From the Book of Songs to Xu Xiake's Travels, what social functions did ancient Chinese geography play?

In the history of ancient Chinese science, it is generally recognized that there are four major disciplines that have formed their own systems: astronomy, mathematics, agronomy, and medicine. In fact, in addition to these four disciplines, there are other disciplines that have formed a certain system, such as geography.

Geography plays a pivotal role in the development and governance of ancient society. Administrative divisions cannot be separated from map drawing, water conservancy projects cannot be separated from landform and hydrological exploration, and agricultural production cannot be separated from climate and meteorological observations... Wang Qianjin, professor of the School of Humanities at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of Cartography at the National Museum, said that the ancient Chinese made great achievements in many branches of geography, and geography played a variety of social functions in China's social and economic development.

my country's geographical exploration activities have a long history

Wang Qianjin pointed out that due to the limitations of the ancient people's cognitive level, ancient Chinese geography was not well developed. Like other parts of the world, the geographical knowledge of ancient Chinese also contained many things that were imagined out of thin air. However, the ancient Chinese already had the awareness of observation and mastered the corresponding methods, which was the basis for the generation of geographical knowledge.

The description in The Book of Songs: Da Ya, "When you see the hills, you can see their yin and yang and watch their flowing springs", is an early record of the ancients' geographical observations. In addition to using their eyes to observe, the ancients also used various tools to assist in observations. For example, when conducting river hydrological observations, the ancients would use a fixed device called a water scale to observe when the water would rise, when the water would recede, and how high the water would reach during the flood season each year. With the help of water scales distributed throughout the country, such as the Fengjie Water Recording Stele and the Yunyang Dragon Back Stone, the ancients could record the hydrological conditions of each month and ten days in a year. Disasters that occurred once every ten years, once every fifty years, and once every hundred years in history were recorded by relevant institutions using these water scales.

"Exploration activities are of great significance to the expansion of geographical knowledge." Wang Qianjin said that the ancient Chinese conducted a large number of explorations, which played a role equivalent to geographical surveys. Many travelers, literary and historical figures, and scientists have conducted such surveys.

During the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian made two diplomatic missions to the Western Regions and brought back the geographical knowledge, local customs and products of the Western Regions to the Central Plains. Faxian of the Jin Dynasty recorded a lot of geographical information outside the region in his autobiography written during his travels. The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions written by Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty is an important document for studying the ancient history and geography of India and other countries. It records the geographical information and social conditions of the countries in the Western Regions from different angles and aspects. Wang Dayuan of the Yuan Dynasty set out from Quanzhou Port and visited many countries, the farthest of which was Mozambique in Africa today. Based on these experiences, he wrote the "Records of the Island Barbarians", which recorded the conditions of more than 200 ancient countries and regions, allowing people at that time to have a better understanding of world geography.

Among all the explorers, the most famous one is Zheng He. Zheng He was sent by Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. His fleet sailed to the Western Ocean seven times, leaving behind famous sea charts such as "Zheng He's Navigation Chart" and geographical works such as "Xingcha Shenglan" and "Yingya Shenglan".

Xu Xiake was the most outstanding explorer in ancient China and the first person to systematically investigate karst landforms. He proposed the names of karst landforms, recognized the development characteristics of karst landforms, and analyzed the causes of such landforms. In addition, he re-explored the source of the Yangtze River and corrected the original misunderstanding. Xu Xiake's series of activities have a very important position in the history of Chinese and even world geology.

Already have the means to transform knowledge into a system

"How do we deal with the knowledge gained through exploration? Just put it there in a disorganized manner? That's not the case." Wang Qianjin introduced that the ancient Chinese already had a set of means to transform knowledge into a system.

Definition is the first step of systematization. In ancient Chinese books, there are basic definitions of some geographical concepts. For example, Guanzi·Map is the earliest definition of map concept; Erya·Explanation of Land records that "large fields are called plains, wide plains are called plains, high plains are called land, continents are called hills, large hills are called mountains, and habitable areas in the water are called continents", which is a systematic definition of topography. These definitions in the book laid a solid foundation for people's further academic research.

The most important work after definition is classification. "Yu Gong" divides the soil of the Nine Provinces into 10 types; "Guan Zi" classifies the terrain, such as dividing hills into 15 types, and also makes specific classifications of water bodies, calling the main stream Jingshui and the tributaries Zhishui. Under Zhishui, there are Gushui, Chuanshui, and Yuanshui. These classifications are quite systematic and not much different from modern hydrology.

The ancients' way of describing geography had a certain quantitative thinking. For example, it is recorded in "Chu Ci: Tian Wen": "East, west, south, north, which is longer? North and south, how long is it?" "Shan Hai Jing" describes the size of the world as 28,000 miles from east to west and 26,000 miles from north to south.

In addition, the ancients also discovered various relationships and laws between phenomena. For example, the Book of Rain Prediction, written during the Tang Dynasty, contains nearly 170 proverbs that predict weather conditions based on phenomena such as halos, rainbows, thunder and lightning, and fog. The ancients also discovered the connection between tides and lunar activity, and with the Four Seasons Tide Chart, they were able to calculate and find the corresponding relationship between the two.

Wang Qianjin said that ancient Chinese geography has another valuable feature, which is academic criticism. For example, Pei Xiu criticized the drawings of the predecessors in "Yu Gong Regional Map" for "although they have a rough outline, they have not been examined and cannot be relied upon". Li Daoyuan said in "Shui Jing Zhu": "In the past, "Da Yu Ji" recorded the mountains and seas, but it was comprehensive but not complete; "Geographical Records" recorded it briefly but not comprehensive; "Shang Shu", "Ben Ji" and "Zhi Fang" were all brief, all of which were described in the poem, but the meaning was not expressed; "Shui Jing" was roughly connected, but it lacked a side connection." These academic criticisms promoted the progress of geography.

Play an important role in national economy and people's livelihood

"Geographical knowledge played a huge supporting role in various activities of the ancients." Wang Qianjin called these functions the social functions of geography. In specific national governance, geography is the basis for the division of political boundaries and the establishment of levels. Some scholars have summarized the two principles of political demarcation in ancient my country as "convenient shape of mountains and rivers" and "interlaced". Among them, "convenient shape of mountains and rivers" refers to the formulation of political boundaries based on geographical conditions. Place names such as Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei are direct manifestations of the important role played by geography in the division of political regions.

Geography also plays an important role in national economy and people's livelihood. Meteorology is an important branch of geographical science. Agricultural production is inseparable from meteorological observation. Climate observation institutions were established very early in ancient China. The "Eighteen Kinds of Qin Laws" stipulates that relevant institutions should report rainfall conditions to the central government. China's First Historical Archives and the Forbidden City treasure many rain-reporting memorials from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The ancients also actively studied the nature and laws of soil and monsoons, and applied this knowledge to the construction of water conservancy projects and agricultural production. In addition, the ancient Chinese actively absorbed foreign geographical knowledge and scientific concepts, and by the Ming and Qing dynasties they were able to draw world maps that were relatively close to reality.

Wang Qianjin said that due to the limitations of the times and social conditions, ancient geography also had many limitations. For example, there were fewer professional scholars and more amateur scholars; more personal travel and less scientific exploration; more technical and less theoretical; more descriptions of surface phenomena and less deep exploration; more research on the earth's surface and less research on the deep underground, etc. Of course, these limitations cannot erase the brilliant achievements of ancient Chinese geography, nor can they cover up the outstanding contributions of the Chinese to world geography.