A study of Xiang Yue: preserved earliest rural planning text.

摘要

The composition of Xiang Yue is a symbol of the Confucian Scholars' enthusiasm in social governance and military issues inMing Dynasty. It was a textual summarization of Yin Geng's activities helping the superior officer Weng Wanda to strengthen the defense of border villages. According to the author himself, the measures proposed in the book was effective. However, due to the difficulty of the amalgamation of already built small forts, controversy came with the publication. Comparing the existed examples of walled villages in Yu County with the Xiang Yue's standard layout, it is fair to conclude that as a remedy, Xiang Yue had impacts on some of them but the overall condition had not been reversed. Considering its context, content, and practice, Xiang Yue is more like a community pact taken military defense as its theme rather than a theoretical creation.