Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology (NEIGAE), a component ofKnowledge Innovation Program in Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), established in March 2002 throughmerging the former Changchun Institute of Geography and the former Heilongjiang Institute ofAgricultural Modernization, is an integrative institution engaged in geography and agriculture.

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography,Chinese Academy of Sciences,successfully manufactured its first mobile wind tunnel

In order to carry out research on sand movement,the simulation of sand dune formation,soil erosion control,sand disaster control,and plant physiology and ecology under wind disturbance,the first mobile wind tunnel of Xinji-ang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Retrospect and prospect of Geographical Sciences in China： A comparison with the Strategic Directions for Geography in the USA

Understanding the Changing Planet： Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences （UCP）, published by the National Research Council （USA）, and its comments in The Professional Geographer propose that uppercase and plural ＂Geographical Sciences＂ （GS） is the strategic direction for geography in the next decade for better understanding of our rapidly changing planet. According to these comments, UCP valued technologies and tools exces- sively （＂task＂）, and did not pay much attention to methodology （＂discipline＂）. Actually, both ＂task＂ and ＂discipline＂ are geographical wings, especially in the time of ＂big science＂. Enlightenment from UCP and its comments is the strategic direction that should be balanced between ＂task＂ and ＂discipline＂, GS should be a three-dimensional construct of a disciplinary system, methodology, and technologies and tools, and this system should be scientific hu- manism based on scientific spirit and directed by humanism. During the last 60 years, Chi- nese geographers devoted themselves to GS, including practice and theory. Obviously pro- gress and outlook are proposed as interdisciplinary GS, Earth Surface Sciences （ESS） and Geographical Construction （GC）. The disciplinary system of GS is very complex, and is composed of such human knowledge domains as sciences, technologies, engineering, and philosophy. The main mission is to research the open, complex, and macro earth system （not only scientifically, but also humanistically）, and one significant methodology is ＂comprehen- sive integration of qualitative and quantitative means＂ （CIQQM）. At the same time, another changing direction in Chinese geography is Human-Economic Geography （HEG）.

PROGRESS OF CHINESE REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY STUDIES IN RECENT TWENTY YEARS

Regional geography, embodying the regionality and integration, is the kernel of Geography. Since the 1980s, the Chinese geographers have extensively taken part in the social practical activities and made progress in physico geographical regionalization, economic regionalization, territorial (regional) development planning, construction of special economic zone, and integrated research in the major areas of China. Through these works, the theories of regional geography have been richened and the capacity participating in the social practice promoted as well. In China, many regional researches had been conducted respectively from the aspects of regional physico geography and regional economic geography, etc. According to the cases, this paper gives a review on the studies of regional geography during the latest two decades in China. It ought to be indicated that the natural and human components should be combined and the disciplines intersected and permeated, with the support of advanced technology. In order to serve the regional sustainable development, on the background of global change, this is an inevitable tendency for the development of the regional geography.

STUDIES OF BEAUTIFUL GEOGRAPHY

This paper studies an interdisciplinary subject of aesthetics andgeography-beautiful geography .Firsly,it expounds and proves theobjective existence of the beautiful geography from the aims and tasks,objects and contents of study in aesthetics and geography in relation totheir branch sciences.Secondly, it discusses the study objects and studycontents and nature of the beautiful geography.It concludes that studyobjects of beautiful geography is the beautifolness of geographic objects.The contents of study contain:1) aesthetic laws and principles of thegeographic objects and human experience to the geographic objects,2)aesthetic value and appraisal of the geographic objects, use of aestheticvalue of the geographic objects; 3) perceptional and behavior effction of the beatiful geographic objects along with its uses; and 4) beautification ofthe geographic objects and constructing beautiful geographic objects.Lastly, it investigates the significance and use of the beautiful geography,especially in distribution of production,urban planning, the appraisal ofresources and regionalization and planning and the construction of tourism.

Core or edge? Revisiting GIScience from the geography-discipline perspective

As an inter-disciplinary area between geography and computer sciences, geographical information science(GIScience) inherits the spatial analysis tradition of the former. Together with other branches of information geography, it seeks the balance between universality and particularity of geographical laws by combining methods from neighboring disciplines(such as big data and artificial intelligence) with the special nature of geographical spaces. Meanwhile, at the core position of the geography discipline, GIScience makes geography stronger from two directions: "strengthening the theoretical foundation" and "improving technology and promoting the practical applications".

The progress of human geography in China under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China

This paper analyzes the role of the National Natural Science Foundation of China（NSFC） in advancing human geography in China by focusing on five key research areas： land use, urban systems and urban agglomeration, economic globalization, climate change and social and cultural geographies. All NSFC-funded human geography programs related to these five topics from 1986 to 2017 comprise the sample for analysis, and the research topics, content, teams, and peer-reviewed journal publications supported by these programs are investigated. Specifically, this paper analyzes the NSFC＇s promotion of the expansion of research topics in response to national developmental needs and the shifting frontiers of human geography research internationally, its enhancement of interdisciplinary research, and its contributions to the assembly of specialized research teams. The paper also reports important progress in Chinese human geography over the past 30 years through the institutional lens of the NSFC, revealing major characteristics and trends in the discipline. The paper concludes by calling for further collaboration between the research community and the NSFC for the development of a locally suitable and globally influential Chinese human geography.

Information geography: The information revolution reshapes geography

The information revolution has been one of the driving forces to the innovation in geography. However, environmental remote sensing, geographic information science and technology, and geocomputing, which once resided within the family of geography, are gradually moving close to information science but are alienated from geography. Therefore, it is necessary to reexamine the interactive convergence of geography and information science, and advance the disciplinary system of geographic science to accommodate the researches with information as subjects and methods. In this paper, we propose to reformulate the relationship between geographic science and information science with a new discipline, i.e., information geography, which not only refers to the geography of information but also a methodological system for studying geography using information science.This paper summarizes the background of information geography’s emergence, its definition, and the difference and similarities with other disciplinary concepts. The impact of information geography on geographic paradigm shift is also investigated from the ontological, epistemological, and methodological perspectives.

Information geography: A new fulcrum of geographic ternary world

The development trend of ternary space requires the construction of the information space for information mapping,transmission and transformation of geographic elements and social-human elements. Relevant researches of information geography from the perspective of Geographic Information Science and human geography are reviewed in this paper, then the concept interpretation of information geography from the perspective of ternary space is proposed. It is presented in this paper that information geography can be constructed with a framework using seven geographic elements as the basic expressing dimensions and seven social-human elements as the basic aggregating core. Information geography analyzes spatio-temporal distribution, structural characteristics, evolution process and interactions of various elements in the information space. And it eventually realizes the actual description, multi-scenario simulation, multi-objective decision-making and multi-channel control of the physical world and the social-human world.

Geographic Information Systems Used as a Practical Way of Teaching Mathematics

This paper presents reflections on proposals to merge Mathematics and Geography when teaching undergraduates from inter- and trans-disciplinary spatial models using mathematical modeling to enable spatial analysis and visualization through GIS—Geographic Information Systems. It brings forward an approach to Geography with new technologies integrating it with Statistics and Computer Science among other subjects. Thus, it describes some practical cases that are examples of geographical problems solved mathematically. The results show that GIS can be an educational tool for teaching both Geography and Mathematics.

THE BRILLIANT GEOGRAPHER OF MING DYNASTY， XU HONGZU AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE

Xu Hongzu (1587-1641) initiated a new orientation on the study of geography, i.e., systematically observing natural phenomena and describing geographical conditions. Basing his analyses upon simple yet precise measurements and comprehensive descriptions of geographical conditions, he investigated the relationships between the various geographical phenomena and made a comparative study of the different geographical features of various different regions. Thus, he broke through the limitations of classical Geography and promoted the development towards modern Geography.

Geography＇s ＂World view＂： The ontological issues of geography

Contemporary science philosophy suggests that discussing ontological problems is of fundamental significance broadly within certain specific disciplines. Natural and social science research are inseparable from philosophical guidance; for instance, the philosophy of geography is the ideological basis for geography. The traditional philosophy of geography is methodology- oriented, which primarily emphasizes the ＂logical structure of geography explanations,＂ and ig- nores the discussion of its ontology. This study, in the context of the philosophy of science, ex- plores the relationships between methodology, ontology, and the philosophy of geography, defines the connotations of geographical ontology, analyzes the links and differences between philoso- phical ontology and scientific ontology of geography, clarifies the nature of geographical ontology, and summaries its theoretical values. The ontology of geography incorporates the philosophically ontological beliefs of geographers and geographical schools and the ontological commitment of the theory of geography. As different geographers hold different philosophical viewpoints, their ontological beliefs are different; one geographical theory asserts an ontological commitment of ＂what is there,＂ which determines the nature and types of objectives the theory references. The ontological beliefs of geographers determine their epistemology, methodology, and axiology, and the ontological commitment of a geographical theory is the premise and basis of that theory.

Hazards Assessment of Regional Debris Flows Based on Geographic Information Science

Supported by the spatial analysis feature of geographic information science and assessment model of regional debris flows, hazards degrees of the debris flows in the Upper Yangtze River Watershed （UYRW） are divided into five grades based on grid cell. The area of no danger, light danger, medium danger, severe danger and extreme severe danger regions respectively are 278 000, 288 000, 217 000, 127 000, 15 000 km^2. Furthermore, the counties in the UYRW are classified into four classes based on the hazards degrees in each county. The number of severe danger, medium danger, light danger and no danger counties respectively are 49, 82, 77 and 105. The assessment results will be provided for the hazards forecasting and mitigation in the UYRW and ongoing regionalization of Main Function Regions in China as data and technique framework.

CHINESE GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE CONTENTS Vol.11(2001)

A Study on the Mechanism and Characterdthe Industrial and Spatial Transference ofFDI In China……………………………………………………………………………LICuo-ping YANCKai-zhong HEQi-chun etal.（1）Study on Urban LaLand Saving In the Economic Developed Coastal Regon ofChina……………………………………………………………………………………SHENJian-rong CHENShuang YAOShi-mou（11）Social Polarization and Segregation In Beijing…………………………………·，…………………………………GU Chao－lin（17）

CHINESE GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE(English Edition, Quarterly, started in 1991)

CHINESE GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE is the sole geographical journal published in English in China.It is undertaken by the Chinese Academy of Sciences,sponsored by Changchun Institute of Geography,the Chinese Academy of Sciences,edited by the Editorial Department of the journal,published by Science Press,Beijing New York.

Journal of Geographical Sciences

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