Abstract: In the present study, Zhejiang was selected as the study area. Based on the analysis of the topography characteristics and its formation, the histories of population evolution and land development, water conservancy construction and development of agricultural technology, the formation age of modern Stagnic Anthrosols was discussed. According to the analysis, rice cultivation in the study area had been around for 7 000 years, but the history of large-scale rice plantation was basically in 2 000 years. Before the Qin Dynasty, the development level of agricultural technology was relatively low, so it was difficult to form a large-scale flood and drought alternation soil environment, and the soils were lack of diagnostic characteristics of modern Stagnic Anthrosols. The Tang and Song, Ming and Qing dynasties and the 50s to 70s of 20th Century were the three main forming stages of the Stagnic Anthrosols in the study area, and the area showed rapid expansion in these ages. Alluvial fan and valley plain might be the main distribution areas of the earliest modern Stagnic Anthrosols in the study area. The formation time of large area of Stagnic Anthrosols in the different landscapes was generally in sequence of water-net plain, river valley plain, coastal plain and hilly land. It was considered that the improvement of rice plantation environment was the precondition for the formation of the modern Stagnic Anthrosols, and the development of farming technology and the increase of population were the main motive forces for the expansion.

Key words: Stagnic Anthrosols, formation age, land development, rice plantation environment