The Layout and Imagery of Cultural Landscapes in Shengjing City during the Late Qing Dynasty as Depicted in Literati Writings

XIE Miaoyina; WANG Sa

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-0232.2025.06.008

Abstract：In the late Qing Dynasty,Shengjing City(today's Shenyang City,Liaoning Province,China)served as a quintessential representation of traditional walled settlements before the disintegration of the old order.However,there is insufficient academic attention to the cultural landscape in Shengjing City from the perspective of history and geography.There are few local historical documents and archival materials concerning landscapes from the late Qing Dynasty.So,the poetic texts were investigated according to the historical background that emerged in numerous private poetry societies,providing some references to explore the cultural landscape pattern in Shengjing City during the late Qing Dynasty. Based on cultural landscape concepts in human geography fields,architecture and landscape science and cultural landscapes in Shengjing City during the late Qing Dynasty were classified based on characteristics of the city and cultural landscape composition.Subsequently,a semantic subdivision was conducted by combining manual interpretation,summarization and digital text mining to explore hierarchical structures and features of different types of cultural landscapes.The geographic spaces of four types of cultural landscapes in Shenjing City were visualized,and a kernel density analysis was carried out,using ArcMap on the ArcGIS platform,to disclose their spatial distribution patterns.Furthermore,the distribution patterns of depiction frequency were analyzed using ArcScene,and literati preferences for different cultural landscapes in Shengjing City were summarized.The cultural landscape imagery of Shengjing City was interpreted from the perspective of modern urban and traditional Chinese imageries. The cultural landscape of Shengjing City was divided into four types:natural,architectural,behavioral,and faith.Later,15 landscape subtypes were gained through semantic network clustering and a multi-level hierarchy of cultural landscapes in Shengjing City was established.The cultural landscape in Shengjing City generally presents a centripetal distribution,with the nuclear density of all types of cultural landscape radiating from the inner city to the outer city.Notably,differences in geographic spatial distribution among different types of cultural landscapes and differences in the description preferences of literati were identified.The high-frequency poetic terms assessed the landscape imagery in Shengjing City at the time,demonstrating that literati's perception was concentrated on various landscape nodes,showing significant differences in cognition of urban spaces and the five-element theory of urban imagery.As citizens of ancient traditional walled settlements,residents in Shengjing perceived the urban space through landmarks like"gates"and"bell-and-drum towers".Due to the transformation in the late Qing Dynasty,the cultural landscape in Shengjing City carried the complicated emotions of the literati due to being an auxiliary capital. As the political center shifted in the late Qing Dynasty,public attention to royal spaces waned,and interest in the auxiliary capital status of Shengjing no longer revolved around imperial power.From the perspective of landscape types,the continuous population inflows and cultural diversification brought new vitality to Shengjing,diminishing the dominance of Manchu culture.The population increase also boosted traditional handicrafts and commerce,thus making market trade a distinct cultural landscape type.Regarding spatial distribution,cultural landscapes were not strictly demarcated among the inner city,outer city,and suburbs.Instead,they exhibited a centripetal distribution radiating from the inner city.This distribution pattern also disconnected the inner city wall and barrier wall boundaries from the banner and civilian areas.At this moment,Shengjing City evolved from a royalty-controlled Manchu society with strict classes in the early Qing Dynasty to a local central city focusing on civilian life. The Shengjing City urban center was explored and analyzed from the civilian perspective,which positively promoted the development of Shengyang as a famous historical and cultural city.It also provided some references to study urban cultural landscapes during historical periods.Due to space limitations,this article failed to review the theoretical construction of cultural landscape imagery in Shengjing theoretically.Future studies will continue to explore historical settlement landscapes,aiming to interpret landscape imagery of China's ancient historical settlements from perspectives of China's classical imagery and modern urban imagery and explore their organic combination modes in studies on traditional settlement landscape imagery.