Download Alex K Chen, Geog 505, October 19, 2009 A uniform region is a

Alex K Chen, Geog 505, October 19, 2009
A uniform region is a region that has a distinct set of characteristics. A nodal region is a region heavily
influenced by a distinct node on the surrounding area. A nodal region is defined by interaction rather
than by physical characteristics. A metropolitan area, for example, would be a nodal region, as it is a
distinct entity that exerts a major influence on the communities and environment around it.
At the local level, spatial structures could be interpreted as small-scale self-sufficient economies that
were reproduced many times across the country. So in a sense, it is a “fractal” vision where social
characteristics appeared the same at different spatial scales. Of course, such structures do not include
the state or integration of the state’s functions.
In areas surrounding large cities, peasants gained access to large markets and long-distance trade
networks. This resulted in the integration of rural and large-scale markets, creating opportunities for
cash-cropping. Increased demand led to an increase in land prices, the opening of new fields, and
investment in technologies that boosted yields. Peasants also had the opportunity to join the
bureaucratic system. If marketing is suppressed, peasants could only rely on subsistence farming.
Spatial interactions determined the vulnerability of a region to invasions. Many of China’s early capitals
were situated in highlands known more for defense than for fertility (places like Chang’An, which is
surrounded by securable passes). Northern regions were most vulnerable to invasions, which initially
drove populations south, leading to the Sinicization of regions south of the Yangtze River. But as
invaders became Sinicized and reestablished the Chinese capital in Northern regions like Beijing, they
also concentrated resource markets around the North.
Urban areas have populations that import food from surrounding rural regions. They are often in
drainage basins, which concentrate a large amount of resources and manpower. Drainage basins had
low transportation costs (due to being downstream) and also had improved fertility through erosion of
highland soils. There was often a sharp difference in the transition from rural to urban regions, since the
infrastructure of urban regions was highly developed due to the low cost per capita of development in
densely populated regions. The local economies of core areas were also more commercialized than
those of peripheral areas. The Southeast coast, in particular, became heavily dependent on commerce,
so that its prosperity significantly fell once the Ming Dynasty restricted foreign trade.
In China, central-local relations were particularly pronounced, if the capital could be considered as the
center. The center contained the bureaucracy and a well-developed infrastructure, so there were fast
responses to potential disasters near a region’s center. Further from the region’s center, couriers had to
deal with time lags, especially when major actions required the emperor’s approval. Sometimes, those
time lags gave a disgruntled population sufficient time to arm themselves against a capital’s demands
(which led to rebellions). Centralization of power often leads to zero-sum effects. Taxes were
sometimes very high, and often led to expensive projects around the capital (this was, in effect, a wealth
transfer from the periphery to the center). Sometimes, the division of China created multiple capitals
(and multiple nodes). The Three Kingdoms period, for example, saw the creation of a new hub of power
around Nanking. With a government more local and responsive to its concerns, this new hub of power
helped turn the Southeast into one of China’s more prosperous regions.
Migration often changed the spatial dimensions of the most prominent nodal regions in China. A
decrease in a region’s prosperity led to migration. Over time and many cycles of increases and decreases
in prosperity, migrations helped spread the Han population from the banks of the Wei River to much of
modern-day China. These migrations often resulted in the inverse correlation of cycles of one region
with the cycles of another region.
An urban hierarchy is defined by a centrally located core surrounded by subordinate nodal regions. The
core is an integrated market of integrated markets. The centrally located core was often so thoroughly
commercialized that it produced merchants and human talent that could be exported overseas.
China’s regional systems have their own cycles of increases and decreases in prosperity. The numerous
regional systems helped maintain the continuity of Chinese administration and civilization. Even if a
macroregion collapsed, its people would flee to another macroregion, where they would retain their
practices. Its regional systems also help it maintain a diversity of products – from wheat in the north to
rice in the south, and iron to the northeast.
Historians are often prone to overestimating the synchronization between dynastic and regional cycles.
One macroregion’s loss is often another macroregion’s gain, as the gaining macroregion can gain
talented individuals from the losing macroregion. Due to China’s huge regional diversity, disasters were
localized to specific macroregions and rarely brutalized China as a whole. Some areas are more resistant
to certain disasters than others (even global changes in climate, as growing seasons are shortened more
in some regions than others – changes in temperature are usually more significant in more northern
latitudes), and even in the case of the Mongol invasion, there was a significant time lag between
Genghis Khan’s first invasion and the conquest of China – a time lag that resulted in a Sinophilic emperor.
This lack of synchronization helps inhibit dangerous mistakes from cascading into more dangerous
mistakes. Of course, there is still some synchronization between dynastic and regional cycles, especially
when a dynasty fell.
Subregional cycles also occurred along the hierarchy of regions. Smaller regions were more vulnerable
to short-duration exogeneous shocks. But they also had more to (relatively) gain from investment and
migration. As such, subregions have shorter developmental cycles than macroregions.
Owen Lattimore was a notable scholar who was particularly attentive to interactions. His most
influential book, “The Inner Asian Frontiers of China”, explored the history of East Asia as an interaction
between two types of civilizations, settled farming and pastoral ones. He also wrote a book, “An Inner
Asian Approach to the Historical Geography of China”, where he investigated the effects of humans on
the environment and the environment back on humans.
Dwight Perkins is the author of “Agricultural Development in China”, an examination of how incentives
were able to improve China’s agricultural output despite technological stagnation. As he continued
observing China as it modernized its policies, he wrote “The Challenges of China’s Growth”, where he
examines the global implications of China’s rise. In his “China’s Recent Economic Performance and
Future Prospects”, he examines the future growth of China’s supply-side sector.