The Sustainable Development of Choronymic Cultural Landscapes in China Based on Geo-Informatic Tupu

Yingying Wang, Dazhuan Ge, Tongyan Zhang and Yingjie Wang
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Yingying Wang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Dazhuan Ge: School of Geography, Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
Tongyan Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Yingjie Wang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 16, 1-23

Abstract: As a part of cultural landscapes, toponyms with abundant cultural connotations and a long history are valuable cultural heritage assets. Choronyms not only reflect natural and social phenomena but also help with relevant management and naming work. In order to explore the historical development sequence of choronymic cultural landscape evolution, we analyze the spatial–temporal pattern evolution, spatial–temporal variation, spatial association, and semantic evolution of choronymic cultural landscapes since the Qin dynasty. We adopt the sequent snapshot model and an event-based state amendment model to establish a spatio-temporal database. That can provide decision supports and theoretical reference for the sustainable development of toponymic landscapes. Results indicate the following: (1) Spatial distribution of toponym density has been different since the Qin dynasty. The cores of toponym density spread from the middle-lower reaches of the Yellow River to Yangtze Plain, Chengdu Plain, Pearl River Delta Plain. (2) Spatial distribution of choronyms is agglomerative since the Qin dynasty and uneven at national and provincial scales since the Yuan dynasty. Temporal distribution of toponyms at different levels is centralized. (3) Spatial agglomeration phenomena of toponyms are positively clustered in nine periods. The Ming dynasty presents the largest degree of spatial aggregation. (4) Words relevant to blessings, orientation, and hydrological features have high proportions in the top 20 words. (5) Spatial distribution of county-level choronyms named over the last 1000 years and “Millennium Ancient Counties” are unbalanced at national and provincial scales.

Keywords: choronymic cultural landscape entity; cultural heritage; sustainable development; millennium ancient county; geo-informatic Tupu; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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