Physiographic macroregions of China

Physiographic macroregions of China is a term suggested by an American anthropologist G. William Skinner as a subdivision of China Proper into nine areas according to the drainage basins of the major rivers and other travel-constraining geomorphological features. They are distinct in terms of environment, economic resources, culture and more or less interdependent histories with often unsynchronized developmental macrocycles.[1] They were described in Skinner's landmark essays in The City in Late Imperial China.[2]

19th century

Skinner and his school maintain that prior to modernization, transportation was largely constrained by terrain and the physiographic macroregions are a close approximation for the socioeconomic macroregions of 19th-century China. The macroregions are defined by Skinner as follows:[3]

Modern provinces of Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai and a larger part of Inner Mongolia are not considered by Skinner's scheme.

20th century

According to Skinner's analysis, the 20th century China excluding Inner Asia has 9 socioeconomic macroregions with cores not changed from the physiographic ones of the 19th century, but with changed territorial extents.[3]

See also

References
  1. Needham, Joseph; Bray, Francesca; Huang Hsing-Tsung; Daniels, Christian; Menzies, Nicholas K. (1984). Science and Civilisation in China. ISBN 0-521-63262-5.
  2. Skinner, G. William, ed. (1977), The City in Late Imperial China, Stanford University Press
  3. Skinner, G. William; Henderson, Mark; Yue, Zumou, A note regarding the Physiographic and Socioeconomic Macroregions of China
  4. Marks, Robert (1997). Tigers, Rice, Silk, and Silt: Environment and Economy in Late Imperial South China. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59177-5.
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