Basins and Regions in the Spatial Process of the Western Zhou Feudal States
Basins and Regions in the Spatial Process of the Western Zhou Feudal States (Webinar in Mandarin)
The political territory of the Western Zhou dynasty consisted of two major parts: the royal domain (wangji) and the feudal states. A comprehensive understanding of the temporal and spatial processes of the development of the feudal states can serve as a basic reference for research on the Western Zhou period and even the pre-Qin period.
According to historical records, there were nearly 130 feudal states during the Western Zhou period. Wei Yu of the Sun Yat-sen University history department (Zhuhai) has conducted a comprehensive review of the historical materials of the Western Zhou period, extracting information on location changes, and has found that 26 of the feudal states were subject to relocation orders. The temporal and spatial characteristics of these 26 feudal states can reflect the rhythm of regional development and territorial expansion and contraction of the Western Zhou dynasty. During the development of the Western Zhou feudal states, basins served as the natural geographical base, providing the basic conditions for inter-feudal links, such as resources and transportation. In the following 275 years of Western Zhou history, the socio-political elements were matched with the natural conditions of the basin, and the political-geographical structure of the Western Zhou feudal states became increasingly clear, with several comprehensive humanistic regions emerging within the territory.
In this Quantitative History Webinar, Wei Yu will explain that basins and regions represent two basic dimensions of physical and human geography and can serve as important analytical tools for conducting historical political geography research on a dynastic scale.
Discussant: Wei Han (Peking University)
Live on Zoom on April 13, 2023
16:00 Hong Kong/Beijing/Singapore
09:00 London | 17:00 Tokyo | 18:00 Sydney
The Quantitative History (QH) Webinar Series aims to provide researchers, teachers, and students with an online intellectual platform to keep up to date with the latest research in the field, promoting the dissemination of research findings and interdisciplinary use of quantitative methods in historical research. The QH Webinar Series, now entering its fourth year, is co-organized by Centre for Quantitative History at the HKU Business School and International Society for Quantitative History in partnership with Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Series is now substantially supported by the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. [AoE/B-704/22-R]). 量化歷史網上講座系列由香港大學陳志武和馬馳騁教授聯合發起，旨在介紹前沿量化歷史研究成果、促進同仁交流，推廣量化方法在歷史研究中的應用。本系列講座由香港大學經管學院量化歷史研究中心和國際量化歷史學會承辦，及香港人文社會研究所全力支持。從2023年開始，系列得到中國香港特別行政區研究資助局卓越學科領域計劃的重要資助 (項目編號[AoE/B-704/22-R])。
Conveners:
Professor Zhiwu Chen
Dr. Chicheng Ma
