Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
5.4.
The Song spatial landscape was transformed during the 1070s reform era and the
subsequent reaction. The state presence declined on the North China plain, in Sichuan,
and in Guangnan, while the Yangzi watershed remained stable. Counties were abolished
at a much higher rate than prefectures. This map depicts the counties (small icons) and
prefectures (large icons) that were merged or demoted between 1067 and 1101.
jurisdictions on the periphery. Although two-thirds of the abolished ju-
risdictions were subsequently restored, the eleventh century still closed
with a political landscape that had shifted toward a new southern center
of gravity.
In 1127 the Song regime lost the northern half of its territory to Jur-
chen Jin invaders. A long and destructive war devastated farms and cit-
ies in the Song heartland, and at the end, a new international border
