Regions continue to be one of the most logical and satisfactory ways of organizing the geographical information. Southwest China has always been concerned by geographers at home and abroad for its unique geographical phenomena. Its research vein could be looked into and given some useful suggestions for the future research through analyses of the articles published in Acta Geographica Sinica during 1934-2018. The results show that: (1) Articles about Southwest China covered almost all the subjects of geography, and the research results about geomorphology, meteorological climate, integrated physical geography, and ecological environment are the most widely published, while those on cities, ethnic groups, transportation and health are less concerned; (2) Up to 2018, the research had experienced four stages, early traditional regional research, task-led discipline, connecting the preceding and the following, and diversified development; (3) The periodical changes of the quantity and contents of these articles are influenced by the pattern of national affairs, and by the changes of the research paradigm of geography; (4) The articles published in Acta Geographica Sinica are of high research level, no matter from the academic perspective or the research methods, and many studies on regional nature, humanities, social economy and ecological environment are at the forefront of academic research, representing the academic research on geography of Southwest China; (5) However, the growth rate of articles about this region is far behind the increase in the number of articles in Acta Geographica Sinica, and the external research institutions and universities account for a large proportion of the number of articles, while the locals are weak. Compared with physical geography, there are fewer studies on human geography. As China's "island in the sky" and "cradle of ancient humans beings", Southwest China should be re-examined in the fields of the traditional and modern collision, boundary contact and conflict, and inter-regional contact and competition from the perspective of new regional geography, and continue to achieve the geographical significance of the study region.

Understanding the development process and direction of China's transportation geography scientifically and accelerating the theoretical and technological innovation closely associated with the concrete practice are of great significance for the disciplinary development and holding on to the direction of practice. Based on the transportation geography papers published in Acta Geographica Sinica since its founding, this paper discussed the development process of China's transportation geography, and summarized the driving forces and development direction of the discipline. (1) Going through exploration stage, initial stage, formation stage and deepening stage, China's transportation geography has gradually identified the nature of the applied discipline synthesized by nature, humanity and technology, constituted a prominent comprehensive characteristic, and established a relatively complete discipline system on the basis of research content, transportation modes and spatial scales. (2) The demand of national and regional development is the essential driving force for the development of China's transportation geography, while data and method innovation, interdisciplinary demands and international theoretical introduction play a significant role in promoting development of the discipline. (3) The development of the discipline has three leading orientations: humanism, ecologicalism and technicalism. In the future, it is necessary to track diverse orientations in the long term and coordinate the discipline system and development direction timely so as to maintain the discipline superiority and competitiveness of China's transportation geography.

The current Geographical Society of China (GSC) is the product of a merger of the Chinese Geographical Society established in 1909 and the former Geographical Society of China established in 1934. The establishment of the GSC and the launch of the journal Acta Geographica Sinica in 1934 are not only two major events in the history of Chinese geography, but also two spotlights in the history of Chinese education and science. This is the key point of the concept of science advocated by the New Culture Movement. The establishment of GSC clearly separated modern geography from traditional geoscientology and entered on the historical stage in the name of science. What's more, the publication of Acta Geographica Sinica enabled Chinese and foreign geographers to enjoy a high-end professional academic source in China. The emergence of the society and its journal was also a direct manifestation of wartime concepts such as "science saves the country" and "invigorating China through science."Under the organization and promotion of the GSC, the older generation of geographers worked hard and published a series of important articles in the Acta Geographica Sinica. The modern geographers who worked tirelessly finally drew the attention of the ruling class and occupied a place in the top-down design of the country. Although their understanding of the importance was mainly in the high-level and professional academic circles, it planted the seed for the later vigorous development of Chinese geographic science and laid a solid scientific foundation for awakening the ordinary people. In retrospect, the establishment of GSC and Acta Geographica Sinica was the beginning of Chinese geographic science and has become the promoter and witness of the development of Chinese geographic science. On the 110th anniversary of the founding of the GSC, we should inherit the spirit of the older generation of scientists, enrich the geographic science, provide better service for the construction of the country, and improve the scientific literacy of ordinary people.

This paper employs Citespace to process the publication data of the Acta Geographica Sinica between 1934 and 2018. It will examine and summarize the features of the historical development of geographical research in China. A total of 4129 articles published in the journal are analysed in four aspects, including key themes, trends of the themes, historical burst terms and changes of contributing institutions. Four stages of development are considered, which include establishment (1934-1949), transformation (1950-1966), development stage (1978-1995) and comprehensive development stage (1996-present). Findings of this paper are: (1) the historical development and transformation of the journal, which reflects the capability of self-innovation and significant vitality of the Geographical Society of China in the past, present and future; (2) physical geography, human geography, remote sensing and geographical information system, and ecological and environmental studies, which are four main research fields of the Geographical Society of China, with a transforming trend from physical geography, to human geography, and an interdisciplinary research on the human-earth system; (3) Four main research "turns" are identified: ① research perspectives: towards a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and integrated geographical study; ② research content: from the studies of physical elements to the studies of humanistic elements, and to the studies of processes, mechanism and influence within/of the human-earth system; ③ research paradigm: towards a critical and integrated approach involving scientific positivism, scientism and humanism; ④ research method: from on-site observation and digital modelling to an integrated analytical toolkit, based on multi-sources of spatial and temporal information. Future studies are expected to further extend and improve the system of geographical theories, enhancing critical thinking on the research paradigm and incorporating them with cognate subjects, and using an open mind to promote the influence of geographical research in the fields of both natural science and social science.