Xudan Li: Standard-bearer for the Revival of Chinese Human Geography

Xudan Li (1911-1985), famous human geographer and geographical educator.

In 1936, Xudan Li was recommended by Siguang Li to study at Cambridge University in the U.K.In 1938, he received his Master’s degree. After returning to China, he was appointed as professor at the Geography Department of Central University. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he worked as Dean of the Geography Department of Nanjing Normal College.

In the early 1940s, Xudan Li organized investigation tours to northwestern China, and focused on the Bailong River Basin in northern Sichuan Province and southern Gansu Province. Through field investigation and study, he proposed a scientific conclusion that the Bailong River is not only the north-south geographical boundary in western China, but also the dividing line between eastern agricultural regions and western pastoral regions in China. This conclusion had provided scientific reference for the policies in National Program for Agricultural Development after the founding of the People’s Republic of China concerning the unit production of different regions and repetitive cropping index. He believed that the relationship between man and environment is the basic theory of human geography, and the important issue in geographic studies is to coordinate the relationship between man and the environment. In 1985, Xudan Li compiled as the chief editor Collected Essays on Human Geography, which has been the first book with the widest influence after the revival of human geography in China.