Progress and prospects of integrated physical geography in China

Abstract

There are rich legacies of geographical knowledge in China. However, geography as an independent branch of science was established in the country no earlier than the beginning of the twentieth century. Since 1950s, integrated physical geography as a subdiscipline of physical geography in China has made major theoretical and methodological progress in the areas of physical geographical regionalization, land studies, and the studies of man-nature interactions. Despite this, the discipline as a whole still faces tremendous challenges from the fast changing society in China and scientific advancement in the twenty-first century. The following aims need to be emphasized in order to promote the future development of integrated physical geography: (1) to strengthen long-term monitoring, experiments, surveys and simulations; (2) to improve research on the interactions between geographical patterns and processes; (3) to enhance integrated research on global change effects and regional geographical regimes; and (4) to facilitate the incorporation of the theories and methods of human geography into integrated physical geographical research.