Historical geography in China

Traditional Chinese historical geography is closely related to yange dili. Concepts relating to man-land relations are the underlying theories. The Yugong Society played a key role in the transformation of the Chinese historical geography from yange dili to modern historical geography. In the second half of the twentieth century, Chinese historical geographers made substantial contributions. Two main themes are the geographical change through time and the reconstruction of past geographies. Major research topics include changes of national territories and administrative divisions, changes of physical environments, urban geography, population, agricultural geography, social and cultural aspects, general and regional geographies, historical cartographics, and other aspects. Chinese historical geography is indigenous, but with western influence. Nevertheless, the Chinese historical geography is still very much descriptive and lags behind the west in theoretical research. Most Chinese historical geographers are originally trained historians. Hence they are more interested in studies of changes through time than in researches of spatial variations. Chinese historical geography is maturing as a respected field of study.