery shops in the relevant literature, combined with archaeological data. Comparing the traffic conditions of the two periods, it is believed that in the Song Dynasty, the traffic starting point and center moved south as compared with the Tang Dynasty, and some roads were abandoned or formed. The reason lies in the changes in the location of the city and its spatial structure during the Tang and Song Dynasties. During the Song Dynasty, the outside of Yangzhou, especially the east of the city, became one of the central areas. The main traffic roads outside Yangzhou and Shugang were important areas that needed to be contended and controlled during the historical period. Archaeological studies show that these roads also had a certain influence on the distribution of tombs in the Tang and Song Dynasties and the formation and development of the suburb of the Song Dynasty. Although water transportation was extremely developed in the Tang and Song dynasties, the role of land transportation still cannot be overlooked in Yangzhou.
The Tang Dynasty Chinese cliff carvings discovered in the Dil mountain of Ulziit in the central Gobi Province of Mongolia indicate that this area was an important node on the grassland transportation line at that time. The route through the desert to capital of the Uyghur Empire, as recorded in the New Book of Tang passed through this area as the ‘Eastern Uyghur Road’, also known as the ‘the road of having an audience with Tengri Khan’. The inscriptions were carved during the rule of restraint period of the Tang Dynasty in the second year of Linde, which confirmed the historical event that Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty offered sacrifices to heaven and earth in Mount Tai and invited the leaders of Tiele tribes in the Boreal desert to come, which reflected the communications between the Tang Dynasty and the northern nomads and the control of the Tang government over the vassal prefectures in the Boreal desert.
After the principle of setting taxes based on the original amount of Wanli was determined in the early Qing Dynasty, a large number of wasteland figures were formed through “removing wasteland and collecting reclaimed land”(Ti Huang Zheng Shu). Through the investigation of Shanxi Province in the early Qing Dynasty, it can be seen that the number of wasteland mainly refers to the excluded wasteland in the original land amount. In the process of wasteland classification and successive census, the numbers showed characteristics of delay, stratification and systematic missing. Under the influence of the policy of exemption, on the one hand, it included some uncultivated or wasteland difficult to cultivate formed in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, it did not include a large number of easily reclaimed wasteland formed in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. In the reclamation process in early Qing Dynasty, these wasteland number became an important basis for the rulers to judge the reclamation situation and the starting point of reclamation. Therefore, although the situation of reclamation in Shanxi was not good before Yongzheng’s era, the actual reclamation process of wasteland started earlier, was larger in scale and completed faster than that was reflected in the reclamation figures, and it’s different in terms of spatial process.
The Jianghan Plain has long maintained a dominant position in rice-based grain production, and this dominance has persisted continuously into modern times. With the constantly evolving domestic and foreign economic conditions and the growing connection between ports and the hinterland, there has been a gradual increase in the proportion of cotton cultivation. This resulted in a spatial division of labor in crop cultivation. Research on the changes in crop cultivation in the Jianghan Plain reveals that the geographical environment in which small-scale farmers are located influenced their crop selection. While external economic conditions enhanced the competitiveness of specific crops, the location of ports constrained the extent of trade expansion. Finally, the analysis of changes in crop cultivation demonstrates that the economic advantages historically held by Hankou had become a significant factor in the widening gap between inland and coastal areas during the process of modernization.
Under the traditional logic of salt administration, the private import and export of table salt have always been prohibited. Since the late Qing Dynasty, there have been several foreign-related salt issues in the Northeast Asia, triggering a number of Sino-foreign negotiations and prompting the salt authorities to adopt varying strategies for import and export management. The export of table salt has various benefits such as maintaining the livelihood of merchants, expanding local products market, and maintaining relations with vassal states without directly undermining domestic salt policies. As a result, it was tacitly permitted to exploit loopholes in the system to allow the export of salt. Conversely, the import of table salt still posed a structural threat to the domestic salt administration system, warranting strict prohibition. The differences in import and export management demonstrate that the government’s actual attitude towards foreign salt administration mainly depended on the administrative security of the domestic monopoly system, while not excluding necessary exchanges in the foreign market. This reflects the deep-seated and stable continuation of the traditional salt administration logic in both domestic and foreign aspects since modern times.
Feng Guifen, a thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, once designed a set of surveying and mapping methods in his masterpiece Protest from the Jiaobin Studio. It is based on the square grid style and centered on field surveying, and contains angle, distance and topographic surveying and mapping. It was effectively practiced in the field surveying work of Chuansha Ting and was also partially applied to the later surveying work of the Map of Jiangsu Province during the Tongzhi Reign. Feng Guifen’s not only inherited and integrated traditional Chinese map-making techniques, but also made improvement and innovation in order to meet practical needs. It reflects the pursuit and desire of the society for accurate maps, as well as the attempts and attention cast by the contemporaries onto advancing surveying and mapping technology. Underlying is a complex process of collision and fusion of Chinese and Western modes of knowledge, which offers a perspective for the study of the modernization and transformation of modern Chinese cartographic history.
Based on Qing dynasty Shilu and historical accounts, as well as reports, photographs and maps from Chinese and foreign expeditions, this paper marks the first successful search in a century for the site of the Qianlong Westernmost Ji Gong Stele, which was located far beyond current borders, by pinpointing it and presenting the results promptly for repetitive examination by academics and society in the ‘Silk Road GIS’, and will also be included in the Qing Dynasty Atlas. This monument stands as an important symbol of the formation of the Qing Dynasty’s territory at its peak.
There is a place called ‘Shiqiu’ (石丘) in Mencius (《孟子》). Based on the context of this sentence, along with philological evidences in both handed down and the unearthed documents, it can be concluded that ‘Shiqiu’ probably corresponds to the ‘Zheqiu’(赭丘) as mentioned in Zuozhuan (《左传》), which is located near Shangqiu, the capital of the State of Song (now Shangqiu, Henan Province).
Modern scholars often speculate that Emperor Wu Jing once established the Guzhang County during the Yong’an period on the basis of Song Dynasty geographical records. But the relevant records in the Biography of Sun Quan in the Book of Wu of Records of Three Kingdoms (《三国志》) show that by the thirteenth year of Wu Emperor Chiwu, the Guzhang County had been established. Therefore, it can be inferred that Guzhang was abolished or ceased to exist no later than the first year of Baoding period, the final ruler of the Wu Dynasty.
