How the geography of China's transition from a traditional to a modern economy was formed

How the Geographical Layout of China's Economic Transformation from Traditional to Modern Times Was Formed

Modern economic geography is a very weak part of historical geography research. This year, edited by Wu Songdi, a professor at the Center for Historical Geography of Fudan University, and Dai Angang, a professor at the Department of History, the team of modern economic geography composed of Wu Songdi, Dai Angang, Fan Rusen, and Yang Weibing joined more than twenty scholars to write the nine-volume "Modern Economic Geography of China" after eight years, which has all been published by East China Normal University Press.

This is a systematic reflection of China's modern economic geography of a large professional series. October 29, nine volumes of "China's modern economic geography" academic symposium held at Fudan University.

On October 29, the academic symposium of the nine-volume book Economic Geography of Modern China was held at Fudan University.

For quite a long time in the past, "modern, economic, and geography," the three were separated. Human geography series included in the only historical geography monograph, in 2001, Zou Yilin edited the Chinese history and human geography, for example, in the pages about economic geography, only 14 pages talk about the modern era. Specialized works on modern economic geography have also once been absent, a small number of papers titled "modern economic geography" is just some of the modern economic spatial phenomenon of a brief discussion.

"The study of economic geography can't be only about the ancient and modern times but not the modern times." Wu Songdi said the basic task of the nine-volume Modern Economic Geography of China lies in "describing the spatial process of the change from traditional to modern economy that took place in China in the modern era (1840-1949) and the economic geographic layout it formed."

"Our modern economic geography seeks to build a bridge between the three aspects of time, space, and human economic activities." According to Wu Songdi, modern economic geography and common economic geography are both concerned with human economic activities and their spatial attributes, but modern economic geography also adds the attribute of time, i.e., it focuses on the modern era as a special period linking ancient and modern times. Without the specific temporal attribute of "modern times", there would be no difference between it and common economic geography.

Since the economic changes in modern China are the result of the combined action of domestic and foreign factors under the background of globalization and modernization, the nine-volume Economic Geography of Modern China chooses to take "port (port) - hinterland" as the entry point of its research, and firstly, through the study of import and export trade, it explores the economic geography of various regions in China. Through the study of import and export trade, it explores the process of China's regions' involvement in the world market, and the spatial process and regional differences of the economic changes driven by it.

It is reported that the nine-volume "Modern Chinese Economic Geography" ****5.1 million words, divided into nine volumes. The first volume "Introduction and National Overview" discusses the evolution process of modern economic geography from a national perspective, and the last eight volumes are divided into Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, Central China, Southwest China, South China, Fujian and Taiwan, North China and the Mongolian Plateau, Northwest China and Northeast China, respectively, to explore the background, spatial process and content of the modern economic changes in each region, as well as the geographic face of modern economy in each region.

Eight Regions Divided by Modern Economic Geography of China

Wu Songdi explains, "You will find that the division of the eight regions is different from today's political and physical geographic divisions. The basic principle of its division is to reflect the regional economic links under the market economy. For example, North China and the Mongolian Plateau are linked together because the Mongolian Plateau has no coastline and its goods are exported to Tianjin, so the Mongolian Plateau and the North China Plain are linked together. There is also Tibet and Southwest China as a whole, not that they have close contact with each other, but Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet have border crossings. Based on such a division of characteristics, we have the idea of these eight regions."

At present, the nine-volume "Economic Geography of Modern China" is the only set of works that, on the basis of a brief discussion of the various industrial sectors of the country in the modern era, conducts a systematic study of the country's zoning and thus presents a picture of the country's modern economic geography.

"Our book is characterized by two features. The first is that all volumes strictly follow Mr. Wu Songdi's theoretical line of thought, that is, the 'port (port)-hinterland' as the main line; and the second is that it exhausts as much as possible all kinds of relevant information." Dai Angang, deputy editor-in-chief of Economic Geography of Modern China and a professor at the history department of Fudan University, believes that the nine-volume Economic Geography of Modern China is a book that will "stand the test of time" and "fill the gaps in the academic literature".

The nine-volume "Economic Geography of Modern China" has all been published by East China Normal University Press.

On that day, fourteen leading experts and scholars from the fields of modern history, economics and geography also came to the symposium. Zeng Gang, a tenured professor at East China Normal University and director of the Urban Development Research Institute, said the research was "interdisciplinary" and difficult. "History, economics, geography, these three have **** the same thing, but actually speak are not the same, including classification, professional vocabulary, etc., in line with the laws of this discipline may not be in line with the laws of that discipline. But it's really not easy for Modern Chinese Economic Geography to bravely blend three perspectives to tell the pattern of China during this time."

Lu Xinglong, a researcher at the Institute of Economics at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said "Economic Geography of Modern China" feels intimate and surprising to read. "When we talk about economic history, we often seldom deal with economically underdeveloped regions, but Modern Economic Geography of China has large descriptions of economically underdeveloped regions. In addition, the most difficult thing to get for modern studies is information. Even with authoritative statistics, some information can be inconsistent. That's why The Economic Geography of Modern China is really not easy."

Xiong Yuezhi, a researcher at the Institute of History of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, commented on Modern Economic Geography of China, "In general, this book has a complete system, informative information, standardized citations, and a large area of innovation, which makes it a superior work with high academic content, and a pioneering and excellent work on modern economic geography."

Jiang Yihua, a professor of history at Fudan University, evaluated the tome as a large-scale and comprehensive presentation of the country's situation, comparing it to the set of regional modernization studies in Taiwan, which is not only more spatially complete, but also more comprehensive in content. Urban and rural, modernization and tradition, the absence of any one part will make the understanding of the national situation one-sided.

Meanwhile, the participating scholars also put forward suggestions on Modern Economic Geography of China. Hou Yongjian, a professor at the Northwest Institute of Environmental and Economic Development at Shaanxi Normal University, believes that the greatest academic contribution of this book is the establishment of a new pattern of modern Chinese economic geography in the elaboration of the argument. This new pattern can be simply summarized as "from east to west, from the border to the interior". "But I feel that this generalization should be summarized in more detail. Can there be a better connection and elaboration between this new pattern and the relationship between the coast and the interior, which has been said at the national level since 1949, and the relationship between the three major economic zones after the reform and opening up?"

Shen Zuwei, a researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, also put forward several suggestions: "Firstly, it seems that the economic history flavor of this work is now heavy, and the geography is a little bit lighter, so can we pay more attention to the various geographic elements of the region, such as the climate, the soil, the rivers and the mountains, etc.; secondly, we are divided into regions to discuss the region and the region and the region and the region. Secondly, we are talking about regions, so how about the connection between regions and regions? Secondly, we are talking about regions, so what is the connection between regions and regions? Can a region be divided into several small regions, and what is the internal connection between these small regions? I think it can also be strengthened; third, the most wonderful theoretical basis of this book 'port (port) - hinterland' can be expanded; fourth, I hope that the book greatly increase the length of homemade maps."