Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, China has basically been a centralized feudal unified country (there was a brief division during this period), and its economy has basically continued to develop, which has effectively promoted the development of China's geography. The appearance of History of Han Geography marks the formation of traditional geography in China. In the next nearly 2000 years, China's traditional geography has made many achievements, mainly in territorial geography, description and investigation of geography at home and abroad, maps, local chronicles and so on. At the same time, due to the constraints of traditional geography, China's geography has been stagnant in the description stage for a long time, lacking theoretical generalization. After the Warring States Period (from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, from the end of the 3rd century BC to the 6th century AD), China's ancient geographical knowledge accumulated and formed a discipline ── traditional geography of China, which was called "local geography" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The word "geography" first appeared in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. There is a saying in the Book of Changes: "Look up at astronomy and observe geography" (Figure 4). In the Tang Dynasty, Kong Ying Da explained: "There is a hanging image in the sky, so it is called Ye Wen; There are mountains and rivers, and each has its own organization, so it is reasonable. "Huai Nan Zi Tai Xun in the Western Han Dynasty clearly put forward the purpose of studying geography:" Looking down on geography, we should measure it. Chaling land, Shui Ze, is fat and high, making money to get rid of hunger and cold. "It is to produce according to different geographical environments and solve the problem of dressing and eating.
Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, two regional geographical masterpieces, Shangshu Gong Yu and Shan Hai Jing, were published. Mountain scenery is an important part of Shan Hai Jing, which was written before the Han Dynasty. It takes the "mountain" as the key link, and comprehensively describes the natural conditions of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River basin and their vast areas (the geographical scope is much larger than that of Gong Yu). There are 447 mountains recorded in Mountain Classic. Firstly, according to the positioning, it is divided into five regions: Zhongshan Classic, Nanshan Classic, Xishan Classic, Beishan Classic and Dongshan Classic. Each area is divided into several mountain systems. Each mountain system connects mountains in a directional way, and describes the location, water system, natural flora and fauna and mineral resources of each mountain. Of course, the record is incorrect. Yu Gong and Mountain View are both geographical works, but they are not named after geography and have different styles. When Ban Gu wrote "Han Shu" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the first chapter was called "Geography", namely "Geography". Its appearance marks the beginning of the formation of traditional neo-Confucianism in China. During this period, China's geography has made great achievements in territory geography, maps, water system, foreign geography and local chronicles. The ancient cartography in China was based on plane mapping, and the period from Warring States to Western Jin Dynasty was the establishment period of China's cartography theory. It has been found that the maps of this period include Zhao Yutu (Figure 5) and the Geographical History of China in the Tomb of King Zhongshan in the Warring States Period in Pingshan County, Hebei Province.
The map of the end of the Warring States period drawn on the wooden board unearthed from the Qin tomb in Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu, and the topographic map of the No.3 Han tomb in Mawangdui, Changsha (see color map). On the topographic map unearthed in Mawangdui, we can see that most of the waterways and tributaries in deep water (now Xiaoshui) are close to the current map (see the map of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Mawangdui). Pei Xiu of the Western Jin Dynasty summed up six principles of drawing a map according to his predecessors' practice, namely, "drawing six bodies": "dividing ratio" (proportion), "quasi-looking" (direction), "inner road" (pedestrian path), "competing with others" (getting rid of height), "evil edge" (taking oblique edge) and "taking straight edge" (taking straight edge). These six principles were China's earliest cartographic theory, which was used by cartographers in China until the early Qing Dynasty (see Cartography). During the Three Kingdoms period, a monograph on water system appeared, and China's first monograph on water, Water Mirror, appeared. The Water Classic Annotation inherits and develops the record of Gong Yu's Water Diversion, and increases the number of 35 rivers recorded in Gong Yu to 137, which greatly enriches the knowledge of water system distribution in China, but the content is too brief. In order to make up for the shortcomings of predecessors, Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty collected a large number of relevant records from field trips and predecessors' works to annotate the water mirror, and completed the famous work Annotation of the Water Mirror. A total of 1252 rivers and waterways were recorded, and the origin, context, geographical situation and historical deeds of each river were described in detail. Many records are still of reference value. The Western Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian and others to the Western Regions many times. Zhang Qian and his deputy envoys went to Dawan, Kangju, Da Yue, Daxia, Wusun, Rest in Peace, Body Poison and other places to learn about the geographical situation of Central Asia (Syrdarya River, Amu Darya River and Ili River), West Asia (Iranian Plateau and two river basins) and South Asia (India) and write written materials. Biography of Historical Records in Dawan and Biography of Hanshu in the Western Regions were both written according to the materials provided by Zhang Qian and others. They are the earliest geographical monographs that record Central Asia and Southwest Asia and introduce the population, military strength, customs, products, urban traffic, hydrology, climate and the distance between them.
Fa Xian, an eminent monk in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, set out from Chang 'an in the third year of Long 'an (399), crossed Qingji in the west, then went south to India, lived here for many years, and then returned to China by sea via Lion Country (now Sri Lanka) and Sumatra. The Biography of Fa Xian describes the geographical situation of the areas he traveled, and is the first travel book about Central Asia, India and South Asia in ancient China. (from Sui and Tang Dynasties to the early Qing Dynasty, 6 ~17th century) During the highly developed feudal society of Sui and Tang Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and early Qing Dynasties, China's traditional geography was further developed in field trips, maps, local chronicles and evolutionary geography. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, with the germination of capitalism, the research methods and contents of ancient geography in China took on a new look.
Field investigation results When Yan Zhenqing was appointed as the secretariat of Fuzhou in the Tang Dynasty, a snail shell fossil was found at the top of Magu Mountain in Nancheng County, Jiangxi Province. He thought it was a relic of vicissitudes of life and wrote "The Fairy Altar of Magu Mountain in Nancheng County, Fuzhou". When Shen Kuo visited Taihang Mountain on 1074, he saw that there were "stones like snail shells and birds' eggs" at the foot of Taihang Mountain, so he concluded that this place was the seaside in the past. He further pointed out that the mainland east of Taihang Mountain was formed by the sediment carried by rivers on the Loess Plateau, which was the earliest scientific explanation for the formation of the North China Plain.
The correct understanding of the source of the Yellow River was laid by the fieldworkers in Tang Dynasty and Yuan Bao. According to "Biography of Tugu Hun in the New Tang Dynasty", in the ninth year of Tang Zhenguan (635), Hou and Li Daozong had been to "Xingsuchuan" (now around Xingsuhai) and "see the river". After the Yuan Dynasty unified China, Kublai Khan appointed jurchen to patrol the Heyuan area. Pan Anxiao recorded this investigation in Heyuan Zhi, pointing out that the Yellow River originated in the area of the Star-studded Sea.
After Faxian and others, Tang Xuanzang was in the first year of Zhenguan (627; Speaking of three years of Zhenguan, 629) set out from Chang 'an, traveled west to India, traveled all over India, and returned to Chang 'an after 17. His book "The Story of the Western Regions in Datang" recorded the mountains and rivers, climate products, traffic roads, urban customs, local customs, culture and politics of more than 0/00 countries and regions in Central Asia and South Asia at that time.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda described the vertical distribution of karst caves in Guilin and plants in Emei Mountain, and discussed the causes of karst caves in Guangxi.
In the Yuan Dynasty, Lu Ye Chucai traveled in Central Asia for many years and wrote a book, The Journey to the West. Wang Dayuan has traveled extensively in Asian and African countries along the Indian Ocean, and has written An Introduction to Island Planning. Three years after Yongle (1405), Zheng He and others made seven voyages to the Western Ocean (referring to the northern Indian Ocean and its coastal areas west of Sumatra). They set out from Taicang, Jiangsu, sailed south, visited the countries of Nanyang Islands, then entered the Indian Ocean through the Straits of Malacca, and visited India, Arabia and East Africa. In Zheng He's nautical charts, coastlines, harbors, mountains, islands, sandbars, shoals, coral reefs and measured ocean depths observed along the way from the Yangtze River estuary to the east coast of Africa were drawn, leaving valuable records of Zheng He and others crossing the Indian Ocean. Ma Huan, Fei Xin and Gong Zhen, who sailed with Zheng He, wrote what they saw and heard along the way in three geographical works in the west: Ying Ya Sheng Lan, Xing Cha Sheng Lan and Fan Guo Zhi.
The map made the map of Chinese and foreign people in the sea drawn by Jia Dan in the Tang Dynasty "three feet wide and three feet vertical", which created the precedent of marking ancient and modern place names with Zhu and Mo in the map history of China. This method has been used by future generations. In Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo drew a map of counties in the world. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Huang Shang drew a geographical map; In the 7th year of Shaoxing (A.D. 1 136), Liu Yuhe Fuchang carved maps of Huayi and Yuji in different directions on the stone tablet. There is a picture in Yujitu, which reads "Fold a hundred Li on each side". Yu Tu painted by Zhu Siben in Yuan Dynasty is 7 feet long and 7 feet wide, and there are also drawings. This method is also common on maps drawn in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Therefore, painting is the characteristic of traditional maps in China. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, illustrated classics replaced local chronicles and became the main form of local chronicles. The earliest pictures known to be preserved are the Tujing of the Governor's House in Shazhou in the Tang Dynasty and the Tujing of the Western Zhou Dynasty (both of which are remnants). During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a special organization to compile local chronicles, and the number of local chronicles increased greatly, and the style of writing was stereotyped, from the stage of painting classics to the stage of local chronicles. Representative local chronicles in Song Dynasty include Chang 'an Annals and Wu Jun Annals. The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the heyday of China's compilation of local chronicles. There were more than 7,000 kinds of local chronicles in the Unified Catalogue of China Local Chronicles.
Evolutionary geography has made great achievements at this stage. For example, Li Jifu's Records of Yuanhe County in the Tang Dynasty and the Records of Yuhuan in Taiping in the Song Dynasty recorded the evolutionary geographical contents of various counties. Wang Yinglin's A Mirror of the Geography of the Song Dynasty (Figure 6) and Gu Zuyu's Notes on Reading History and Geography in the Early Qing Dynasty are the most important monographs on evolutionary geography at this stage. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, due to the germination of capitalism, some scholars engaged in geographical research dared to break through the old shackles, attached importance to "practicality" and consciously went deep into practical investigation and study, which made China's geographical school take a big step forward and sprouted a new direction of field investigation and study of natural laws in China. The main representatives are Xu Xiake, Gu,, and so on.
In the Ming Dynasty, Xu Xiake began to travel at the age of 265,438+0. After more than 30 years' travel and inspection, he achieved many advanced achievements in the world at that time. For example, in Tracing the Source of the Yangtze River, based on the clear concept of measurement, he put forward the conclusion that "the river is twice as big as the river" and compared the basin areas of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River for the first time in the world. Tracing the River to Jiyuan is included in Xu Xiake's Travels.
At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Gu severely criticized the unrealistic empty talk and discussion in geographical research, and advocated that "a gentleman should learn to save the world", and he wrote The Records of Diseases in All Counties and Countries in the World and Zhao Yuzhi.
Sun Lan pointed out in Liu Ting's My Tale of the Earth and Liu Xianting's Miscellanies of Yang Guang that most of the past geography works stayed at the stage of "recording", lacking discussion on the reasons, and advocated studying "the principle of heaven and earth", that is, the laws of nature; It is necessary to "say why, but also say it is natural." Sun Lan has an incisive analysis when discussing the terrain change, and Liu Xianting has an incisive analysis when observing phenology. From the middle of Ming Dynasty to the middle of Qing Dynasty, that is, from the end of16th century to the middle of19th century, that is, from the Wanli Decade of Ming Dynasty (1582) to Qingganlong (1736 ~ 1795) for about 200 years, it was the period when western geographical knowledge began to be introduced into China. /kloc-in the 6th century, due to the development of capitalist economy and the promotion of C. Columbus' crossing the Atlantic to America and Magellan's voyage around the world, the geographical vision and knowledge of Europeans took a big step forward. Their knowledge of the shape of the earth, the distribution of land and sea and the geography of Shi Gui was the most advanced at that time. Under the background of European colonial expansion, many missionaries came to China, and then they spread their advanced geographical knowledge to China. Italian Matteo Ricci, Niccolo Longobardi, Julio Aleni, Belgian Ferdinand ferdinand verbiest, French Bai Jin, Jean Baptiste Regis, Du Demei, Michel benoit, etc.
Matteo Ricci arrived in China on 1582 and died in Beijing, China on 16 10 (Figure 7). He has compiled The Great Geographic Map of the Universe (Figure 8) and The Mysterious Map of Two Instruments, etc. , and introduced the western earth circle theory, map projection, methods of measuring latitude and longitude, and knowledge about five continents to China.
In the third year of the Apocalypse (1623), Giulio Aleni wrote "The Discipline of the Staff" (5 volumes), with a general map of the world and sub-maps of all continents, introducing the world in detail. This is the first book describing world geography in Chinese. In the same year, Longhua Minhe Yangmano made the earliest well-preserved globe in China, with Chinese annotations on it, and the painted land and islands were in good shape. This globe is kept in the British Library in London.
In the 13th year of Kangxi (1674), ferdinand verbiest wrote Kun Yu Tu (2 volumes) (Figure 9). Geographical history of China
The first volume discusses the shape of the earth and natural geography knowledge such as mountains, rivers and tides, and the second volume introduces the situation of all continents and countries in the world. The attached picture shows Australia.
From the 47th year to the 57th year of Kangxi (1708 ~ 17 18), Emperor Kangxi appointed Bai Jin, Jean Baptiste Regis, Du Demei and others to lead domestic surveyors to complete the mapping of Panorama of the Forbidden City. Their national triangulation is in the forefront of all countries in the world; It is stipulated that every 200 miles, the longitude of the earth will be combined with 1800 feet, that is, the length of each foot is equal to one hundredth of a second of longitude. This method of measuring scale by the shape of the earth is the earliest in the world. It is also found that the length of warp is not equal to one degree.
During the twenty-five to thirty-five years of Qianlong (1760 ~ 1770), Michel benoit and others compiled the map of the Inner House of Qianlong by using the investigation results of China scholars Minggatu and He Guozong in Xinjiang and the existing map materials. Michel benoit introduced Copernicus' theory of earth motion in his "The Complete Map of Kunyu".