Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
methods and equipment. They drafted the ground plan inside and a rough sketch of
the outside environment of the cave. When comparing their survey with the descrip-
tions and records of Hsü Xia-Ke, they were very much amazed by its similarity and
accuracy. The conclusion is that we can consider and use Hsü's topic and his records
as reliable references in the research of these caves and the karstland of China.
I would like to emphasize that the distribution of limestone in the provinces of
southwest China is most widespread in areas of limestone topography in the world.
And the time Hsü Xia-Ke spent in exploring and investigating this area was also the
longest of all his travels. The records of the distribution of limestone topography,
the difference of geographical zones, the different types of topography and the
causes of their forming were written down by Hsü Xia-Ke in details with also his
own explanation. Undoubtedly these records of Hsü's are the earliest documents of
its kind concerning such a big area of limestone topography.
1
The facts mentioned above show clearly that by his life-work in the research and
investigation outdoor, Hsü Xia-Ke had paved a new way for the studies of geogra-
phy in China. As a pioneer in the scientifi c research in geography Hsü is probably
comparable to Alexander von Humboldt who laid the foundation of the studies of
geography in Germany. Von Humboldt lived about 150 years after Hsü Xia-Ke.
Von Humboldt also devoted his life in making long-distance travels and investigations.
However, von Humboldt lived in a time when the modern industrialization in Europe
had already begun and when the studies of natural sciences in the West had also
developed rapidly with inventions and making of new scientifi c equipment and
instruments which were of much help to geographical research and fi eldwork. These
conditions offered necessary facilities to Western geographers for their research
which former geographers had been unable to obtain. Alexander von Humboldt was
able to use the new equipment and, furthermore, he had also the opportunity to go
by sea to the developing South America for his geographical research. Thus, he was
able to offer his achievements to the civilization of the whole world. As to
Hsü Xia-Ke, although he had the desire and ambition to expand the area of his
observation and investigation, and even expressed the wish to go to the countries
outside China, owing to the condition of China of his time, he was unable to fulfi ll
his wish. It must be noted also that Chinese society of Hsü Xia-Ke's time had only
just began to witness the spirit of capitalism. But due to the oppression of the
feudalistic sovereignty, its development was retarded, and consequently the
1
Probably it is interesting to know how Professor J. Needham, the distinguished author of the
voluminous work
Science and Civilization in China
, writes about Hsü Xia-Ke: “Hsü notes… read
more like those of a 20th-century fi eld surveyor than a 17th-century scholar. He had a wonderful
power of analysing topographical detail, and made systematic use of special terms which enlarged the
ordinary nomenclature… Everything was noted carefully in feet or
li
, without vague stock phrases.”
(vol. 3, p. 524) And it is no wonder that the famous Chinese geologist Prof. Ting Wen-Chiang, who
made a great contribution on the study of Hsü's life, once said that Hsü “was essentially a
geographical explorer. The spirit of inquiry is so startlingly modern, that it alone would have
ranked him as the earliest leader of modern geography in China”. (Ting,
The New China Review
,
III, 5, Oct. 1921, pp. 325-337.)
