Maps and Memory: Readings of Cartography in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Song China

Weerdt, Hilde De

doi:10.1080/03085690902923572

Cited by 30 publications

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“…547-549, andYee 1994, pp. 46-49. See also an interesting revision of this map by Hilde De Weerdt (2009). 91 The definition "square [quantitative] grid" is used in the history of the Chinese geography and cartography by Joseph Needham and Wang Ling 1959.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

THE HAN RIVER AS THE CENTRAL AXIS AND THE PREDOMINANCE OF WATER: QUESTIONING THE CLAIM OF “NO CHU-RELATED TRAITS” IN THE VIEW OF TERRESTRIAL SPACE IN THE RONG CHENG SHI MANUSCRIPT (FOURTH CENTURY B.C.E)

Dorofeeva-Lichtmann¹

2021

Early China

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The description of the “Nine Provinces” (Jiu zhou 九州) found in the Rong Cheng shi 容成氏 (Mister Rong Cheng?, late fourth century b.c.e.) manuscript from the Shanghai Museum Bamboo Slips Collection (Shangbo cangjian 上博藏簡) is the only manuscript version of it known to date. Its discovery immediately raised the question of its relation to the cluster of descriptions on the “Nine Provinces” transmitted from the late Warring States to the early Western Han periods. There is general consensus that the manuscript description of the “Nine Provinces” has close affinity with the transmitted descriptions, as well as with a wide spectrum of transmitted early Chinese texts in general. It is distinguished by the eclectic combining of known spatial concepts, rather than manifesting any radically new or specifically Chu traits. In this study I reassess this impression with respect to the reference to the Han River in the manuscript, which up to now has been noted only in passing as an unsolved puzzle. I argue that the Han River is referred to here as the central axis that divides terrestrial space into southern and northern halves, something that implies a shifting of the mapped area to the South and thus conveys a Chu view of space. Together with philological analysis of the descriptions of terrestrial space, I apply an innovative method of investigation of these descriptions through landmarks, using as a visual aid traditional Chinese historical maps. In addition, I explore the predominance of waters as the distinguishing feature of the representation of terrestrial space in the Rong Cheng shi manuscript and demonstrate its difference from the structuring of terrestrial space proceeding from mountains to waterways to be seen in the majority of transmitted early Chinese texts.

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confidence: 99%

THE HAN RIVER AS THE CENTRAL AXIS AND THE PREDOMINANCE OF WATER: QUESTIONING THE CLAIM OF “NO CHU-RELATED TRAITS” IN THE VIEW OF TERRESTRIAL SPACE IN THE RONG CHENG SHI MANUSCRIPT (FOURTH CENTURY B.C.E)

Dorofeeva-Lichtmann¹

2021

Early China

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“…From the visual perspective, the structure of these maps was developed as a form of figurative indication of geographical context and vision from the empire. 28 Such concepts have remained as dominant until the 1800s, even after the introduction of western mapping techniques. 34 It was to them, the analogy of visual landscapes and indicative connection between cities that were highly valued, above the detail of measurement.…”

Section: Chinese Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study of these cartographical visuals is, unarguably, inseparable from the political context of its created time. 28 It is foreseen that this investigative process and analytical deconstruction is the source of direct interpretation of its contextual circumstances. These principles will be critical in the process of abstraction and re-evaluation of city form at the conceptual layer from ancient maps.…”

Section: Chinese Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%