Cartography of China
Chinese cartography began in the 5th century BC during the Warring States period when cartographers started to make maps of the Earth's surface. Its scope extended beyond China's borders with the expansion of the Chinese Empire under the Han dynasty. By the 11th century during the Song dynasty highly-accurate maps drawn on grids were produced. During the 15th century, the Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He went on a series of voyages to the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, and beyond and maps for areas outside of China were produced, although world maps covering territories known to the Chinese outside of China existed as early as the Tang dynasty.
The study of geography in China begins in the Warring States period. It expands its scope beyond the Chinese homeland with the growth of the Chinese Empire under the Han dynasty and enters a golden age with the Han dynasty invention of the compass as one of the Four Great Inventions. The compass was then used from the 11th century during the Song dynasty, Yuan dynasty, Ming dynasty, and Qing dynasty in the study of geography. One of the most famous explorers in Chinese history was the 15th century admiral Zheng He, known for the Chinese exploration of the Pacific and his treasure voyages.
Earliest reference to maps in historical texts
The earliest reference to a map in Chinese history can be found in Volume 86 of the historical text Records of the Grand Historian. This volume recorded an incident in 227 BC during the late Warring States period in which a map is mentioned. Crown Prince Dan of the Yan state sent Jing Ke to assassinate the King of the Qin state, so as to prevent Qin from conquering Yan. Jing Ke pretended to be an emissary from Yan, and said he wanted to present the King of Qin with a map of Dukang, a fertile region in Yan which would be ceded to Qin in exchange for peace between the two states. The map, which was rolled up and held in a case, had a poison-coated dagger hidden in it. As Jing Ke was showing the King the map, he slowly unrolled the map until the dagger was revealed, and then seized it and tried to stab the King. The King managed to escape unharmed and Jing Ke was killed in his failed assassination attempt. From then on, maps are frequently mentioned in Chinese historical texts.Qin dynasty maps
In 1986, seven maps were found in Tomb 1, dating to the Qin state of the Warring States period, at Fangmatan in Gansu Province. The maps were drawn in black ink on four rectangular pieces of pine wood, 26.7 cm in length and between 15 and 18.1 cm in width, and depict the tributary river systems of the Jialing River in Sichuan Province. The areas covered by the seven maps overlap, but in total they cover 107 × 68 km in area.In addition to the seven maps on wooden blocks found at Tomb 1 of Fangmatan, a fragment of a paper map was found on the chest of the occupant of Tomb 5 of Fangmatan in 1986. This tomb is dated to the early Western Han dynasty, so the map dates to the early 2nd century BC. The map shows topographic features such as mountains, waterways and roads, and is believed to cover the Qin state of the Warring States period.
Han dynasty maps
Concrete evidence of the existence of maps in ancient China can be found in the Han dynasty. The three silk maps found at the Mawangdui tumulus in Changsha, Hunan Province are traced back to the 2nd century BC. The three maps are a topographic map of the Changsha region, a military map of southern Changsha, and a prefecture map.Research on the three maps shows that the Han dynasty had access to advanced cartography skills. Although the military map does not contain names, a legend, scales, or any form of explanatory text, it shows modern Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, as well as the boundary between the Han Empire and Nanyue Kingdom, covering the area from 111°E to 112°30′E, and from 23°N to 26°N. The scale of the map is approximately 1:180000.
At the time of their discovery, these three silk maps were the oldest to be found in China. However, they were superseded in 1986 after Qin dynasty maps dating back to the 4th century BC were found in Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu Province.
After the Han dynasty, Pei Xiu of the Jin dynasty helped improve Chinese cartography by making use of the grid previously introduced by Zhang Heng. Pei Xiu became known as the 'father of scientific cartography in China'.
Tang and Song dynasty maps
During the Tang dynasty, Jia Dan improved the knowledge of China on foreign countries. He wrote a number of works on geography that described foreign states and trade routes, as well as producing a map Hainei Huayi Tu. The map includes China and other known countries and was presented to the emperor in 801. The map was 9.1 m in length and 10 m in height, mapped out on a grid scale of one inch equaling one hundred li.File:Yuji tu - enhanced contrast.png|thumb|right|The Yu Ji Tu, "Map of the Tracks of Yu", carved into stone in 1137, located in the Stele Forest of Xi'an. This squared map features a grid of 100 li squares. China's coastline and river systems are clearly defined and precisely pinpointed on the map. Yu is Yu the Great, a Chinese deity and author of the Yu Gong, the geography chapter of the Book of Documents, dating to the 4th or 5th century BCE.
The Hainei Huayi Tu map is lost, but a later map of China from the Southern Song period, the Huayi tu map engraved in 1136 on a stele, contains names of foreign places inscribed on the edges that it took from Jia Dan's map. The map shows 500 settlements and a dozen rivers in China, and includes large parts of Korea and Vietnam. On the reverse side of Huayi tu is the gridded Yu Ji Tu. This map is the earliest surviving example of lattice cartographic grid found in Chinese map, a system first introduced in China a millennium earlier. The stele with the maps is now in the Stele Forest or Beilin Museum in Xi'an, China.
Yuan and Ming dynasty maps
The expansion of Chinese geographical enterprise to a world scale originates from a historical setting of the Mongol Empire, which connected the western Islamic world with the Chinese sphere, enabling both trade and the exchange of information.After the founding of the Yuan dynasty in 1271, Kublai Khan ordered the compilation of a geography monograph named Dayuan Dayitong Zhi in 1285. In 1286, Persian astronomer Jamāl al-Dīn made Kublai Khan a proposal for merging several maps of the empire into a single world map, and it resulted in the Tianxia Dili Zongtu. It was supposedly a world map but is lost today. He also ordered to obtain a book called Rāh-nāmah from Muslim sailors. An extant map attached to the Jingshi Dadian proves Mongols' accurate knowledge on Inner Asia that was obtained from Muslims. Influences by these official projects, Taoist monk Zhu Siben compiled a geography monograph of China named Jiuyu Zhi in 1297. Based on this earlier work, he created a now lost map of China named Yuditu in 1311–1320.
However, these materials were too large for circulation. What directly impacted Chinese intellectuals were other compilations. In the first half of the 14th century, encyclopedias such as the Hanmo Quanshu and the Zhishun edition of the Shilin Guangji, written by Chen Yuanjing, updated their geographic knowledge from the preceding Jurchen Jin and Southern Song Dynasties to the contemporary Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty.
Throughout the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Chinese cartography did not experience any radical developments. However, traditional cartography skills became more refined, and different types of maps starting appearing. The new types of maps include national maps showing mountains and cities, land defence maps, coastal defence maps, river maps for flood control, and nautical charts for maritime navigation. These maps exhibited characteristics such as greater focus on the accuracy of rivers and mountains, greater use of mathematics in cartography, and the use of administrative divisions to demarcate boundaries.
Newly discovered materials reveal personal networks among intellectuals of southern China, centered in Qingyuan. Qingjun, who was from neighboring Taizhou, created the Hunyi Jiangli Tu when he stayed in Qingyuan. Wu Sidao, who left an important bibliographic clue, was also from Qingyuan. In addition, Ningbo was one of the most important seaports and the sea routes were extended to Fuzhou and Guangzhou, and Southeast Asia, Japan and Goryeo. They must have acquired marine information from Muslim sailors.
Maps in the Chinese tradition tended to be known by specific titles, easily expressed as short sequences of ideograms, such as the Yu Gong Jiuzhou Lidai Diwang Guodu Dili Tu.
Shengjiao Guangbei Tu
The Shengjiao Guangbei Tu by Li Zemin is lost. Its original state can be deduced by examining its derivative works: the Guangyutu by Luo Hongxian contains a pair of maps named Dongnan Haiyi Tu and Xinan Haiyi Tu that are considered to be the southern half of the Shengjiao Guangbei Tu although Luo's copy dropped most place names except for coastal areas and islands. The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu, a Ming period map with much later Manchu translations of its labels, is also considered to have been based ultimately on Li Zemin's map.The Shengjiao Guangbei Tu was a world map. It contained not only China but also Africa and Europe. Luo's copy and the Daming Hunyi Tu suggest that the original depicted India more accurately than the Korean adaptation although it is also possible that the Daming Hunyi Tu reflects 17th century knowledge.
Little is known about the author Li Zemin. Based on place names on the map, it has been presumed that it was created around 1319 and revised sometime between 1329 and 1338. However, Wu Sidao's statement suggests that his map was newer than Qingjun's.