Chinese geography


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. It enters its golden age with the invention of the compass in the 11th century and peaks with 15th century Chinese exploration of the Pacific under admiral Zheng He during the treasure voyages.

Highlights

;Warring States
;Han
;Three Kingdoms
;Liu Song dynasty
;Tang
;Song
;Yuan
;Ming
;Qing
Maps showing areas beyond China survive from the Song dynasty. A map carved in stone in AD 1137 shows 500 settlements and a dozen rivers in China, and includes large parts of Korea and Vietnam. On the reverse, the Yu Ji Tu, a copy of a more ancient map, uses the grid system developed in China a millennium earlier.

Maps of the Yuan dynasty

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. Influence 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.
These materials were, however, too large for circulation. What directly impacted Chinese intellectuals were the secondary compilations. In the first half of the 14th century, encyclopedias such as the Hanmo Quanshu and the Zhishun edition of the Shilin Guangji updated their geographic knowledge from the preceding Jurchen Jin and Southern Song Dynasties to the contemporary Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty.
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.

Guanglun Jiangli Tu

The Hunyi Jiangli Tu by Zen monk Qingjun is lost. However, the Shuidong Riji by the Ming period book collector Ye Sheng includes a modified edition of the map by the name of Guanglun Jiangli Tu. Ye Sheng also recorded Yan Jie 's colophon to the map. According to Yan Jie, the Guanglun Jiangli Tu was created in 1360. The extant map was modified, probably by Yan Jie, to catch up with contemporary Ming place names. The original map covered place names of the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty.
The Guanglun Jiangli Tu was one of historical maps that were popular among Chinese intellectuals. It showed historical capitals of Chinese dynasties in addition to contemporary place names. It followed Chinese tradition in that it was a map of China, not the world. But contrary to Song period maps which reflected limited Chinese knowledge on geography, it incorporated information on Mongolia and Southeast Asia. It also provided information of sea routes.

Wu Sidao's work

Contemporary to Qingjun, Wu Sidao, author of Chuncaozhai Ji, merged the Guanglun Tu and Li Rulin 's Shengjiao Beihua Tu although his map is not known today. The Guanglun Tu must refer to Qingjun's Guanglun Jiangli Tu. It is likely that Rulin was Li Zemin's courtesy name and that Shengjiao Beihua Tu was an alias for his Shengjiao Guangbei Tu.

Late maps in the Chinese tradition

In 1579, Luo Hongxian published the Guang Yutu atlas, including more than 40 maps, a grid system, and a systematic way of representing major landmarks such as mountains, rivers, roads and borders. The Guang Yutu incorporates the discoveries of naval explorer Zheng He's 15th century voyages along the coasts of China, Southeast Asia, India and Africa.
From the 16th and 17th centuries, several examples survive of maps focused on cultural information. Gridlines are not used on either Yu Shi's Gujin xingsheng zhi tu or Zhang Huang's Tushu bian ; instead, illustrations and annotations show mythical places, exotic foreign peoples, administrative changes and the deeds of historic and legendary heroes.