中文摘要：

胡焕庸线作为人地关系的重要地理大发现之一,揭示了中国人口分布东密西疏的重要特征,是人文与经济地理学对社会的重要贡献之一。本文采用地理探测器等定量方法,以人口普查数据为基础,对胡焕庸线两侧人口分布的分异性特征进行了深入讨论,并尝试解释中国人口分布特征变化的原因及其机制。结果表明：1胡焕庸线作为中国最重要的人口分界线仍基本保持稳定,但从空间统计学分异特征来看该分界线仍可进一步优化调整;2胡焕庸线两侧内部人口集聚模式发生着明显变化,东南半壁人口分布由改革开放之前和初期的相对均衡状态,转变为以长三角、珠三角等少数区域为中心的集聚模式;而西北半壁人口分布的集聚程度则趋于下降;3从人口空间分布的影响因素看,尽管总体上,经济发展类因素对于人口空间分布影响不断增强,但三大阶梯等自然地理本底条件依然对中国人口分布有着重要影响。

英文摘要：

Hu Line uncovers one of China’s most important characteristics of population paper distribution： East is dense, while west is sparse. Different from most previous research, this paper examined the differentiation and changes of population distribution on both sides of Hu Line from a perspective of spatial stratified heterogeneity instead. Geodetector was employed based on the spatial database of China’s census data of 1953, 1982, 1990, 2000 and 2010 to reconfirm spatial position of Hu Line and analyzed changes of spatial stratified heterogeneity of population between southeast and northwest sides of Hu Line in different periods. Changes of population distribution since the founding of New China were found and the reasons for these changes were discussed. Major findings include：（1） From the spatial stratified heterogeneity perspective, Hu Line could be improved and optimized, at least, in some periods.Although the ratio of total population on both sides of Hu Line has roughly been kept at 94：6since 1953, spatial stratified heterogeneity of population between the two sides（the southeastern side： the northwestern side） increased when Hu Line moves to south slightly in1953, 2000 and 2010, which means population distribution was more homogeneous within either southeastern or northwestern region and heterogeneity was more remarkable between the two regions.（2） Heterogeneity decreased gradually since the reform and opening up. We found characteristics of population distribution converged on the two sides, especially since the 1990 s when convergence between the two sides became apparent. This finding is significantly different from the conclusion of ＂remain unchanged＂ from most literatures. The reasons why heterogeneity reduced were： pattern of population distribution on the southeastern side changed from relatively even distribution among cities before 1990 to agglomeration in a few huge cities after 2000, while the degree of spatial agglomeration of population decreased slightly after the