The article deals with the rise of Chinese historical geography in the 1930s in connection
with the situation of national crisis. The author briefly describes the main stages of the previous development of this science, the transition from “evolutionary geography” to “historical geography”. Special
attention is paid to the political, organizational, scientific and educational conditions that lead to the rise
of historical geography and the creation in 1934 of the “Yugong” Society and the “Yugong” semi-monthly
magazine — the generally recognized milestone in the formation of the modern image of the science. In
the “Preface” for the first issue Tan Qixiang and Gu Zegang emphasized the role that historical geography
played in the protection of territorial sovereignty. They also formulated its immediate as well as distant
objectives, and proposed a research program for decades to come.
The author concludes that the specific foreign and domestic political situation of the 1930s became
a powerful catalyst for the rise of Chinese historical geography. The increasing familiarity with the
achievements of Western and Japanese science also stimulated Chinese historians to resist the spread
of certain ideas, which could serve as a theoretical justification for the aggressive actions of the powers
in the border areas. The implementation of the program formulated in the 1930s determined the modern
appearance of Chinese historical geography, and the ideas developed at that time became extremely popular in recent decades. (Refs 20).