Study On The Historical Geography Of Liling Town

Located in east of Hunan Province, Liling City was founded as a principality in Western Han Dynasty and established as a county in Eastern Han Dynasty, and which has existed for about two thousand years. Liling Town guards the route between the Wu and the Chu. When the political disorder, it is always influenced by wars. Liling Town develops tortuously in the mighty torrent of history. The town has accumulated rich historical culture during the period of its development. To study changes in the Liling Town, put its development events in order, which can deepen Liling citizens’ understanding of their town. In the same time, to sum up change rules, experience and lessons of Liling Town can provide reference to its future development.Liling Town was sited in Zhongsanzhou at first. Then, it moved to the east side of Jiangling and never moved again. The city took initial shape; it had walls which were rammed of loess. After the relocation of Liling Town, it defended against enemies with the advantages of mountain and river terrain, so the walls around Liling Town did little work. In the fortieth year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty(1561), palisade fences were built in the southwest of the Liling Town. The defense establishments were perfected in Qing Dynasty. The type and the number of the buildings in the town increased gradually. In Qing Dynasty, Liling Town formed a city pattern with the buildings of government offices serving as the centre, and the streets, schools, temples and dwellings as the complement.The geographical position of Liling Town is special. Taken the town which is difficult to avoid involvement in wars into consideration, the population of Liling Town in ancient time presented a slowly increase. The two population migrations during the Ming and Qing Dynasty replenished population loss in wartime, which promoted the Liling Town economic and cultural development and prosperity simultaneously. During the period of the republic of China, with the further development of ceramics industry and the fireworks industry, businessmen were increasing and factories were gradually scale, which finally grew into specialty industries of the town. Promotion of modern education opened the first vocational school in Liling Town, which contributed a large number of professional talents for the development and prosperity of characteristic industries.After the founding of People’s Republic of China, considering the requirement of the construction, most of the old buildings in Liling Town have been demolished, and the urban area has been expanding at the same time. In this process, some achievements have been made in political, economical and cultural aspects. However, due to the time of urban overall planning failed to keep pace with others, the construction of urban area was relatively slow, which has caused chaos in urban functional zoning. Some historical and cultural sites have been seriously damaged. Therefore, doing well in urban planning and urban construction, protecting historical and cultural relics and developing Liling Town tourism resources scientifically and reasonably are ways to realize the sustainable development of economy and culture in the future.