GEOGRAPHY AND MAN-EARTH RELATIONSHIP

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  • Department of Geography, Peking University

Online published: 1982-04-15

Abstract

In this article, the authors discussed man-earth relationship in geography dialecti-cally and historically. The history of geographic thought is divided into four stages: ancient, classical, modern and contemporary. Having approached the buds of man and earth relationship in ancient geography, the anthers point out that the outsets era of chorography in China is far earlier than that in the "West, and the ancient geography of China contains quite a lot of man earth relationship all along. The principal masters of classical geography A. Von Humboldt, C. Hitter, F. Ratzel and P. Vidal de la Blache etc. are introduced not only on their contributions but also on their shortcom-ings. In the light of a great deal of historical facts, the specialization of modern geog-raphy and the decline of man-earth theory, a.s well as the renewal of man-earth rela-tionship in contemporary geography are discussed. The regularity of differentiation and synthesis in geography are two trends being inevitable and necessary for the development of new geography.The differences of man-earth relationship between orthodox geography and con-temporary geography are illustrated along three points: (1) the philosophical founda-tion; (2) the methods of study; (3) the items of principle.The authors insisted on that the object of geography is geographical environment which is composed of (1) natural environment; (2) economic environment and (3) social-cultural environment. All of which are each studied by physical geography, eco-nomic geography and social-cultural geography respectively.Contemporary human geography, in narrow sense, is equivalent to social-cultural geography. It consists of all the aspects of economic basis (relations of production) and superstructure. The authors do believe that human geography will be developed and flourished in China in order to serve the planning and designing of the concerned government organizations.

Cite this article

Yang Wuyang, Jiang Meiqiu . GEOGRAPHY AND MAN-EARTH RELATIONSHIP[J]. Acta Geographica Sinica, 1982 , 37(2) : 206 -215 . DOI: 10.11821/xb198202010

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