Bernhard Varenius (Alexander von Humboldt, 1769~1859) (Carl Ritter, 1779~1859) (Friedrich Ratzel, 1844~1904) (Ferdinand von Richthofen, 1833~1905) (Alfred Hettner, 1859~1941) (Jean Brunhes, 1869~1930) (Ellsworth Huntington, 1876~1947)
Theoretical Studies during the Modernizing of Chinese Geography Zhang Jiuchen (Institute for the History of Science, CAS, Beijing It was a global problem of the explanation on the nature of geography. When modern geography was spreading in China , the conflicting of the traditional ideas and modern thoughts caused wide discussions on discipline nature of geography. There were many returned students among modern Chinese geographers. As they studied in different countries and followed different teachers, their theories were various. During 1920s to 1940s, the discussions on geographic content, research method and its discipline system was the main character of Chinese modern geography. Chinese scholars hoped to have a clear aim and find out the problems which Chinese traditional geography existed. Although they didn¡¯t get the common understanding, the discussions brought out a great advance on Chinese geography. And it was benefit to the development of Chinese geography. The more important is that it influenced the direction and the method of some generations. Many scholars devoted themselves to the study of meteorology, pedology, the geographical distribution of population and nationalities, etc.. Meanwhile they paid great attention to the survey and study on the relationship between human and environment and the regions. | |
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