Abstract: The period of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in the Chinese history (1840-1949) is a stage in which our geographical science developed from ancient traditional geography to the modern geography.This paper gives a brief account of the general development in economic geography, social geography, political and military geography, and historical geography of this period.It also tries to analyse their political and economic background, and their influence upon the development of the geographical thought in China before the liberation.The statement was divied into two stages.In the first stage, from Opium War to the May 4th movement of 1919, the Chinese human geography still remained in the description stage of informations.The introduction of the western geographical thought and knowledge had begun to be widely known.This was the initial stage.In the second stage, from the May 4th movement of 1919, the western human geography gave a great influence on the development of Chinese geographical science.The Chinese geographical workers began to research into the problems of the Chinese geography with the methods of modern geographical science.Modern human geography of China had a notable advance in thought, method and contents.No doubt, it was, of course, a natural result of the special social and economic condition when the production relations of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society prevented the development of productive forces, thus hindering the further progress of the Chinese modern geography.Many Chinese geographical workers, however, had made important achievements worth-mentioning and should not be forgotten.This paper recommended the works on human geography done by Zhu Kezhen, Zhang Xiangwen, Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao, Hu Huanyong, Zhou Lisan, Wu Chuanjun, Ren Meie, Li Xudan, Wang Chengzu, Zhou Lisan, Wu Chuanjun and others (See the References attached in the Chinese context) in the fields of economic geography, social geography, political geography, historical geography etc.