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Population geography in China since the 1980s: Forging the links between population studies and human geography

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Abstract

This paper reviews the progress of population geography in China since the 1980s. The review results suggest that contrary to the common perception of its invisibility and marginalized status in the field, tremendous progress has been made in population geography in China since the 1980s. Population geographers have made significant contribution to the understanding of a wide range of population issues from geographical perspectives, including migration, urbanization, population distribution, the relationships between population, environment and resources, aging, marriage patterns, and migrants’ crimes, although such contribution often did not appear in the geographical circle. Furthermore, population geographers have played an indispensable role in revitalizing population studies in China and forging its links to human geography, occupying an important position in this multi-disciplinary field. Population geographers’ contribution to the areas of migration and urbanization research has been particularly significant, reflected in their leading roles in these areas’ research. The paper demonstrates that as latecomers in the field after more than 20 years of isolation, population geographers in China have gone through a process of catching up and increasing engagement with developments in social sciences and increasing interaction with social scientists since the 1980s, and have benefited greatly from it; however, there is a tendency for population geography to be increasingly alienated from the main stream human geography, a phenomenon similar to but not exactly the same as Anglo-American geography in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The paper argues that population geography is only half way in the course to forge the links between population studies and human geography, and it needs to return to geographical sciences to strike a healthy balance between the field of population studies and that of human geography, and promote its further development in a multi-disciplinary field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, China

    Yu Zhu, Liyue Lin & Wenqian Ke

  2. Key Laboratory of Humid Subtropical Eco-geographical Process (Fujian Normal University), Ministry of Education, Fuzhou, 350007, China

    Yu Zhu, Liyue Lin & Wenqian Ke

  3. Asian Demographic Research Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Yu Zhu

  4. Population Research Institute, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Jinhong Ding

  5. Institute of Population Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Guixin Wang

  6. Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Jianfa Shen

Authors
  1. Yu Zhu
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  2. Jinhong Ding
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  3. Guixin Wang
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  4. Jianfa Shen
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  5. Liyue Lin
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  6. Wenqian Ke
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Correspondence to Yu Zhu.

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Foundation

National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41471132, No.41501163

Author

Zhu Yu (1961–), PhD and Professor, specialized in migration, urbanization and regional development.

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Zhu, Y., Ding, J., Wang, G. et al. Population geography in China since the 1980s: Forging the links between population studies and human geography. J. Geogr. Sci. 26, 1133–1158 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-016-1319-7

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