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    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (3): 132-142.  
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    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (3): 114-131.  
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    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (2): 95-114.  
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    A Research on the Mountains and Rivers of He-Luo Region in the Chapter Zhongshan Jing of Shan Hai Jing
    Yang Xiaoyang
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (1): 44-62.  
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    The chapter Zhongshan Jing (Classic of the Mountains: Central) of Shan Hai Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) presented the mountains and rivers of He-Luo Region in detail, basically from the middle reaches of the Yellow River to the Luo River and the Yi River. The earliest pieces of Shan Hai Jing were thought to have appeared since as early as the pre-Qin period, and many placenames had been lost in Han and Wei dynasties. Generations of scholars consecutively studied the geography and toponomy of these areas, but the results were barely precise or satisfying. Usually, an incorrect location assigned to a mountain or a river would mislead the naming of its surrounding areas. On the basis of previous work and documents, this article presents seven explanations of mountain and river positions in the He-Luo area and discusses the environmental consciousness of people in the time of Shan Hai Jing.

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    Clarifications on the Evolution of Ancient City Sites of Jiangling, Nanjun, and Jingzhou
    Wang Hongxing, Zhu Jiangsong
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (2): 52-62.  
    Abstract1051)   HTML62)    PDF (2579KB)(1482)      

    Based on new materials, this paper argues that the City of Ying was rebuilt alongside the old Jiangling City, after the Qin general Bai Qi's taken-over of Ying. Afterwards, both the Nanjun Prefecture and Jiangling County used this city as their seats. During the middle Western Han, the Nanjun Prefecture and Jiangling County relocated their seats to the newly built Xi'eshan City, and Ying City became the seat of Ying County. Since the end of Western Han, the Ying County was canceled and the city became a courier station, which lasted until the last era of Eastern Han. Later on, Guan Yu, Huan Wen, and Wang Chen, successively rebuilt the Jiangling City on the basis of the old Xi'eshan City. It is only after Huan Wen rebuilt the Jiangling City that the two cities Jiangling and Jingzhou merged. During the reign of Wude in the Tang, Nanjun Prefecture was canceled. At around the fourteenth year of the Tianbao reign, the Yangtze River changed its course to the south of modern Jingzhou City, therefore the Jiangling City was moved from Xi'eshan City to modern Jingzhou City and remained in the same place to this day.

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    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (3): 1-22.  
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    To Annotate the Text of the Sushui Drainage Area and Reconstruct the River Courses and the Administrative Division Recorded in Shui Jing Zhu ( Notes to the Book of Rivers)
    Li Xiaojie, Huang Xuechao, Yang Xiaoyang, Yang Zhiyu, Gong Yingjun, Yan Weiguang
    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (1): 32-49.  
    Abstract1015)   HTML82)    PDF (4498KB)(407)      

    Shui Jing Zhu(Notes to the Book of Rivers) is a well-known classic work from ancient China on geographical features arranged by river channels. It has considerable significance in studies on earlier changes of river channels and administrative divisions. In this paper, we study Commentary on Sushui River, the sixth volume of Shui Jing Zhu. Based on previous studies, we utilize related textural and archaeological evidences to conduct a comprehensive analysis on this volume. Components of our study include the collating on original texts, locating historical sources, and reconstructing the distribution of river channels and settlements. To intuitively visualize results of our study, we also generate a map that compares ancient features with modern ones.

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    Research on the Establishment, Development Process and Spatial Distribution of Xunjiansi in Shuntian-fu during Ming Dynasty
    Tian Hai
    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (1): 83-98.  
    Abstract1004)   HTML55)    PDF (2994KB)(320)      

    Xunjiansi (Department of Touring and Inspection) was an important organization in charge of keeping order and public security of base-level communities in Ming Dynasty. Shuntian-fu covered not only the capital city and its vicinity, but served as a border stronghold with strategic importance as well. There were 22 Xunjiansi ever set under Shuntian-fu in different periods. By studying the timing of their establishment and revocation, location of their seats, and their relocation history in detail, we noticed that most Xunjiansi clustered near important passes and fortresses along the Great Wall or near important intersections along the Grand Canal. Two most significant clusters of Xunjiansi were on the flank of the capital city. They were located in the mountainous region to the west of Beijing and along the Grand Canal to the east of Beijing respectively. These two lines had great significance for the public safety in western Beijing and river transportation in eastern Beijing, so they received constant high attention from the court. Xunjiansi along these two lines were relatively evenly distributed and stable in long run. The number of Xunjiansi in Shuntian-fu was low during the reign of Hongwu Emperor of early Ming Dynasty. The number began to increase in the reign of Yongle Emperor and the overall distribution pattern of Xunjiansi in Shuntian-fu was thence established. During the late reign of Hongzhi Emperor and early reign of Zhengde Emperor, the number of Xunjiansi in Shuntian-fu reached its peak. After that, the number of Xunjiansi in Shuntian-fu remarkably declined during the reign of Jiajing Emperor because of the empire’s financial difficulties. This led to the gradually weakening control over base-level communities from Xunjiansi.

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    Studies on the Changes of the Yunnan-Burma Border in the Late Qing Dynasty
    Dong Jiayu, Yang Weibing
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (4): 29-46.  
    Abstract992)   HTML59)    PDF (1791KB)(756)      

    Negotiations over the demarcation of the Yunnan-Burma border in the late Qing Dynasty was an important stage of China-Burma border changes in modern times. With the help of diplomatic archives, treaties and maps, this paper makes a detailed restoration of the process of delimitation of the Yunnan-Burma border in the Sino-British negotiations. The signing of Convention Giving Effect to Article Ⅲ of the Convention Relative to Burma and Thibet between China and Great Britain and Agreement Modifying the Burma-China Frontier and Trade Convention between China and Great Britain during the reign of Guangxu basically delineated the middle section of Yunnan-Burma border. The contradiction in the geographical cognition of the “watershed” between China and Britain had an important impact on the negotiation of the undefined boundary in the north of Jiangao Mountain. As a result, China had actually lost the territorial sovereignty of Xiaojiang River Basin north of the Jiangao Mountain and west of Balada-Gaolianggong Mountains. In the southern section of the undefined boundary, China and Britain have many disagreements over the basis of the boundary survey, and it was difficult to reach a consensus. The results of the Sino-British negotiations over the Yunnan-Burma border in the late Qing Dynasty basically shaped the course of the Sino-Myanmar border, and had an important impact on the border negotiations and final delineation between China and Myanmar in the Republic of China period and the 1960s.

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    Changes of the River System Structure and Water Environment in the Convergence Region of Yellow River, Huai River and Grand Canal in Ming Dynasty
    Wang Jiange
    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (1): 7-25.  
    Abstract890)   HTML98)    PDF (4535KB)(502)      

    The region where Yellow and Huai Rivers met the Grand Canal became a key location for water regulation because of the opening of Grand Canal in Ming Dynasty. Regulation procedures implemented by the government, aiming to keep the Grand Canal unimpeded to navigation, facilitated the evolution of river system structures and water regimen. In early Ming Dynasty, the configuration of river channels was similar to that in Yuan Dynasty, following a pattern of parallel flows with interchangeable main and tributary channels. As the Grand Canal, Huai River and Yellow River were under regulation, and especially as levees were constructed, channels of Yellow River went through a concentration process. They firstly merged from a regional network pattern into a linear pattern, and then continued converging towards a point at Qingkou. The first stage of this process was the abandonment of the northern branch of Yellow River, while the second stage was lining the Xu-Pi segment of Yellow River up with the upper stream. After flow directions of channels were fixed into the Xu-Pi segment, most levee failure events during the Reign of Jiajing Emperor occurred upstream to Xuzhou, but after the 44th year of Reign of Jiajing Emperor, most of such events occurred downstream to Xuzhou. The channel regulation near where Yellow River and Grand Canal meet started with a broader, fan-shaped target region extended from south to north, and then reduced to the southern half of the fan-shaped region, and then concentrated to a linear belt and eventually to Qingkou. The regulation generally served for maintaining the navigational condition of channels. From a regional channel network to a point, or from a broader region to a smaller region and eventually to a single point, such kind of engineering process marked the characteristic of how Ming Dynasty conducted hydrological regulation projects in the region where Yellow and Huai Rivers met the Grand Canal. This hydrological regulation process that follows the change of water environment accordingly fully reflected the wisdom of ancient people in utilizing the aquatic environment on a large regional scale. It has remarkable ecological characteristics.

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    On Anyang and Seven Ancient Capitals: Letters to Zhang Zhi and Wang Shien
    Tan Qixiang (posthumously edited by Zou Yilin)
    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (1): 1-6.  
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    Since Shang Dynasty, during which the earliest textural records emerged, capital cities of various dynasties have served as national centers of politics, economy and culture. Evolutions of planning and management of capital cities have been a significant aspect in the historical research, because they can reflect changes in economic and cultural characteristics in a corresponding period. More than ten cities were designated as the capital city of China at some points in the history. To address the representativeness of capital cities, in 1920s, the academia listed Xi’an, Luoyang, Beijing, Nanjing and Kaifeng as Five Ancient Capitals. Hangzhou was added to this list in 1930s, making the list into Six Ancient Capitals. In 1980s, Tan Qixiang proposed to add Anyang (known as Yin or Ye) to the list, which would turn the list into Seven Ancient Capitals. At that time, this proposal triggered intense discussions in the academia. It was eventually approved by the academia and became a consensus among mainstream historians. These three letters, presented here, were written in late 1980s. They were exchange letters addressing the proposal mentioned above between Tan Qixiang and local scholars in Anyang. Through these letters, we could also notice the professional attitude and scientific spirit that scholars in the earlier generation used to carry.

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    A Study of the Governance of Longxi, Beidi and Shang Commanderies in the Early Western Han Dynasty: Centered on the Rank of the Counties as Seen in the Statutes on Salaries ( Zhi lü) from Zhangjiashan Han Slips
    Ma Menglong
    Historical Geography Research    2021, 41 (2): 16-30.  
    Abstract879)   HTML80)    PDF (3380KB)(433)      

    This paper compares the surviving and excavated documents and points out that the commandery’s capital county was the highest-ranking among the counties belonging to the same commandery in the Han Dynasty. Based on the rank and order of a commandery’s counties recorded in the Statutes on Salaries (Er Nian Lü Ling: Zhi lü) from Zhangjiashan Han Slips, we can analyze the governance of some commanderies in the early Western Han Dynasty. According to the Statutes on Salaries, the capital of Longxi Commandery in the early Western Han Dynasty was Shangli County; Shang Commandery’s capital was Gaonu County, and the capital of Beidi Commandery was Panyang County. Besides, the capital of Hanzhong, Hedong, and Hainai Commanderies in the early Western Han Dynasty can also be further inferred by the Statutes on Salaries. This document’s value in the study of capital counties in the early Western Han Dynasty needs to be emphasized.

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    On Huairui and Yuzhang: Reconstructing the Geography of the Battle of Wu Conquest of Ying
    Lei Chinhau
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (1): 63-82.  
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    Three contradictory theories have been proposed so far about the geography of the Battle of Wu Conquest of Ying in 506 BC. Combining paleographical sources, transmitted classics, and data collected from field trips, this article argues for a reinvestigation of this issue. Firstly, it probes into Huairei and Yuzhang, two controversial place names recorded in classical texts crucial for locating the war. Based on a precise understanding of place names, it reconstructs the geography of the battle by contextualizing it into the land and water transportation network in Central China. The result is explicit. The Wu State maneuvered its troops through the waterway of the Huai River during advancement and retreat, while land combats took place back and forth in the Suizao Corridor. As opposed to previous theories, this reconstruction of the war is not only textually solid but also topographically interconnected.

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    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (2): 135-144.  
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    Studies and Writings on the History and Geography of Northwest China by Qing Scholars
    Shi Nianhai, Wang Shuanghuai
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (1): 1-17.  
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    After the outbreak of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, borderland issues became increasingly serious. Shi Nianhai and his tutor Gu Jiegang were concerned with the historical material of China's borderland issues, especially those of northwest China. They examined voluminous historical materials to write this article, so as to reveal the process of formation and historical variations of China's frontier, and to bolster the national spirit against Japanese aggression. Shi thought that as early as the period of Qianlong and Jiaqing of the Qing dynasty, scholars had studied the history and geography of northwest China. After that period, instability of the northeast borderland attracted the attention of even more scholars. They collected documents, wrote monographs, and recorded the imperial court's military attainments in the northwest as well as its conducts in frontier affairs with Russia. Their works are still of great value.

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    The City Defense of Chang’an and the Establishment of the North Army in the Early Stage of Han Dynasty
    Luo Kai
    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (1): 58-67.  
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    The North Army was the city defense force set up with the construction of Chang’an during the later period of the Emperor Hui’s reign, and was an important armed force in Han Dynasty. In the early stage of Han Dynasty, there were mainly two palaces lying in southern Chang’an and the leader of the palace defense army (Weiwei) was in charge of the palace defense issues. The city defense army could only be stationed in northern Chang’an. Accordingly, the palace defense army was known as the South Army and the city defense army was known as the North Army. Based on Law of the 2nd Year: the Payroll Law discovered on bamboo slips from Zhangjiashan, the chief officer of North Army was Guard General (Wei jiangjun). Secretary of Guard General (Wei jiangjun zhangshi), Chief Assistant (Houcheng), Chief Colonel (Xiaozhang) and lower-ranked civilian officers were also in the administrative system of North Army. At that time, Guard General was the only permanent General in the entire bureaucratic hierarchy of Han Dynasty. After Emperor Wen ascended the throne, Guard General obtained more power by taking command of the South Army in addition to the original North Army. After that, the North Army had been dismissed and reestablished for several times. The position of Gurad General was eventually abolished and the North Army became subordinates to the Imperial Guard Officer (Zhongwei).

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    Geographical Fundamentals of Worldwide Origination of Agriculture and Contributions from China
    Han MaoLi
    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (1): 114-124.  
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    Based on studies on the three major places of worldwide origin of agricultural crops, we propose in this paper that China’s most significant contribution to the development of world civilization is domesticating foxtail millet, broomcorn millet and rice. We pay special attention on environmental settings of agriculture’s places of origins and point out that physical environment at those places was not the best. Imperfect environment forces people to give up hunting and gathering and to obtain food through agricultural practices. The excellent natural environment of European plains once provided abundant fauna and flora resources, but it led to a long period of barbarism and impeded the development of civilization. With a geographical perspective, we can see that originations of human civilization were areas with fragile environmental settings.

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    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (3): 99-113.  
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    A New Exploration on the Transformation of Garrison Towns to Prefectures and Counties in Northern Wei Dynasty
    Wang Xingzhen
    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (1): 68-82.  
    Abstract778)   HTML34)    PDF (3672KB)(247)      

    The establishment, development and transformation of garrison towns were deeply embedded in the political evolution of Northern Wei Dynasty. They interacted with prefectures and counties regarding geography of administrative divisions and local administrative systems. To meet the needs of local administrative regulation, Emperor Taiwu started to transform some garrison towns into prefectures and counties (Zhou-jun system). During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, the reformation process of garrison towns towards ordinary prefectures and counties was fully activated in local administration (Zhou-jun prefectures and counties). However, the differences in the geography of administrative division among different garrison towns influenced the course and results of this transformation. Based on types of garrison towns and ways they transformed, we should subdivide this process into three categories, which are changing a garrison town into a prefecture. In first two methods, the administrative division of Northern Wei Dynasty was altered, and garrison towns were gradually removed from local administrative system. In the third method, however, changes were only applicable to policies rather than the geography of divisions. These three methods promoted the process of switching garrison towns into normal prefectures and counties, both geographically and institutionally, and triggered changes of local administrative system of Northern Wei Dynasty at a further level of the regime structure.

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    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (2): 115-134.  
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    A Geographic Study of Epidemic Disasters in the Jiangnan Area in China (1912-1949)
    Gong Shengsheng, Shi Guoning, Li Zimo
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (1): 18-30.  
    Abstract716)   HTML75)    PDF (13077KB)(450)      

    Epidemics have always been a great threat to people's health and life security throughout history. To analyze the temporal and spatial variation of epidemic disasters that occurred in the Jiangnan area during 1912-1949, we compiled a list of the epidemic data, and made use of different methods such as historical document review, mathematical statistics and GIS spatial analysis. The results show that: (1)The incidence rate of epidemics was 100% annually and 94.70% quarterly in the time interval. Autumn, summer and spring were usually epidemic seasons, especially in the autumn and summer time. The affected area enlarged year by year, but the fluctuation curve reflected that there were 6 peaks in 38 years. Considering a longer period, i.e. from the Ming Dynasty to the establishment of the People's Republic of China (582 years in total), the return period of epidemic disasters gradually shortened and the number of affected counties increased. It indicates that the epidemic severity in the study period was the highest in the Jiangnan's history. (2)The affected area of epidemics basically spreaded along the Grand Canal and the Nanjing-Shanghai-Hangzhou railway, and the area to their east. Suzhou-Wuxi area and a section of Shanghai adjacent to Suzhou were the hot spots of epidemic disasters, while the mountainous area of Western Zhejiang Province was rarely affected. (3)The general characteristics of epidemic disaster's distributions during 1912-1949 in the Jiangnan area indicate that the hot spots were usually the regions along transportation lines, with a higher population density, or lately suffered severe floods or droughts. Moreover, epidemics spread in plain areas more often and severe than in mountainous areas.

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    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (3): 33-48.  
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    A Study on Cutting and Merging of administrative Units in Late Qing and Early Republic of China
    Gao Maobing
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (1): 120-136.  
    Abstract714)   HTML40)    PDF (2899KB)(341)      

    In late Qing Dynasty, different levels of judicial bureaus were founded throughout China. To avoid duty conflict and to raise required funds, Jiangsu Province took the lead in cutting and merging administrative units at the level of Zhou (prefecture) and Xian (county). The saved funds and redundant government officers were utilized to set up judicial bureaus elsewhere. There was another administrative level called Fu, which was comparable to Zhou and one level higher than Xian. In most cases, the Xian administration was cancelled and merged with that of the Fu, or merged into another same-level Xian. After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the measure continued in the southern provinces, but the methods changed. After Hua Yi Ling was promulgated, the Fu was either downgraded to Xian or cancelled while its subsidiary Xian remained. Measures were also taken to set both Zhou/Fu and Xian governments in a same city. From late Qing Dynasty to early Republic of China, the scale and range of such adjustments for local governments kept expanding and were extended beyond Jiangsu Province to the whole country.

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    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (2): 83-94.  
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    Textual Research on the Administrative Areas of the Yingtian Governor in the Ming Dynasty, also Discussing the Belonging of the Chengtian Enclave
    Song Keda
    Historical Geography Research    2021, 41 (2): 91-104.  
    Abstract703)   HTML34)    PDF (2164KB)(257)      

    The office of the Yingtian Governor originated directly from the Governor of Nanzhili and Zhejiang Province, both of which were set up in the first year of Hongxi. When it was officially set up in the fifth year of Xuande, its governing areas should be Yingtian and other ten prefectures rather than only the three prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang and Changzhou as considered in traditional researches. During the period of Zhengtong, due to the abolishment of the Zhejiang Governor, as well as the need of supervising grain tax collection and water conservancy in the Taihu Lake Basin, the administrative areas of the Yingtian Governor was extended to Western Zhejiang for a long time. Thus, a total of fourteen prefectures were under its administration. As for the prefecture of Chengtian, it had been under the administration of the Huguang Governor after the fourteenth year of Jiajing, but never taken over by the Yingtian Governor. The opinion that Chengtian had been a detached enclave of the Yingtian Governor from the fourteenth year of Jiajing to the beginning of Longqing is not credible. Researchers holding this opinion might be misled by the related records in the current version of the Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty.

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    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (2): 15-29.  
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    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (2): 6-14.  
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    Changes of the Distribution Pattern of the Xining-Lhasa Road (Qinghai Section) from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China: Analysis Based on Digitized Ancient Maps
    Li Zhende, Zhang Ping
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (2): 120-132.  
    Abstract697)   HTML36)    PDF (12961KB)(363)      

    Against the background of modernization, the distribution pattern of roads in Qinghai changed significantly from the beginning of Qing Dynasty to the founding of People's Republic of China. The Xining-Lhasa road was the main line of the traffic network of Qinghai. The changes of the distribution pattern in modern times epitomize the road network distribution patterns of those in the history. Based on a set of old maps from 1935 in the National Library of China, the changing process of the distribution pattern of Xining-Lhasa road in Qinghai were restored. Three driving forces led to road network changes in modern Qinghai: the abolition of the postal system, which led to the collapse of the official road system in last Qing Dynasty, the new transportation system brought by new vehicles, and the developing activities in the period of Republic of China in Qinghai. The changes of the distribution pattern of Xining-Lhasa Road showed the road network pattern in ecologically vulnerable area was prone to the influences from ever changing human factors in the historical period. The restoration of modern roads based on richly surveyed map data was a preliminary work towards accurate restoration of ancient roads.

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    Exploration and Analysis on the Criteria of County Tier Designation in Song Dynasty
    Qi Zitong
    Historical Geography Research    2021, 41 (2): 57-66.  
    Abstract680)   HTML28)    PDF (803KB)(366)      

    The county system of Song Dynasty basically inherited that of Tang Dynasty, when counties were designated according to the double standards of “political status” and “registered residents”. However, it existed many differences in the county system between Tang and Song Dynasties, and the Later Zhou Dynasty played an important role in this historical evolution. In the Later Zhou Dynasty, Wang county and Jin county lost the qualification to be classified by “political status” but using registered household standard, which was inherited by Song Dynasty. Basically, it was influenced by the impact of Ci Chi county, Ci Ji county. In the early Song Dynasty, the counties under Fu (superior prefecture) were strictly classified according to their political statuses, which was in contrast with counties under Zhou (prefecture) in Later Zhou, designated by registered households. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the clear-cut division pattern was broken that the counties subordinate to Ci Fu were classified according to the registered households. Also, the meanings of “registered household” was different between Tang and Song Dynasties. It meant the number of households in Tang Dynasty but the number of “main households” that paid two taxes in Song Dynasty. This was also impacted by the policies of Later Zhou Dynasty. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, the policy of county tier designation was dynamic. Till the late Northern Song Dynasty, it gave rise to the mismatch of counties with more registered households but lower county levels. Therefore, a practical solution of disparity between county tier and household registration was to raise the threshold of registered households.

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    Reclamation and Management of the East Taihu Lake in Modern Times Centering on Wujiang Region,1890-1937
    Fang Zhilong
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (4): 68-82.  
    Abstract677)   HTML16)    PDF (3628KB)(355)      

    The East Taihu Lake is the main drainage region of the Taihu Lake and an environment sensitive region. After 1890s, immigrants from Henan Province moved into Wujiang County, and they started reclamation in the East Taihu Lake area. From then to the breaking of the Anti-Japanese War, related management policy went through three stages, namely, immigrant recruitment and lift of the ban in the middle and late period of the Guangxu Reign, prohibition of new private ownership and reclamation in 1914, and limited reclamation in 1925. The core concerns of these changing policies seemed to be following a progressive process from focusing on financial needs to water conservancy, and then to a well-balanced development. However, after 1914, due to the financial needs and the fact that the lake conservancy fund had to rely on the sale of marsh land ownership, the authorities not only failed to restrict and guide reclamation activities, but also stimulated its disorderly development by setting up the bureau selling marsh lands ownership with a reduced price, which increasingly deteriorated the water conservancy situations. After the large-scale illegal reclamation in 1935, the authorities had to destroy the dikes of the marsh lands reclaimed privately in order to avoid the extreme consequences and make a rehabilitation plan. All in all, in the process of modern transformation, although technologies and concepts of governance were advanced, they failed to play an effective role in environment governance. The financial capacity was a critical factor affecting the implementation of such policies.

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    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (2): 46-57.  
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    A Research on the Temporospatial Changes of Modern Inland Harbors Opening to Steamship in Yangtze River: Based on Inland Places Open to Steam Navigation under I.W.S.N. Rules
    Cheng Jun
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (4): 119-131.  
    Abstract661)   HTML29)    PDF (5399KB)(530)      

    After the Inland Waters Steam Navigation Rules was promulgated by the Qing government in 1898, the inland shipping along the Yangtze River underwent a sudden growth. By 1929, there were more than 418 inland harbors opening to steamship in Yangtze river basin. In terms of distribution, the inner harbors open to steam ships in the Yangtze River basin are spatially concentrated in the lower reaches, less in the middle reaches, and very rare in the upper reaches. In terms of temporal changes, the inland harbors opening to steamship spreaded from lower reaches to upper reaches, and from trunk stream to tributaries. The trend of time and space changes of inner harbor reflects the development of the modern shipping industry in the Yangtze river basin.

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    Historical Geographical Observations on the Heishui General Government in Tang Dynasty
    Wang Yulang, Wang Junzheng
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (4): 54-67.  
    Abstract661)   HTML24)    PDF (2602KB)(716)      

    During the period of Kaiyuan’s reign in Tang Dynasty, Boli Prefecture, Heishui Army Arca, and Heishui Genaral Government were consecutively set up on the northern border, where were the later Bohai Kingdom and the district of Heishui-mohe. Using documents and archeological materials, combing with related studies of Boli Prefecture (Bozhou), Heishui-mohe Roadway, Bohai Genaral Government, Anjing Genaral Government, and Simu Tribe of Heishui-mohe, the Jiang’an ancient city of presentd-day Luobei County should be the seat of Heishui General Government in history. The inference also considered the historical background of the military confrontation between the Bohai Kingdom and Heishui-mohe, which caused Heishui-mohe to move northward from the middle and lower reaches of the Mudanjiang River. As a regional strategic center and a geographically significant military and political town, Heishui General Government guarded the north front of the Shangjing (Upper Capital) of Bohai and ran through Heishui-mohe along the line of traffic tunnels; at the same time, it was in accordance with the relative positional relationship between the Bohai Genaral Government, Anjing Genaral Government’s jurisdiction and Simu Tribe of Heishui-mohe. These also proved the Jiangan ancient city being seat of the Heishui Genaral Government set up during the Kaiyuan period of Tang Dynasty.

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    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (3): 86-98.  
    Abstract648)   HTML58)    PDF (2964KB)(428)      
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    A Study of “E”, West “E” and East “E”—on the origin “E” as the abbreviation of Hubei Province
    Wang Hongxing, Lu Chuan, Zhu Jiangsong
    Historical Geography Research    2021, 41 (3): 91-100.  
    Abstract617)   HTML25)    PDF (6530KB)(358)      

    This paper clarifies the location changes of several different E's at Xiangning, Qinyang, Suizhou and Nanyang and their relationship between each other based on archaeological material and previous scholarship. The earliest E State was established at modern Suizhou by the court of the Western Zhou in order to control the nearby Huai and Jing Barbarians. During king Yi's reign, it was moved to the West E located in modern Xindian township of Nanyang city, marking the shrinking of the southern defensive line. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, the West E State was extincted and the Nanyang Basin was incorporated into the Chu State. Around the mid-Warring States Period, this place became the fief of the Lord of E. It was not until the War at Chuisha that the Lord of E moved eastward to the capital city of Daye, which was the beginning of the East E. In the Qin and early Western Han Dynasty, the central court established E County at the place of former East E, and later established another county in the Nanyang Basin, the West E, so as to distinguish from the East E. As for E being Hubei's abbreviation, it was not directly related to the E State in Western Zhou or the West E in the Nanyang Basin, but rather to the provincial capital. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Jiangxia (in modern Wuchang of Wuhan) was an important transportation hub. Since Wuchang was also named as E, the later eventually became the abbreviation of modern Hubei Province.

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    The Separation and Merging of Military Defence Circuit in Anqing and Huizhou Areas in Ming Dynasty
    Qi Chuangye, Huang Zhongxin
    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (2): 72-90.  
    Abstract612)   HTML40)    PDF (7728KB)(436)      

    The Military Defence Circuit was an important local management institution in the Ming Dynasty. In order to contain the intrusion of “River thieves”, “Wokou” (Japanese pirates) and “Mining thief”, as well as to consolidate the local farming system, water conservancy, and other affairs, the Ming court successively established five Military Defence Circuits in Fengyang, Jiujiang, Taicang, Yingtian and Huirao from Hongzhi to Jiajing Reigns. Their scope of the jurisdiction cover both Anqing and Huizhou. During this period, the Military Defence Circuit's jurisdiction unit gradually changed from Wei to Fu (prefecture). In the sixth year of the Longqing Reign, out of the consideration of unifying administrative divisions, the Ming court set up the Huining Military Defence Circuit, which put Fu and Wei in Anqing and Huizhou under the same Military Defence Circuit's management, while remained under the jurisdiction of South Zhili. Later, due to changes in local situations, the Ming court made a series of differentiations and adjustments to the Huining Military Defence Circuit in order to keep it militarily advantageous. The evolution of the division and integration of the Military Defence Circuit shows the importance of local governance in Anqing, Huizhou areas. It would become one of the precursors to the formation of Anhui Province in the Qing Dynasty.

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    Historical Geography Research    2020, 40 (3): 70-85.  
    Abstract605)   HTML77)    PDF (1408KB)(650)      
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    Study on the Evolution of Meanings of Renwen Dilixue and Rensheng Dilixue in China in the First Half of 20th Century
    Zeng Weijia
    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (1): 149-158.  
    Abstract598)   HTML46)    PDF (1613KB)(286)      

    Looking through the development of geography as a subject in China, human geography was once translated into renwen dilixue or rensheng dilixue. The academia can hardly define exact meanings and relationship between these two terms precisely. Interpretation of the literature in the first half of the 20th century helps reveal the evolution of these terminologies. The course of such development should be divided into three stages. In the first stage, renwen dilixue evolved from the convergence between traditional chorography and modern human geography in order to study humanity aspects of geography. In the second stage, rensheng dilixue emerged in order to criticize the traditional chorography and to promote the theory regarding the human-place relationship as the core content of human geography. It was affected by the French school of thoughts. The third stage was, again, renwen dilixue, but with meanings differ from either of previous ones’. It criticized the theory of human-place relationship of the stage two. It was proposed under a general ideological background that combined landscape and dialectical materialism theories. Throughout these three stages, we can notice that the phrase human geography in China had different meanings at different time. Inheritance of those meanings exists, but criticism from one to another dominates. Essentially, these variations of academic thoughts were the result of the introduction of Western modern geographical thoughts that blended with the domestic academic environment and historical background of China.

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    A Comparative Study on the Contents of Guangdong Area Depicted on Huangyu Quanlan Tu in Kangxi Reign and Shisanpai Tu in Qianlong Reign, and Also a Comparison to Guangxi Area
    Li Liting, Han Zhaoqing
    Historical Geography Research    2021, 41 (1): 141-151.  
    Abstract594)   HTML51)    PDF (3544KB)(317)      

    Huangyu Quanlan Tu in Kangxi Reign (an overview map of imperial territories in Kangxi Reign) is an official surveyed map with coordinates accomplished in early Qing dynasty, which deeply affected the drawing of maps until early Republic of China. Digitizing the map contributes to the historical geographic data collection of this time section, and then to ascertain the absolute positions of locations on the map, is in favor of the research on natural and human element changes. Taking Guangdong Area as an example, with different georeferencing methods and historical literature, compare Shisanpai Tu in Qianlong Reign (a map with thirteen rows in Qianlong Reign) with Huangyu Quanlan Tu for the inheritance and development of this area. There is also a comparation of changes between Guangdong and Guangxi Area. The study shows that Shisanpai Tu is based on the Huangyu Quanlan Tu. The coordinate system of two maps should be the same, but there is offset. The difference may be relative with the registration method. The contents of two maps changed as well, which reflects the degree of development of the two regions in early Qing Dynasty.

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    Historical Geography Research    2019, 39 (2): 72-82.  
    Abstract589)   HTML58)    PDF (2403KB)(633)      
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