| The main subjects in the study of this paper is market towns of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty. In this paper, I try to use the theory and method of historical geography to study the formation, development, changes, temporal and spatial distribution of market towns and market towns related set period, the circulation of commodities, market settlement and so on, in order to summarize the historical law and regional characteristics of market towns’development of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty, and show the economic development’s general thread of Luzhong area and its interactive relationship with the regional environment from the perspective of market towns. To achieve the study goals above, this paper mainly consists of four parts below:Firstly, give a summary introduction of the natural and human environment of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty, and reveal the historical and geographical background of the market towns’existence and development of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty. Through the analysis of this area’s topography, climate, hydrological regime,natural resources, administrative division,population, social customs etc,I discover that the main topographic feature of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty was mountainous and hilly topography, and it owned convenient transportation and rapid economic development. At the same time,there were also three areas which had obvious differences in Luzhong area.Secondly, on macro-level, research the historical tendency and the characteristics of temporal and spatial distribution of market towns’ development of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty. This paper is mainly based on the records of local chronicles,through the analysis of market towns’number, density and other statistical indexes,I discover both the number and the density of market towns had steady improvement of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty. However, the temporal and spatial distribution of the situation was not even.Thirdly, through the reorganization and analysis of the historical materials concerning market towns’ set period and the types of merchandise,this paper researched the market towns’ set period and the commodity composition of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty. Through the document recorded and empirical analysis, I discover that the market towns’main set period was "two markets in every ten days",there were some regular patterns of the set period of the market towns nearby. The commodity composition mainly consisted of subsidiary agricultural products,and the concrete types were different because of different types of market towns,different areas and different seasons etc.With the development of history,the frequency of market towns’set period was gradually improved, the commodity composition changed,and the sphere of circulation was also growing.At last,at the micro level,I research the the spatial distribution of the market towns’of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty in the perspective of settlement geography,namely which settlement-market towns were the market towns located.This paper used concrete historical materials,compared with ordinary rural settlement,researched the market towns’cause of formation,basic function,and its interactive relationship with the regional environment,then,I discovered that there were varied types of market towns of Luzhong area in Qing Dynasty,which were leaded by different economic function,and which were easily influenced by regional environment. |
