The Distribution Model and Spatial Structure of Market Towns in the Pearl River Delta during the Ming, Qing, and Min-Guo Periods: A Case Study of Taishan County

Previous studies have clarified that there are certain regularities in the spatial organization of traditional Chinese rural market towns as viewed from the perspective of the economic geography and local society. Nevertheless, the results of some studies concerning distribution patterns and factors influencing these patterns are contradictory, and there are few comprehensive analyses of the influence of interconnected variables. Taishan County in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province is used as an example, and the results of the identification of the distribution pattern of market towns within this county are determined as clustered by using the Voronoi method and the calculated coefficients of variation (Cv). The correlation between the market towns and the physical and social environment is quantified and illustrated through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), logistic regression analysis, and graphic methods, and the application of nuclear density change rates clarifies the development trajectory, which explains the phenomenon of market town clustering with ecological and cultural significance. Overall, the results indicate traditional preferences for sites characterized by low elevation, little slope, proximity to water, and productive agricultural land, while at the local scale, the spatial–temporal arrangement of market towns reflects partitioning and interactions between distinct clans. Further integrating the perspective of environmental history, we propose that the structural relationships of natural ecology, subsistence mode, and social organization crucially constitute the site selection and layout logic of market towns.