The Spatial Morphology of Settlements along Dehua's Porcelain Trade Route Under the Influence of the Maritime Silk Road
HE Ding
ZHANG Bohan
LIN Suncheng
JANG Siwei
Abstract：Research on the Maritime Silk Road has a long-term tendency of"prioritizing ports over inland regions."To address this tendency and fill in the academic blank on the inland transport network,a case study based on the Porcelain Trade Route in Dehua County,Fujian Province,and the settlements along it was carried out.The Porcelain Trade Route connects the core kiln sites to coastal ports.The core objective of this study was to systematically analyze how the powerful driving force of porcelain trade along the Maritime Silk Road shaped the structure and form of this crucial inland corridor and its associated human settlements,thereby deepening holistic understandings of the cultural heritage of the Maritime Silk Road.Based on the interdisciplinary approach to integrating historical geography,settlement morphology,and GIS spatial analysis,this study firstly determined three development phases of the Porcelain Trade Route,with the migration of trade ports as well as the water-land combined transport organization since the Song Dynasty,according to historical documents and local chronicles.Subsequently,ArcGIS software was employed for spatial location and the quantitative analysis of 170 settlements.Based on analyses of the standard deviation ellipse and a multi-ring buffer zone,it discloses the high coupling laws of the macro distribution of settlements with direction and topographical and hydrological features of the ancient route.On this basis,a functional-morphological typology framework for settlements was built.Through in-depth field research and morphological mapping of typical settlements like Sibin Village,Caijing Village,Chengtian Sige,Sanban Village,Jinshan Village,and Xian Village,the meso-level organization patterns and micro-level spatial features were interpreted thoroughly.It found that the Porcelain Trade Route is a spatial link of the entire export supply chain of Dehua porcelain rather than a single transportation route.According to the division of labor in the industrial chain,settlements along the route can be clearly divided into production type,trade type,and transport type,and four corresponding spatial forms evolved from there.Production settlements exhibited either a dispersed type with separated production and residential areas or a clustered type integrating production and living quarters.Trade settlements are manifested as linear,strip-like formations along streets or clustered settlements centered around clan fortresses.Transportation settlements uniformly adopted strip-like configurations,further differentiated by their proximity to land passes or waterway crossings.These spatial forms emerged through the interplay and mutual adaptation of factors,including industrial demands along the Maritime Silk Road,the natural environment of mountainous regions in the central Fujian Province,commercial capital scale,and clan-based social power structures.
This study concludes that the ancient Porcelain Trade Route and the settlements along it formed an organic network system with complementary functions and spatial coordination,which fully support the whole process from porcelain production to cross-border transportation.This understanding shifts the interpretation of Maritime Silk Road heritage from a point-based focus on ports and commodities toward an integral understanding of the interconnected production and distribution networks in inland hinterlands.The functional typology analytical framework established in this thesis not only provides theoretical grounding for the preservation of Dehua porcelain cultural heritage but also offers a novel interdisciplinary perspective for studying China's cultural routes.Future research can achieve a more detailed diachronic reconstruction of social spatial differentiation within settlements by using digital technologies and expand the comparative analyses to other trade routes to further refine the relevant theoretical model.
Keywords：maritime silk road tradePorcelain Trade Routespatial form of settlementsarchitectural typologycultural route
Publication Date：2026-02-28
Online Publishing Date：2026-03-13(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：10( 83-92 )