Natural Resources in the Mining Areas of Yunnan during the Qing Period - Landscape Development, Environmental Change, Cartography, and GIS-based Webmapping
Final Report Abstract
The Monies, Markets, and Finance (MMF) research group founded by the DFG (FOR 596) was composed of scholars in Chinese studies, Japanese studies, and geography from the universities of Tübingen, Heidelberg and Bochum, in close association with colleagues in other disciplines. Research carried out within this interdisciplinary project concentrated on the copper-based monies of Qing China and Tokugawa Japan. The core project No. 6 and 7 built up a geographical information systems (GIS) database to visualise and to analyse information taken from various historical documents. The geography group used GIS to locate mines, and to reconstruct historical copper transportation routes. The project relied on digital maps serving as basic topographic maps, Soviet and US military maps for mainland China, and Chinese atlases for Yunnan and Sichuan province. Several hundreds of maps have been acquired and subsequently rectified by the project group. For information on localities and administrative units, these maps were combined with layers derived from the CH-GIS from Harvard Yenching Institute, remote sensing data and own GIS-data for analysis. Furthermore GIS techniques are used for 3D-visualisation and 3D-analyses of the routes. GIS data created for all MMF-projects were combined with external data like the China Historical GIS, and topographic maps in the MMF-Web Map Service (WMS). The MMF-WMS was set up with open source products like the UMN-Mapserver, and Mapbender and enabled project members and others to use a web-based GIS. Different data layers could be combined by scientists and related to show new coherences. GIS was also used to produce a large number of maps for the MMF-research group. For example maps showing the location, opening, annual cash output and closing of Chinese mints which were in operation during the Qing period were created. In the second phase, research focused on the landscape changes in South Eastern China caused by the emerging copper mining industry. As none of the ecologic aftermaths have been documented in Chinese history it mainly deals with the reconstruction of dynamic landscape processes in the mining areas of Yunnan province, the empire's most important supplier of copper during the early and mid Qing dynasty (1725-1855). By estimating the primary vegetation cover with a classification approach and creating an agent-based model of the deforestation and succession processes, not only reconstructive but also explanatory and experimental results have been achieved, which helped to characterize the ecological impact of mining during this period. With the help of geocomputation and GIS-techniques, the modelling of growth and exploitation of natural resources by humans can be calculated and evaluated. This combination helped to get new information about the mathematical correlation between the amounts of produced copper and the forest decline in different regions. Additionally, the role of different intermediates' quality for the production of copper coins has been quantified. The implementation of a growth model based on the main growing conditions helped to develop a chronosequence of different vegetation stages in order to quantify the significance of ecologic succession for the provision of secondary biomass. Hereby, a time-discrete balance of deforestation and recovery has been accomplished to characterize different periods of landscape degradation, biodiversity and agriculture. This study led to a more holistic knowledge of the interactions between copper mining and landscape ecology in Chinese history. Additionally the MMF - transportation database was examined using SQL-queries and data mining techniques. This database gives information about different occurrences (delays, shipwrecks, strong winds, etc.) during the transport along the Chang Jiang River and his tributaries.
Publications
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“Reconstruction of Copper Transportation Routes in Qing China - A Multi-Source Approach”. In: Hirzel, T. and N. Kim (eds.): Metals, Monies, and Markets in Early Modern Societies: East Asian and Global Perspectives. (= Monies, Markets, and Finance in China and East Asia. Vol.1 und BUNKA - WENHUA, Vol.17). Berlin (LIT Verlag), 237-254. 2008
Rosner, H.-J., S. Dieball and R. Specht
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“GIS-based Reconstruction and Visualisations of Copper Mining and Transport in Qing China”, in the International Conference on Chinese Geography during Qing Time Dynasty, Fudan University Shanghai (14.-16.11.2009). Shanghai, 500-507. 2009
Rosner, H.-J., S. Dieball
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“Open Source WebMapService und Visualisierungen historischer Daten des Qing-zeitlichen Chinas”. In: Strobl, J., T. Blaschke, and H. Griesebner (eds.): Angewandte Geoinformatik . Beiträge zum 21. AGIT-Symposium Salzburg. Heidelberg (Wichmann), 634-640. 2009
Rosner, H.-J., Y. Yang, D. Arndt & S. Dieball
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“Reconstructions and Visualisations of Copper Mining, Transport Routes and Landscape Dynamics in Qing China (Taipei)”. Conference GIS in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 07.-09.10.2009 in Taipei. (Publication via CD-ROM). 2009
Rosner, H.-J., S. Dieball
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“Disturbance and Succession – Potential of Agent-based Systems for Modelling Vulnerable Ecosystems”. In: Car, A., G. Griesebner, and J. Strobel (eds.): Geospatial Crossroads @ GI_Forum 11. Proceedings of the Geoinformatics Symposium Salzburg, Heidelberg (Wichmann), 12-21. 2011
Braun, A. & H.-J. Rosner
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“GIS-assisted Modelling of the Historical Climax Forest in North East Yunnan (China) at the Beginning of the 18th Century”. In: Car, A., G. Griesebner, and J. Strobel (eds.): Geospatial Crossroads @ GI_Forum 11. Proceedings of the Geoinformatics Symposium Salzburg, Heidelberg (Wichmann), 32-40. 2011
Hagensieker, R. & H.-J. Rosner
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“Modellierung ökologischer Sukzession mit Multiagentensystemen”. In: Helbich, M., H. Deierling & A. Zipf (eds.): Theorie und Quantitative Methoden in der Geographie - Kolloquiumsbeiträge. Heidelberger Geographische Bausteine, 19, 95-101. 2011
Braun, A. & H.-J. Rosner
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“Mapping and analysing historical transport data in China – Usage of GIS and database queries in historical context”. In: Jekel, Car, Strobl, and Griesebner (eds.): GI_Forum 2012: Geovisualization, Society and Learning, 503-512, 2012
Pape, O. & H.-J. Rosner
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“Geographical Dimensions of Mining and Transport: Case Studies in Mountainous Yunnan. Chap. 13”. In: Kim, N. and Keiko Nagase-Reimer (eds.): Mining, Monies, and Culture in Early Modern Societies: East Asian and Global Perspectives, Leiden: E.J. Brill. 2013
Dieball, S. & H.-J. Rosner
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“Multi-method Dynamical Reconstruction of the Ecological Impact of Copper Mining on Chinese Historical Landscapes”. Ecological Modelling 303: 42–54. 2015
Braun, A., H.-J. Rosner, R. Hagensieker & S. Dieball
