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This book is about the city of Peiping in China, also known as Beijing and Peking, and a city of great historical significance. Divided into three parts, this work explores Peiping first as a frontier city at a time when the Great Wall was established, from the Chou dynasty (ca.1122—220 B.C.) until the T’ang Dynasties up to the Khitan Occupation (A.D. 590—937). The second part explores Peiping as it becomes a national centre, through the Liao Dynasty and the Chin Dynasty, until 1234, and the third part explores how it became the capital of the Chinese empire, until 1911. This work is a historical geography and the introduction details topographical features and geographical relations of the city, describing the way in which the mountains rise from the plain creating concave arms to enclose Peiping, leading to the name, the ‘Bay of Peiping’. We learn that the mountains frequently reach over 3000ft and have practically no foot-hills, whilst the bay itself is filled with sediments of gravel, sand, loam and loess which have been deposited in horizontal strata, to a great depth. Numerous illustrations and figures are included, and readers will see how the city sits between two rivers, the Hun (浑河 or Muddy River) and the Pai (白河 or White River). These chapters reveal how each river has made its contribution to the material development of the city and its environs, including through irrigation and as the Hun River shifted its course. Owing to the geography of the region, almost all roads leading from the northern lands of Mongolia and Manchuria to the great plain of North China in the south are bound to converge at Peiping. The historical consequences of this, as well as local climate conditions and other aspects of geography are explored in this book, which traces the historical rise to eminence of Peiping.
The Chinese earth is pervasively humanized through long occupation. Signs of man's presence vary from the obvious to the extremely subtle. The building of roads, bridges, dams, and factories, and the consolidation of farm holdings alter the Chinese landscape and these alterations seem all the more conspicuous because they introduce features that are not distinctively Chinese. In contrast, traditional forms and architectural relics escape our attention because they are so identified with the Chinese scene that they appear to be almost outgrowths of nature. Describing the natural order of human beings in the context of the Chinese earth and civilization, "A Historical Geography of China" narrates the evolution of the Chinese landscape from prehistoric times to the present.Tuan views landscape as a visible expression of man's efforts to gain a living and achieve a measure of stability in the constant flux of nature. The book ranges the period of time from Peking man to the epoch of Mao Tse-tung. It moves through the ancient and modern dynasties, the warlords and conquests, earthquakes, devastating floods, climatic reversals, and staggering civil wars to the impact of Western civilization and industrialization. The emphasis throughout is on the effect of a changing environment on succeeding cultures.This classic study attempts to analyze and describe traditional Chinese settlement patterns and architecture. The result is a clear and succinct examination of the development of the Chinese landscape over thousands of years. It describes the ways the Communist regime worked to alter the face of the nation. This work will quickly prove to be crucial reading for all who are interested in this pivotal nation. It goes far beyond the usual political spectrum, into the physical and social roots of Chinese history.
This book represents the most important academic achievements won by Dr. Renzhi Hou, one of the founding fathers of and pioneering researchers in the modern historical geography of China. His collected papers and speeches, spanning from the 1940s to the 1990s, serve as a window into Hou’s academic experience as well as the development of the historical geography of China during the second half of the 20th century. Dr. Hou has made his greatest contributions mainly in two areas, namely, urban historical geography and desert historical geography. Roughly a quarter of this book is devoted to the former, and above all to the study of Beijing’s historical geography and its influence on urban planning. It is worth noting that “From Beijing to Washington—A Contemplation on the Concept of Municipal Planning,” presented here, is the only historical geography-based comparative study of a Chinese city and a Western one by a Chinese scholar. Dr. Hou’s studies on desert historical geography have garnered him a prominent reputation in the natural sciences academia. “Ancient City Ruins in the Deserts of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China,” also included here, can be considered a masterwork. Moreover, many of his original thoughts on some interesting topics can also be found in this book, such as the communication between China and Africa in ancient times, and the rediscovery of the value of geographical classics in the modern context.
Excerpt from Peking: A Historical and Intimate Description of Its Chief Places of Interest Yet, if we would profit by Peking to the uttermost, we must put away all prejudices of our civilisation, and we must believe that it is not in one class of interests alone that much is to be enjoyed. Archaeology and history should combine to form the noblest impression of Peking, but observation of the life of the people at work, at prayer or at pleasure, with all the symbolical strangeness of Far Eastern life, is needed to complete the picture. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
This book offers a unique contribution to the burgeoning field of Chinese historical geography. Urban transformation in China constitutes both a domestic revolution and a world-historical event. Through the exploration of nine urban sites of momentous change, over an extended period of time, this book connects the past with the present, and provides much-needed literature on city growth and how they became complex laboratories of prosperity. The first part of this book puts Chinese urban changes into historical perspective, and probes the relationship between nation and city, focusing on Shanghai, Beijing and Changchun. Part two deals with the relationship between history and modernity, concentrating on Tunxi, a traditional trade center of tea, New Villages in Shanghai and street names in Taipei and Shanghai. Part three showcases the complexities of urban regeneration vis-à-vis heritage preservation in cities such as Datong, Tianjin and Qingdao. This book offers an innovative interdisciplinary and international perspective, which will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese urban studies, as well Chinese politics and society.