Chapter 10 Chapter VII Geography——"Yu Gong", "Shui Jing Zhu", "Xu Xiake's Travel Notes"

It is conceivable that the occurrence and development of geographical knowledge must have gone through a long process long before the formation of the oldest geographical documents.However, the emergence and widespread use of writing undoubtedly promoted the development of geographical knowledge.According to research, the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty contain a large number of characters related to geography, including the place names of many cities, rivers, settlements and hunting areas, rich meteorological and climate records, and the names and classification knowledge of many wild animals. The growing knowledge of geography at that time.

Generally speaking, the growth of geographical knowledge is closely related to the regional scope of people's activities, economic development, and the development of transportation.Since the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties in our country, the sphere of influence has been expanding day by day, and people have been exposed to more and more geographical knowledge.Legend has it that after Dayu controlled the floods, he once cast Jiuding, on which mountains, rivers, plants, trees, birds and animals from all over the country were cast on Jiuding, expressing rich natural and geographical content. Although "Xia Xiaozheng" was written in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the materials in it are very old, and the phenology knowledge in it has formed a system, reflecting the development of phenology knowledge before and after the Xia Dynasty.Historical research has proved that the sphere of influence of the Shang Dynasty reached the south of the Yangtze River, and the capital of the Shang Dynasty had been moved many times. The growth of its geographical knowledge is self-evident.During the Western Zhou Dynasty, people's geographical knowledge was more abundant. For example, in 305 articles, there are a large number of texts describing the geographical environment at that time, and also recorded a wealth of knowledge about phenology, meteorology, and the relationship between topography and plants.Among them, "The Turn of October" "Ye [ye Ye] Ye shook the electricity, restless and not ordered. Hundreds of rivers boiled, mountains and mounds [zu] collapsed. The high bank is the valley, and the deep valley is the mausoleum", which records the second year of King Zhou You (780 B.C.) The great earthquake that occurred has already given birth to the idea of ​​crustal changes.In addition, there are also many geographical contents in early documents such as "Zuo Zhuan" and "Shang Shu".

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, my country's territory became larger, and exchanges between various ethnic groups became more frequent.Due to the development of production, transportation and trade also developed accordingly. People's understanding of geographical knowledge has been unprecedentedly improved in both breadth and depth, and they have begun to systematically organize and summarize geographical knowledge to serve production and politics. need.For example, the sentence "Looking up at astronomy and looking down at geography" in "Zhouyi Xici 1" not only puts forward the concept of "geography", but also points out its importance.Based on this background, "Yugong" and "Guanzi Diyuan" and other geography monographs and special articles came into being. "Yu Gong" was probably written in the Warring States period. The book divides my country into nine states based on natural conditions, and describes the mountains and rivers in our country.This book is the first systematic geography work in my country.The "Wu Zang Shan Jing" (also known as "Shan Jing") was partly composed in the Warring States Period. It divided the national mountains into five regions: central, south, west, north, and east, and each area was divided into several rows. Starting from the first mountain, the location, hydrology, flora and fauna, minerals and myths of each mountain are described in turn.The mountains and rivers recorded in this book are richer and more detailed than those in "Yu Gong", and the geographical range described is also wider. The concept of mountains and water systems has already taken shape, but there are some bizarre contents mixed in, the direction and distance of each mountain are also Not entirely believable. The book "Guanzi" was compiled under the guise of Guan Zhong of the State of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period, but it was actually written in the Warring States Period. The first half of "Land Members" divides land into five major categories and more than 20 subcategories, and describes the characteristics of its landform, soil, and plants. It is the first land type classification system in the world; It is divided into upper, middle and lower grades, and each grade is divided into six categories, and each category is divided into five grades. There are 90 grades in total. Enrichment and improvement of soil knowledge.There were also major developments in map drawing during this period. "Zhou Li" records the officials in charge of maps, the names and uses of various maps, etc. "Guanzi · Map" also pointed out the importance of "knowing the map" and understanding the military importance of topography. In 1978, the "Zhaoyu Tu" (tomb planning plan) unearthed from the tomb of the ancient Zhongshan King Zhongshan in Pingshan, Hebei (about 310 BC) and the seven maps of the end of the Warring States period unearthed from the Fangmatan Qin tomb in Tianshui, Gansu are the earliest extant in my country. map.These maps have been drawn according to a certain direction, distance and scale, which shows that the cartography technology at that time has reached a fairly high level.

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was an important period for the development of geography in my country.First, Qin Shihuang unified the six countries in 221 BC, established the system of prefectures and counties, implemented centralized power, and overhauled the roads to reach the whole country; then Han inherited the Qin system, abolished Qin's tyranny, and made the economy, culture, and technology highly prosperous During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, although the society was in a divided and turbulent situation, the southward migration of the Central Plains population and the prosperity of Chinese and foreign and water and land transportation greatly broadened the geographical horizons of all ethnic groups.These are all favorable factors for the development of geography, thus promoting the gradual formation of traditional Chinese geography during this period, and produced some pioneering works.First of all, "Historical Records" and "Hanshu" set up special chapters on geography, which opened up a new field of geography research.Sima Qian's "Historical Records: Biographies of Huozhi" is the earliest work on economic geography in my country. It mainly describes the distribution of agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce in the early Han Dynasty and before, and the general situation of the development in each major area (divided into 10 economic zones).It is a pioneering work that Sima Qian set up this article in "Historical Records", which will have a profound impact on the compilation of the official history "Shihuo Zhi" in the future.Ban Gu's "Hanshu·Geography" is the first geography work named "geography" in China, the earliest geography work in my country with territorial administrative regions as the main body, and the earliest work in the evolution of geography in my country.The main part of the book is based on the territorial administrative regions in the second year of the first year of Emperor Ping of the Han Dynasty (AD 2), and describes the history of the establishment of each county and county in turn. According to the characteristics of the region, there are mountains, rivers, water conservancy, special products, government-run industries and mines, famous fortresses, temples, and historic sites. "Hanshu·Geography" had a great influence on the development of geography in my country. For example, 16 of the Twenty-Four Histories had "Geography", and they were all written on the basis of "Hanshu·Geography"; Geographical works such as Geographical Chronicles and Local Chronicles that appeared in my country later were all affected by it.Since the geography of territorial administrative regions edited in the past dynasties is the most basic and important part of ancient Chinese geography writings and has traditional characteristics, "Hanshu Geography" plays an important role in the formation of ancient Chinese geography system.During this period, my country's terrestrial hydrology research also innovated and developed.The "Water Classic" written by Sangqin in the Three Kingdoms Period is the first monograph in my country to describe the river system. It records the origin, flow areas, and final destination of 137 rivers, and involves the mountains and rivers that flow through the area.This book pioneered the narrative style of water records and established the method of using water to prove land, but the content is simple and there are many mistakes in it.After the Jin Dynasty, there were two main annotations for "Shui Jing": one was Guo Pu in the Jin Dynasty, and the other was Li Daoyuan in the Northern Wei Dynasty.After the Tang Dynasty, Guo Shu was lost, and only Li Shu was handed down.Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu", called "Shui Jing" commentary, is actually a masterpiece of its own, and it is the most comprehensive and systematic comprehensive geographical work in my country before the 6th century.During this period, due to Zhang Qian’s travel to the Western Regions, the development of the South by Soochow of the Three Kingdoms and the development of water transportation, and the introduction of Buddhism, many monks traveled westward to learn Buddhist scriptures, etc., people’s geographical horizons were extremely broad.At that time, "geographic records" describing the geography of various states, counties, mountains and rivers, and travel notes describing what they saw along the way began to flourish.According to the records of "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi", there are 139 works recording the geography of mountains and rivers at home and abroad, with as many as 1432 volumes. In terms of "Diary Records", in addition to the above-mentioned "Shui Jing" and "Shui Jing Zhu", which specifically record waterways, there are also "Sanba Ji", "Loudi Ji", and "Xiangzhou Ji" which specifically record various regions. "Lushan Ji", "Mufushan Ji" of famous mountains, and "Ji Fu Jing", "Geography Book", "Di Ji" which summarize all parts of the country; in terms of travel notes, there are "Buddhist Kingdom Ji" and "Walking Foreign Biography" , "Hui Sheng's Travels" and so on.It is a pity that these works have basically been lost. , the book describes what Faxian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty saw and heard along the way when he traveled westward to learn Buddhist scriptures. It is the first time that this book records the information about Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and other places, as well as the voyage in the South China Sea.This book created a new genre of travel notes in geographical writings.Cartography also underwent major developments during this period. The topographic maps and garrison maps unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province already have the basic elements of modern maps such as mountains, rivers, settlements and roads, forming a relatively systematic legend. scale, which proves that the accuracy of survey maps in the Han Dynasty has reached a relatively high level.Pei Xiu in the Jin Dynasty established a set of theoretical principles for map making on the basis of summarizing the experience of predecessors, combined with his own cartography practice - "six elements of cartography", that is, the ratio (scale), the accuracy (direction), and the distance. (distance) and high and low, square and straight (the three are used to find the horizontal straight-line distance of complex terrain). The proposal of "six elements of cartography" is an epoch-making event in the history of cartography in my country, and it has made my country's map drawing a step forward in a more accurate direction.

During the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, the whole country was united, the country was powerful, the economy and culture were prosperous, the frontier areas were developed, and the transportation between China and foreign countries was unprecedentedly developed, so the study of geography also showed prosperity.Due to the needs of administrative management, rulers attached great importance to understanding and mastering the national land, products, customs and other geographical conditions, which promoted the vigorous development and standardization of geographical works in the form of local chronicles.Local chronicles describe the historical evolution, geographical appearance, humanistic economy and other conditions of administrative regions at all levels, and are the main components of ancient Chinese geographical works.There are more than 8,000 species described in the "United Catalog of Local Chronicles of China" (1985).Because of this, geography is often referred to as the study of Fangyu in history.The earliest surviving local chronicles are the "Shazhou (now Dunhuang, Gansu) Dudufu Tujing" in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years of the Tang Dynasty. The earliest surviving ancient capital chronicles are "Chang'an Chronicles" by Song Minqiu in the Northern Song Dynasty. In addition, the "Wujun Chronicles" by Fan Chengda in the Southern Song Dynasty "Because of its comprehensive description, appropriate details and complete style, it is called "the rare book in topography".It is worth noting that the local chronicles of the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties were mainly in the form of "pictures and classics", which consisted of maps and text. After the Southern Song Dynasty, most local chronicles had texts without pictures.On the basis of local chronicles, the compilation of geographical general chronicles also flourished."Yuanhe Prefectures and Counties" by Li Jifu in the Tang Dynasty is the earliest surviving national geographic general annals. The book takes the towns, prefectures, and states at that time as the keynote, and counties as the eyes, and describes the history, state boundaries, and Four to and eight to (the boundary of the four directions of the prefecture and the distance to the neighboring state capital and the capital), household registration, tribute, property, mountains and rivers, roads, historic sites, etc., and it is easy to understand at a glance.The style of the book was adopted by later geography and local chronicles."Taiping Huanyu Ji" compiled by Le Shi in the early Song Dynasty is a large-scale national geography general annals. , so that the content of local chronicles tends to be more historical, and the geographical content is relatively less.This tendency directly affected the "Dayuan Yitongzhi" compiled by officials in the Yuan Dynasty, and had a great influence on the "Yitongzhi" and local chronicles of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.In this tendency, "Yuanfeng Jiuyu Zhi" compiled by Wang Cun of the Northern Song Dynasty is unique. From four to eight places, the number of miles in each place, the number of towns, and the benefits of mountains and rivers, etc. are described in detail, creating a new style that emphasizes geographical description.During this period, my country's evolutionary geography tended to mature.Evolutionary geography is a science that records and examines the evolution and change of historical territories and administrative regions. It is an important part of ancient geography in my country and the predecessor of modern historical geography.Shui Anli of the Northern Song Dynasty's "Geography in the Palm of the Past Dynasties" is the earliest historical atlas in existence, and Wang Yinglin's "Tongjian Geography Tongshi" in the Song Dynasty is the first systematic monograph on evolutionary geography in my country.During this period, due to the development of frontiers and the development of transportation, the works on frontier and extraterritorial geography in our country flourished.Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty is well-known for his Buddhist scriptures from the West, and his "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" is a precious document for understanding the history and geography of Xinjiang, Central Asia, and South Asian countries before the 7th century.Works describing the Western Regions include "Jing Xing Ji" by Du Huan in the Tang Dynasty, "Journey to the West" by Yelu Chucai in the Yuan Dynasty, and "Journey to the West by Changchun Real Man" by Qiu Chuji.The important geographical works describing the South China Sea and the countries in the South China Sea include: "South China Sea Jigui Neifa Zhuan" by Yijing in Tang Dynasty, "Zhufan Zhi" by Zhao Rushi in Song Dynasty, "Zhenla (Cambodia) Fengtu Ji" by Zhou Daguan in Yuan Dynasty and "Cambodia" by Wang Dayuan. "Island Yi Zhilue" and so on.In addition, Manshu written by Fan Chuo in the Tang Dynasty is the earliest existing monograph on comprehensive geography that systematically records the southwest frontier and southeast peninsula, and it is also a typical work on regional geography.During this period, my country's map surveying and mapping technology was very developed, and its level was in a leading position in the world.The two large-scale geodetic surveys presided over by a party in the Tang Dynasty and Guo Shoujing in the Yuan Dynasty fully demonstrated that the surveying technology at that time had reached a very high level.Jia Dan in the Tang Dynasty was a famous figure in the history of map drawing in my country.He has worked hard for decades to draw the famous map of the whole country - "Huayi Map in the Sea". Place names and note.It is a pity that this map has not been handed down.The level of map surveying and mapping in the Song Dynasty was improved again. Among them, Shen Kuo not only improved the six elements of cartography, but also invented the three-dimensional map-wooden map.The maps handed down from the Song Dynasty include: "Yuji Map", "Huayi Map", "Jiuyu Shouling Map", "Pingjiang Map", "Jingjiang Fucheng Map", etc. These maps are all carved on stone tablets and preserved of.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, my country's traditional science and technology was at a low ebb as a whole. However, as a field of geography serving reality, it developed to its heyday due to the attention of the rulers and the influence of the budding capitalism in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Fruitful.In the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He led a large fleet of "seven voyages to the Western Seas" and carried out large-scale and 30-year voyages in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region. This is not only an unprecedented achievement in my country's maritime exploration, but also a feat in the history of world geography.This event brought new knowledge and understanding of geography. "Zheng He's Navigational Chart" is the earliest extant Asian and African navigational chart in my country.The records written by the entourage, such as "Yingya Shenglan", "Xingcha Shenglan", "Western Fan Guozhi", etc., are all precious materials of geography.An important geographical work of the Ming Dynasty is famous.This work is a compilation of Xu Xiake’s diaries of decades of field investigations. The scientific investigation of karst landforms, mountains, and water systems has the germination of modern geographical thought, opened up a new direction for the study of geography in my country, and is also in the leading position in the world. leading position.Yang Shen and Wang Jiamo in the Ming Dynasty were also committed to exploring the appearance of nature.Yang Shen's "Mountain Name Test", "Hot Spring Records", and "Southern Yunnan Moon Order Ci" have made outstanding achievements in the fields of mountain names and mountain shapes, distribution and utilization of hot springs, phenology and human activities, etc.; and Wang Jiamo's "Beishan Travel Notes" ", which systematically described the natural environment in the northwest mountainous area of ​​Beijing at that time, is a groundbreaking piece among the existing geographical works.During this period, my country's traditional geography continued to develop, and the compilation of local chronicles was large in scale, complete in variety, large in number, and widely distributed.In the Ming Dynasty, the general annals were revised five times, and the Qing government edited the "Unified Annals of the Great Qing Dynasty" three times. Among them, "Jiaqing Reconstructed Unified Annals" is rich in content and perfect in style, and is the best among the "Unified Annals" of all dynasties.Other representative local chronicles include: "(Shunzhi) Henan Tongzhi" is a typical representative of general chronicles with complete categories and standardized writing, "Western Region Waterways" is a waterway monograph with lakes as the key point, "Xizhen Yaolue" "is the regional monograph of Northwest China, "Tibet Chronicles" is the first regular Tibetan local chronicle, "Shuofang Beicheng" is a geographical monograph on the northern frontier, and so on.According to statistics, there were about 3,000 kinds of local chronicles in the Ming Dynasty, and more than 900 kinds exist now, while there are more than 5,000 kinds of local chronicles in the Qing Dynasty.Local chronicles are an important part of ancient Chinese geographical works.Its prosperity is one of the symbols of the maturity and pinnacle of traditional geography in our country.The study of evolutionary geography during the Ming and Qing Dynasties also developed unprecedentedly. There were not only works that explained the changes in political regions and territories in the form of tables, but also innovative in genre, such as "Table of Geographical Evolution in Past Dynasties", "Table of Territorial History in Past Dynasties", etc. Historical place-name dictionaries such as "Geographical Chronicles of Past Dynasties" and historical atlases such as "Geographies of Past Dynasties" and "Geographic Evolution Maps of Past Dynasties".In the early Qing Dynasty, a group of scholars with enlightenment thoughts compiled a group of historical and geographical works that can understand the changes of ancient and modern times and serve politics, military affairs, national economy and people's livelihood, such as Gu Yanwu's "Zhaoyu Zhi" and "Tianxia Junguoli Disease Book" , Gu Zuyu's "Reading History and Fang Yu Minutes" and so on.Among them, "Reading History and Fangyu Minutes" is the historical geography work with the most detailed historical materials, the richest content, and the most rigorous structure in my country. Until today, it is still one of the indispensable reference books for the study of historical geography.

"Yu Gong" is the oldest geographical document in my country and an important work on the geographical environment of the pre-Qin period. "Yu Gong" is included in the Confucian classic "Shang Shu".In the past, old historians believed that the book was a record of Dayu's flood control and re-enactment of tribute laws, and the author was the historian of the Xia Dynasty or Dayu himself.In fact, this is a work that records ancient geography under the name of Dayu's water control, and has little connection with Dayu's water control itself. The writing age of "Yu Gong" has been debated for many years.It is generally believed that "Yu Gong" was written around 300 BC, that is, in the Warring States Period.

"Yu Gong" is less than 1,200 characters in length, but the content is quite rich, mainly including four parts: Kyushu, Daoshan, Daoshui, and Wufu. Kyushu is the main part of the whole "Yu Gong". "Kyushu" is a natural geographical area marked by famous mountains and great rivers.It uses Dai, Hua, Jing (Jingjing), Heng four mountains and He (Yellow River), Ji, Huai, Hei four waters, and oceans as demarcation marks to divide the country into Ji, Yan, Qing, Xu, Yang, Jing, Yu, Liang, and Yong Kyushu.The Kyushu part describes the mountains, lakes, soil, products, vegetation, land tax levels, tribute items, water and land transportation routes, and ethnic minorities in each state.These records are of great research value. "Yu Gong" used the method of regional comparison when describing the natural landscape of each state.For example, according to different soil properties, it can be divided into soil, tomb, 埴, Lu (lulu), and mud; and according to the color of the soil, the soil can be distinguished into white, red, black, green, and yellow; the book synthesizes these Two factors describe the state of the soil in each state. The three prefectures of Yan, Xu, and Yang in "Yu Gong" are all located in the eastern plains of our country, connecting from north to south. "Yu Gong" records the vegetation conditions of the three prefectures: Yanzhou in the north, the vegetation grows into long strips, and the distribution is sparse; Xuzhou in the middle, the vegetation is gradually lush and covers the earth; area.This is the earliest description of zonal changes in plant distribution in geographical literature in my country.

The use of Kyushu division and divisional comparison method in "Yugong" is the germination of natural division thinking, which has had a profound impact on our country's geographical concept.The division method of Kyushu has often been adopted in the history of our country. The Daoshan part describes the names and distribution characteristics of the mountains in Kyushu.According to the writing method of "Yu Gong", the purpose of guiding mountains is to control floods, and only by observing the direction of the mountains can we guide and control floods. "Yu Gong" summarizes more than 20 mountains in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and between the Han River and the Huai River into four "mountain columns" extending from east to west.The first one is in the north of the Weishui River and the Yellow River; the second one is on the south bank of the Yellow River; the third one is in the Han River Basin, from Shanzhong Mountain in Shaanxi to the Dabie Mountains at the junction of Hubei and Henan; the fourth one starts from Minshan Mountain and passes through Hengshan Mountain to Jiangxi Shiki Asahara in the north.In the description of the mountain series, it shows that the author has already had the germination of the concept of mountain system, and has mastered the two characteristics of the distribution of mountains in my country, which are high in the west and low in the east, concentrated in the west and scattered in the east.

The water diversion part describes the water source, flow direction, flow areas, tributaries and estuaries of the nine rivers of Ruoshui, Heishui, Yellow River, Yangshui, Yangtze River, Jishui, Huaihe, Weishui and Luoshui.The order of the narrative is from the north to the south, from the upstream to the downstream, and from the main stream to the tributaries. The order is clear, so that people can understand the distribution of river systems in Kyushu at a glance.This is the earliest record of river systems in my country. Although there are not many words in the two parts of guiding mountains and guiding water, they are the beginning of the study of ancient Chinese geography divided into regions and departments, which has a great influence on later generations.

The last part is five servings.With a distance of 500 miles, it expands equidistantly from the royal capital to all sides, and is divided into Dian, Hou, Sui, Yao, and Huang five services in turn, and stipulates corresponding management methods and levels of payment of taxes and services.This is an idealized central administrative system, which expresses the author's unified political views.This idea of ​​great unification actually reflected the desire of the people during the Warring States period to end the separatism of the princes and realize the unification of the country, which was of progressive significance at that time. "Yu Gong" is a comprehensive geography masterpiece in ancient my country, and occupies an extremely important position in the history of geography development in China.It has greatly inspired future scholars in terms of research methods and geographical concepts.There have been many works annotating and textualizing it in the past dynasties, and it has become a pillar of China's evolutionary geography and Confucianism geography. Many geographical concepts and vocabulary in "Yu Gong", such as Ji, Henan, Weishui, Hanshui, Taishan, Huashan, Hengshan, etc., are still in use until now, which shows its far-reaching influence. The "Shui Jing Zhu" written by Li Daoyuan in the Northern Wei Dynasty is a comprehensive geographical work mainly recording rivers and water systems, and it is one of the representative works of geography in my country before the 6th century.Li Daoyuan, with a long character, was born in Liting, Zhuozhou (now south of Zhuoxian County, Hebei) in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and an outstanding geographer.Li Daoyuan's father was the governor of Qingzhou, so he traveled with his father to famous mountains and rivers in Shandong when he was young, and developed an interest in exploring the mysteries of mountains and rivers.As an adult, he took advantage of the opportunity of being an official to travel around today's Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and other vast areas.Everywhere he went, he carefully observed the situation of the waterway, explored the source of the estuary, and visited places of interest.Li Daoyuan not only likes traveling, but also loves reading, especially geography works.In the process of reading, he felt that the geography books at that time were either too messy or too brief, and there were many mistakes.He believes that although Sanqin's "Shui Jing" specifically records waterways is a kind of creation, it is too rough, and most of the records are old news of the predecessors. It is necessary to further clarify the ins and outs of each river.Therefore, he decided to use the "Shui Jing" as the basis to write a more detailed monograph on water channels.This is the "Shui Jing Zhu" widely circulated in later generations. "Shui Jing Zhu" has 40 volumes and more than 300,000 words.The genre is based on the theme of many main streams or large tributaries of waterways. Paragraphs of different sizes under the theme have one or a few programmatic explanations as "jing", and then refer to relevant materials in detail as "notes".This style of describing geography with water channels as the outline is different from previous geography works, and is a new form of ancient comprehensive geography works developed and created by Li Daoyuan on the basis of "Shui Jing". "Shui Jing Zhu" is nominally an annotation for "Shui Jing", but actually it is a system of its own.In terms of the number of words alone, it is nearly 20 times larger than that of "Shui Jing".In writing, Li Daoyuan absorbed and adopted a large number of previous geography achievements, citing more than 430 books, as well as many inscriptions on gold and stone, maps, folk songs, folk songs, etc.Many of these ancient documents have not been handed down to today. Therefore, these fragments in "Shui Jing Zhu" have become important materials for studying the development of geography before that. The geographical range and rich content recorded in "Shui Jing Zhu" are unprecedented, which is also a prominent feature of this book.Li Daoyuan lived in the Northern Wei Dynasty during the confrontation between the North and the South. What is valuable is that when he wrote "Shui Jing Zhu", he broke through the boundaries of the Northern Wei Dynasty and turned his attention to various regions of our country.When describing the source, flow area and destination of the dam water (that is, the Datong River flowing through North Korea), the Indus River and other water systems, it even recorded the geographical conditions of some border neighboring countries. "Shui Jing Zhu" recorded 1252 waterways, more than 1000 more than "Shui Jing".While recording the waterways, the book also gives detailed descriptions of the mountains and rivers, cities, Guanjin pavilions, historical sites, water conservancy facilities, products, related historical events, myths and legends in the areas where the river flows.According to statistics, "Shui Jing Zhu" recorded nearly 300 canyons, 60 waterfalls, more than 500 lakes, more than 300 springs and groundwater, 180 ancient capitals, 2,800 cities, about 100 bridges, and nearly 100 ferries. , involving about 20,000 place names. "Shui Jing Zhu" also introduces the language, customs and habits of 13 nationalities, and some of them also indicate the geographical distribution and the relationship and influence with other nationalities. "Shui Jing Zhu" is not only rich in content, but also very accurate and meticulous in describing things.In order to write "Shui Jing Zhu" well, Li Daoyuan conducted detailed field investigations in areas where his footprints might reach.Once, he found that there was a problem with the records of the source of Sishui in the "Shui Jing" and "Han Shu", so he worked tirelessly to find the source by himself, and finally found it near Taoxu in the southeast of the old city of Bian County (to the east of Sishui County, Shandong Province today). Found the birthplace of Surabaya.Li Daoyuan also attached great importance to the records of the direction, value, and position of topography and landforms.For example, it is said in "Fen Shui Notes": "The mountain is Fen Mountain. Its mountain is special, with a circumference of seventy miles and a height of thirty miles. Wen Ying said: In the southeast of Pishi County, it can be ten miles. Mountains can be more than ten miles high." The book contains many wonderful descriptions of high mountains and canyons, karst landforms, and landforms in the dry areas of Northwest China. "Shui Jing Zhu" has made many achievements in geography that the predecessors did not have.For example, there are no less than 140 species of plants and more than 100 species of animals recorded in the book.Li Daoyuan has conducted detailed observation and research on the characters and habits of creatures. The migration phenomenon of freshwater fish recorded in the book is the earliest in the world.The geographical distribution and changes of living things are described in the book. "Lian Shui Zhu" also wrote: "Shiyu Mountain in Xiangxiang County, there is a kind of black stone, the texture is similar to mica, often showing the shape of a fish, after peeling off a layer, the scales, fins, head and tail are very realistic.This is one of the earliest documents in my country to record fish fossils. "Shui Jing Zhu" recorded a large number of farmland water conservancy facilities.Dujiangyan, Zhengguo Canal, Ling Canal, Shaopi [Po Po], etc. are all famous water conservancy projects in the pre-Qin period.Li Daoyuan made more detailed records than his predecessors on the construction process, geographical location and scope structure of these projects.Focusing on the construction of farmland water conservancy and the comprehensive utilization of rivers and lakes, the book involves various aspects of agricultural production such as planting, animal husbandry, forestry, and fishery.In addition, "Shui Jing Zhu" also records mineral resources such as hot springs, groundwater, natural gas, tin mines, and salt industry, as well as many other industrial sectors such as mining, metallurgy, textiles, papermaking, and food. It is of great value to study the economic situation in ancient times. "Shui Jing Zhu" is an all-encompassing geographical work.Shortly after it came out, people began to study the book continuously.The contents of this book have been widely quoted in the geographical works of the past dynasties.There are also people who imitate the style of "Shui Jing Zhu" to write works on water channel geography, such as Qi Zhaonan's "Water Channel Outline" in the Qing Dynasty, Xu Song's "Western Region Water Channel Records", etc., forming a unique style of ancient Chinese geography works.Contemporary historical geographers still use it as an important basis to restore ancient geographical conditions.Today, scholars at home and abroad pay more attention to this book, and the research on it has formed a "Li Xue", and the research topics include historical geography, economic geography, urban geography, military geography, etc., and the new use value is still there. are being continuously excavated. The Ming Dynasty is a diary-style geography work, and it is also the earliest scientific literature to systematically describe and study karst landforms in my country and the world.Xu Xiake (1586-1641 A.D.) named Hongzu, styled Zhenzhi, and Xiake was his alias. He was born in Jiangyin, Jiangsu, and was born in a scholarly family for generations.Xu Xiake has read a lot of books since he was a child, and what interests him most are books that record mountains and rivers, scenic spots and travel.Xu Xiake was determined early on to break free from the shackles of the imperial examinations and to travel all over the mountains and rivers of the motherland.With the support of his parents, he traveled almost every year during the more than 30 years from the age of 22 to the age of 56.He "does not shun the wind and rain, does not fear tigers and wolves, does not plan the schedule, does not seek a partner, travels with his soul and life" ("Xu Xiake's Travel Notes·Pan Lei [lei Lei] Preface"), and his footprints are all over our country's present Jiangsu, Shanghai, 19 provinces and cities including Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan, with a journey of more than 100,000 miles. Xu Xiake is in good health, and people who know him call him "as strong as an ox and as swift as an ape".After climbing mountains and wading, and traveling hundreds of miles a day, he can still record the observations of the day at night.Xu Xiake has accumulated a large number of investigation diaries through years of traveling and living.After he returned from his last trip, he was seriously ill and did not have time to sort out these diaries until his death.It was later compiled into a book by Ji Mengliang.In the early days, there were only manuscripts, but due to repeated copying and continuous wars, many contents were missing.In the forty-first year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1776), Xu Zhen, the grandson of Xu Xiake, published this book for the first time, making this famous geographical travel note and the earliest field investigation record in my country widely circulated. A total of 10 volumes, about 800,000 words, in the diary style, recording the author's travels and research experience in chronological order.Volume 1 is tour Tiantai Mountain (twice), Yandang (Dangdang) Mountain (twice), Baiyue Mountain, Huangshan Mountain, Wuyi Mountain, Lushan Mountain, Jiuli Lake, Songshan Mountain, Taihua Mountain, Taihe Mountain, Touring Fujian, Wutai Mountain, The diary of Hengshan; the second volume is the diary of Zhejiang, Jiangnan and Chu; the third is the diary of the western Guangdong; the fourth is the diary of Guizhou;The book covers a wide range of content, including landforms, geology, hydrology, climate, flora and fauna, historical geography, social politics, economic culture, ethnic customs and many other aspects.Compared with the previous geography literature in our country, this book not only greatly surpasses its predecessors in terms of richness of content, but more importantly, it has carried out detailed observation and research on natural geographical phenomena, especially focusing on the discussion of the causes of natural geographical phenomena. When perceptual knowledge is improved to a certain degree of rational knowledge, it is more scientific and opens up a new direction for the study of ancient physical geography in my country. The greatest scientific value is the extensive and in-depth investigation of karst landforms.Karst landform, also known as karst landform, is widely distributed in southern my country.From Feilai Peak in Hangzhou in the east to Baoshan in western Yunnan in the west, the area from southern Hunan to eastern Yunnan covers an area of ​​550,000 square kilometers.my country has a long history of recording karst landforms. The Fengcongshi Mountains depicted on the Mawangdui topographic map of Changsha in the Western Han Dynasty are the earliest surface karst landform maps in the world.Since then, there have been more documents recording karst landforms, such as Wang Shaozhi's "Shixing Ji", Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu", Sheng Hongzhi's "Jingzhou Ji" and Fan Chengda's "Guihai Yuheng Zhi" in the Song Dynasty, etc.However, none of them can systematically and scientifically study karst landforms like that.Xu Xiake classified and named many karst landforms.For example, the terrain of the sinkhole is called "眢〔yuanyuan〕well"; the terrain of the funnel is "panwa" or "ring depression"; the terrain of the dry valley is "dry stream"; etc.; Unified naming of peak forest terrain.This classification and naming is a scientific research method.There are vivid descriptions of each type of terrain.For example, when describing the sinkhole, it is said: "The top of the ridge is full of whirlpools and pools, like the back of a cauldron, and there are holes at the bottom of the cauldron that go straight down to form wells, whether deep or shallow, or bottomless..." Xu Xiake also clearly described the southwestern region of my country for the first time. According to the distribution and characteristics of the peak forest, it is considered that the range of the peak forest starts from Daozhou, Hunan Province (now Dao County, Hunan Province) in the east, reaches Luoping, Yunnan Province in the west, and enters Guangxi in the south.Every time Xu Xiake passed through a region, he paid great attention to summarizing the characteristics of the local karst landforms, and compared them with other regions, trying to find out their distribution laws and development characteristics.For example, when discussing the regional differences in the development of peak forests: In the mountains in western Guangdong, there are pure stones and inter-stones, each branch stands alone and does not mix.The mountains in southern Yunnan are all surrounded by earth peaks, and there are stone embellishments in between, and there are also ten or two, so there are many ring depressions.The mountains in southern Guizhou are between the two, and it is strange to see them towering.The Dian Mountains are rich in soil, so many flows form the sea, and the flows are turbid, but Fuzhou Lake is the clearest.There are only rocks in Yueshan, so there are many streams passing through the holes, and the water is all clear.And Qianliu is also between the two.These discussions show that Xu Xiake has a relatively clear understanding of the regional characteristics of the development of karst landforms in Southwest China. The cave is formed by the long-term dissolution of the rock by groundwater. The stalagmites, stalactites, and stone pillars in the cave are full of strange things.对溶岩洞穴奥秘的探索，徐霞客有着极大的兴趣。中记载岩溶洞穴288个，他亲自入洞考察的有250个，占87%。他对这些洞穴的形态、方位、大小、结构都作了详细的记录，有的还做了测量，数据准确。他对桂林七星岩洞穴系统的描述就和本世纪50年代科学测绘的七星岩平面图基本一致。徐霞客还根据水文、气候、成因、结构将这些洞穴划分为不同类型。如按洞穴的形态结构分：藤瓜式，指的是以溶洞通道将大小洞穴联系起来的洞穴系统；楼阁式，是指洞穴的上下、前后都有分层，像一幢有许多房间的楼阁；此外还有蹲虎式、深井式、厅堂地、海螺式等。 对于岩溶地貌的成因，中的许多地方都进行了探索和研究。如认为落水洞的成因是“上透一窍，辄水捣成井”。又如认为石钟乳是“石膏日久凝结而成”，等等。这方面的研究，徐霞客比前人更广泛、更深入。 徐霞客对我国河流探源工作也做出了贡献。例如，为了弄清南北盘江的源流，他曾五次进行实地考察，写出了《盘江考》一文。关于长江的源头，从《禹贡》出现“岷山导江”四个字开始，人们一直认为长江的源头是岷江。虽然早在汉、唐时就有人表示怀疑，但没有人敢于站出来否定它。徐霞客在《江源考》中明确提出：“推江源者，必以金沙”，即金沙江是长江的源头。这在我国地理学上意义十分重大。 中一个使人叹服的地方是：当时地理学的各个学科都还处于萌芽状态，又没有任何科学仪器设备，而徐霞客根据自己观察所得出的结论，竟大多和现在的科学原理相符合。他在游历中发现，高山上的草木稀疏、植物生长缓慢，他推断其原因是高山顶部海拔高、气温低、风速大，阻碍了植物的生长。当他由云南姚安北行到达丽江后，写道：“其地杏花始残，桃犹初放，盖愈北而寒也。”说明他初步认识到了植物生长的不同状况和地理纬度的不同有关。徐霞客还有很多关于植物的分布和生长受地理环境影响的论述，都和现代的科学原理一致。 1639年，徐霞客到了云南腾冲，当地人告诉他30年前打鹰山顶上发生怪事的传闻。他立刻到那里进行考察，看到山顶上的石头都是赭红色，质地轻浮，状如蜂房，便断定“为浮沫结成”，是“劫灭之余”。这种现象正是火山爆发的证据。徐霞客的结论是正确的。

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