南宋理學家吸收了源自緯書的擬人地理觀念、唐代一行的山河兩戒說,以堪輿視角重整《禹貢》山川,創造出一套中心化的地理秩序。經過元明兩代理學家與堪輿家的接引與改造,逐漸演變為以論證皇權為目的的三大干龍說,并為社會各階層所公認,此即沉淀為明清時代一般知識與信仰的中國龍脈論。龍脈論是真實山川與想象地理的重疊,它既是流傳于一般社會中的宏觀地理觀念,也是文人精英與堪輿術士共同發明的皇權正當性學說。它的形成,是流行于不同階層的多種知識傳統在王朝政治格局中雜糅互動的結果。

Neo-Confucian philosophers in the Southern Song Dynasty drew on the idea of personified geography from the Weft Books(weishu) and theory of dividing all mountains and rivers into two great parts as written by the Tang-Dynasty monk Yixing to re-order the mountains and rivers listed in the book Yu Gong according to the perspective of fengshui and propose a centralized geographic order. Later Confucian philosophers in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties found common ground and adapted the order, which gradually evolved into the "Three Great Trunk Dragons" theory that served to justify imperial supremacy and was recognized by all social classes. Up until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this "Chinese Dragon Vein" Theory was widely known and believed. The "Dragon Vein" Theory identified where real mountains and rivers overlapped with an imagined geography. It was not only a macroscopic geographical idea gaining traction among the general public, but also a theory jointly invented by the elite intellectuals and alchemists to justify the imperial supremacy. It formed from the combination of a variety of intellectual traditions and different social strata in the dynasty’s imperial structure.