Modern human geography can be traceable in America after the Second World War. A large quantity of books of human geography had been published in China in the 1980s. Only a few can summarize the human geography thoughts of the west and compare it with human geography of China. The article reviews the resurgent process of human geography in the west country represented by America and U.K. and in China after the Second World War and compare them in a lot of aspects such as subject status, subject system, philosophy, research method and applied field. We can refer to these comparisons to design our new human geography combining our own practice of China in 21st century.
Human geography in the U.S.A. and U.K. is seen as the modern model and represents the development direction of hum an geography for the future. After the development for about 50 years since the Second World War, the research objection of human geography in the west becomes more abundant and general. The subject system begins to be maturity. Both the philosophy and the theory of human geography in the west are becoming diversification and more and more quantitative method is used.
We should not only accept the gaps of hum an geography between China and the west but also look on it exactly. There are many universal theories and methods in human geography in the west that are the fruits of countless west geographers and other social scientists. We can learn many things from them at the same time we should learn our own situations about our country. It is a good way for us to build new human geography of China in the new century both referring to the west and combining our own situation of our own country.