Shangshu Gong Yu divides the ancient territory of China into Kyushu according to its geographical features, and records the natural conditions, economic activities and product transportation in various places. It is the first comprehensive geographical work in the world.
Guan Yuan explored the land classification and vertical band spectrum of mountain plants in China. It is the earliest work in the world to systematically classify land.
The Book of Changes holds that nature is changed by two opposite forces, Yin and Yang. In geography books, the shady and sunny slopes of mountains and the north and south banks of rivers are also distinguished by yin and yang, which has been passed down to this day. Eight kinds of celestial phenomena and geographical locations are represented by gossip.
The earliest medical work, Nei Jing Su Wen, compared wood, fire, earth, gold and water to five directions in the east, south, middle, west and north, and five seasons in spring and summer, long summer (summer) and autumn and winter, and considered that the main wood in the eastern region was blue, symbolizing lush plants; The main fire in the southern region is red, symbolizing red soil; The main soil in the central region is yellow, which symbolizes the loess plateau and alluvial fertile soil; The main gold in the western regions is white, symbolizing the Gobi desert; The main water in the northern region is black, which symbolizes short sunshine and brown-black soil.
Fa Xian's Biography of Fa Xian and Xuanzang's Records of the Western Regions of Datang are important documents to study the history and geography of Central Asia and India.
Li Daoyuan's Notes on Water Classics is an important work to research the evolution of water resources and water environment in China. Shen Kuo's Meng Qian Bi Tan puts forward the erosion, transportation and accumulation of rivers, and explains the reasons for the formation of the North China Plain.