THE SPATIAL-TEMPORAL PATTERN OF TOWN EVOLUTION IN HENAN PROVINCE

By the investigation data of 997 towns in 2004 and a series of past records such as Xia Dynasty,Donghan Dynasty,etc,the paper makes an analysis of the town development from the angle of temporal and spatial aspects.The quantity change of the towns in Henan Province is divided into five stages,showing the stronger fluctuation,whose causes are as follows: the gravity center of Chinese economy shifting to south,the gravity center of Chinese politics moving to north,the government's administrative participation and so on.The initial pattern of town structure in Henan Province was influenced by the technical condition such as the way that the people got water at that time,and then the pattern was confined by the river system.The railway made the distribution of town more flexible,and the highway made its distribution become reasonable and balance.The growth of the different regional economy caused the town distribution relatively centralize.The distribution of the towns in Henan Province is tending to be well distributed,but in the local region,there are some districts relatively centralized since 1990s.In the year of 2004,the spatial distribution of the town in Henan province is basically in accordance with the central place theory,but the dominant factors in different regions are usually different.