Founded by a group of teachers with a keen interest in geography in 1949,[citation needed] the original Chinese edition was first published in January 1950 under the name Dili Zhishi (Knowledge of Geography; Chinese: 《地理知识》).

It reformed itself and resumed publication in January 1961 under a new name, Dili (Geography; Chinese: 《地理》).

However, this new version was not successful with its readers, and the title was changed back to Dili Zhishi in 1966.

Starting from 1998, the magazine revamped itself to provide more appealing content with the aim of reaching out to more readers both within and outside of China.

According to an interview with publisher Li Shuanke in the May 2009 issue of the English edition, there are plans to launch the magazine in French, German and other languages.