Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
document into an Excel spreadsheet and processed the content of the
spreadsheet into MySQL tables. We cross-checked them using a range of
queries to find missing headwords and spatial relationships along with
other inconsistencies inherited from the Alphabetical List. A lthough the
DGSD content derives from the Alphabetical List, most point locations
for DGSD entities come from the China HGIS (CHGIS), the Chinese
Civilization in Time and Space Project (CCTS), and the Robert Hartwell
China Historical Studies GIS. 5 Determining entity matches between
the DGSD and the other sources also allowed for another series of error-
checking iterations. Hosted by the University of California, Merced li-
brary, the DGSD is freely available under a Creative Commons license. 6
The centralized and effective Song bureaucracy maintained excel-
lent spatial and demographic records for two hundred years, and, fol-
lowing the major sources compiled during the Song, the Alphabetical
List consists of 3,828 headwords, including all Rank One circuits ( lu ),
Rank Two prefectures ( fu, zhou, jun, and jian ), Rank hree
counties ( xian ) and county-rank jun and jian, and Rank Four towns
( zhen ), markets ( chang ), and stockades ( zhai ) that existed at
any time during the Song dynasty, along with centers of state industry
(mines, foundries, and commodity markets) located in prefectures, in-
formation about the number of cantons ( xiang ) in each county, the
resident ( zhu ) and guest ( ke ) population of each prefecture in
980 and 1085, the civil rank of each prefecture and county, the designa-
tion of counties that served as prefecture seats, the military-ceremonial
designation, if any, of each prefecture, the latitude-longitude coordi-
nate of each prefecture, and the distance of each county from the seat
of its parent prefecture. W hile the Alphabetical List is an important and
comprehensive source, it suffers from the inherent limitations of a print
reference work. It can be searched only by headword, and there is no
way to cross-reference information, query its rich content, or use it as
the basis for maps and information systems. The DGSD is a rerelease of
the Alphabetical List in a more technologically current format, and it is
optimized for our own research on the spatial history of state power.
Our objective has also been to produce a work of spatial history, a grow-
ing field that concerns the organization of human geography as it has
changed over time. 7
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