麻豆淫院

A research team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has systematically mapped and analyzed the cultural landscape of historical folk fortresses in Tianshui, a city in northwest China's Gansu Province, uncovering new insights into a long-neglected form of grassroots cultural heritage.

Published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, the employed a mix of field investigations and geographic information technologies to identify 718 such fortresses across the region.

Beyond documenting their spatial distribution and historical value, the study also pinpointed the natural and social factors that shaped these structures鈥攁nd led to the creation of Tianshui's first dedicated cultural landscape database for the fortresses. The resource is expected to provide critical support for local cultural preservation and heritage tourism development.

Tianshui, often referred to as the "Land of a Thousand Fortresses," is home to a unique tradition of folk defensive settlements. Unlike formal fortifications built by the state, these fortresses were constructed by local villagers during periods of unrest, designed to protect communities from war, banditry, and social instability. Their existence reflects centuries of human efforts to adapt to conflict and environmental challenges鈥攜et until now, they have received little systematic academic study.

To compile their findings, the team combined remote sensing image interpretation, on-site surveys, historical document analysis, and community questionnaires. They found that the mapped fortresses have an average area of 5,338 square meters and are spaced approximately 2.3 kilometers apart.

Distribution patterns are highly clustered, with Tongwei, Wushan, and Gangu counties recording particularly high densities; kernel density analysis identified hotspots where up to 17 fortresses are concentrated within just 100 square kilometers.

Most fortresses feature square, circular, or elliptical designs, with their shapes closely linked to local topography: circular structures dominate hilltops, elliptical ones line ridges, and irregular forms adapt to rugged or uneven terrain.

The researchers further explored the drivers behind these patterns, developing a "force transmission chain" framework that connects natural conditions to agricultural productivity, population capacity, and settlement distribution鈥攗ltimately explaining why fortresses were built in specific locations. This model ties the region's cultural landscapes to both environmental constraints and human resilience.

"Our research shows that Tianshui's fortresses are more than just relics of war鈥攖hey are enduring symbols of community resilience and adaptation," said Prof. Wang Shaohua from AIR. "By documenting their distribution and the factors that shaped them, we aim to offer both theoretical insights and practical guidance for protecting this fragile cultural heritage."

The newly created Tianshui Fortress Cultural Landscape Database addresses a gap in research on China's folk defensive settlements, the researchers noted. It includes four sub-databases鈥攃overing fortress entities, environmental conditions, geographic information, and historical records鈥攁nd is designed to lay the groundwork for future academic studies.