Investigation about the Distribution Situation of Market Towns of Xinjiang River Valley in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Xinjiang River valley locates in the joint part of Jiangxi,Zhejiang and Fujian,and was once a hub of economic and cultural communications among the three provinces,and one of the areas where the market towns were most densely distributed in Jiangxi during the period of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.This paper studies how the market towns were distributed in this area during the period of the Ming and Qing Dynasties,and finds that most of them located alongside the trunk or branch streams of Xinjiang River.The density and prosperity of the market towns were in proportion to the convenience of the transportation by land and water,especially by water,so the traffic condition was a very importand fact that decided the distribution of the market towns in this area during the period of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.