The Study Of The Political Geography Of The Warring States

In the ascendant process of China's research on historical political geography,the study of periodization political geography is just in the beginning,there is no achievement on the study of political geography of the Warring States period.The transformation from study on phenomena and events to relationship,it is one tough way on paradigm shift,not only on the accumulation in quantity,but an essential stage to rise historical geography research to regularity research.Through induction textual research,comparative textual research and thorough textual research on the unearthed literature and handed-down literature,the concept of two vertical and horizontal “ridge” lines affecting on historical political geography of the Warring States and three political geographical units divided by these two lines is proposed.The vertical“ridge”line is the dividing line between the second and third levels of topographic ladder,and the horizontal“ridge”line is present Qinling-Huaihe Line.Three political geographical units include present Loess Plateau,present Huang-Huai-Hai Plain,and present Middle-lower Yangtze Plain.Major economic,political,military,cultural,population,and immigration events in the Warring States period are almost centralized on two sides of two “ridge” lines without exception.The intersections of two “ridges” lines are grand stage of historical geography and turning point of times.The rise and fall of the Warring States is pegged here.Here is peace,then the world is peace;here chaos,the world is chaotic.Taking the two "ridge" lines as axes,you can try to find political geography center of the Warring States.Within three geographical units separated by the “ridge” lines,the beginning of the Warring States and intensifying social shocks and national integration,is accompanied by the move of core areas of economic,political,cultural,and military regions.That is,at the beginning of the Warring States period,in the present Loess Plateau,the core area moved from present Shanxi Plateau to present Guanzhong Basin;in the present Huang-Huai-Hai Plain,the core area moved from sedimentation basin of present alluvial plain of Yellow River to present Zibo Basin;in the present Middle-lower Yangtze Plain,the core area moved from present Jianghan Basin to present Jianghuai Region,almost at the same time,mergers and acquisitions between the seigneurs become intensifying.It is worth noting that when a powerful economic,political,cultural,and military force reoccupied the whole geographic unit between FengGao and LuoYi via ancient XiaoHan path,the wars quickly subsided.Such a unique political geographical pattern has formed over a longer period,and has had a lasting impact on the formation of historical political geography pattern of all Chinese dynasties?From the perspective of historical political geography,this paper attempts to divide the Warring States period in specific years: First,the early Warring States Period,from the Partition of three sub-Jin in 403 BC,to the defeat of Wei in Maling in 341 BC;Second,the middle Warring States period,from the defeat of Wei in Maling in 341 BC,to Yiyang occupied by Qin in 307 BC;Third,the late Warring States period,from Yiyang occupied by Qin in 307 BC,to the whole country unified by Ying Zheng in 221 BC.At the same time,when studying the relationship between political culture and political geography in the Warring States period,it is found that common politics of hundred schools of thought indicated that unification means to be governed,and common identity by all seigneurs of the Warring States is "Shi".And when trying to use two different political geographic thought of "Wufu" from "Shang Shu Yu Gong" and "Jiuzhou" from "Zhou Li Zhi Fang",to rethink the transition from feudal system to prefecture and country system,We will find that "Wufu" system maps onto feudal system,and "Jiuzhou" system onto prefecture and county system.This paper is divided into four parts for discussion: The first part focuses on political geography of the early Warring States period with centered on Shanxi plateau after the Partition of three sub-Jin.The importance of the intersection of the two “ridge” lines is revealed by discussion that Here is peace,then the world is peace;here chaos,the world is chaotic.The second part focuses on political geography of the middle Warring States period that the seven powers annexed seigneurs and regions around their respectively.At this time,it highlights the present dividing line between the second and third levels of topographic ladder and present Qinling-Huaihe Line.While Qin unified plateau(including the whole present Loess Plateau,present Inner Mongolia Plateau and parts of present Yungui plateau),Qi dominated present Huang-Huai-Hai Plain,and Chu dominated present Middle-lower Yangtze Plain.The third part focuses on political geography of the late Warring States period confrontation between three major geographic units including present Loess Plateau represented by Qin,present Huang-Huai-Hai Plain represented by Qi and present Middle-lower Yangtze Plain represented by Chu.The real competitions between three major units are general economic,political,military,and cultural strengths.Therefore,Qin destructed the other six powers with irresistible force.The fourth part focuses on the perspective of new materials such as the unearthed bamboo slips and silk,and speculates on the interaction of "Shi" and political geography tides,looking forward to discovering the relationship between political culture and political geography in the Warring States period.