Regional Resilience and Spatial Cycles: Long‐Term Evolution of the Chinese Port System (221bc–2010ad)

Spatial models of port system evolution often depict linearly the emergence of hierarchy through successive concentration phases of originally scattered ports. The C hinese case provides a fertile ground for complementing existing works by a long‐term perspective, given the early importance of river ports and seaports and the development irregularities caused by periods of closure and openness over time and across such a large land mass. In both qualitative and quantitative ways, this paper describes and analyses the changing spatial pattern of C hina's port system since the first unified empire (221 bc ). Main results underline a certain stability of the port system with regard to the location of main sea‐river gateways, notwithstanding important regional shifts from one period to the other.