Bol, Peter2017-02-162004Peter K. Bol. 2004. The Multiple Layers of the Local: A Geographical-Historical Approach to Defining the Local. In Proceedings of the Conference on Chinese and Comparative Historical Thinking in the 21st Century, Fudan University, April 8-10, 2003.http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:30361318Using local history to contest the discourse of the national history of China is problematic since the historical record treats localities in terms of administrative units, Nevertheless there was also a view of national history that began from physical rather than administrative geography. In addition localities shared social, economic and cultural networks that were trans-local. The China Historical GIS provides a means to study the national from the perspective of the history of localities.en-USConference Paper2016-12-2820042017-02-16