"'The Distance of a Bowshot': Some Remarks on Measurement in the Altaic World" by Hok-lam Chan

Chia, Lucille

doi:10.1353/sys.2021.0022

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“…12 See Kamimura (2005, 16-19) and Chagdarsurung [Shagdarsüren] (1976, 368) for further discussion of these measures and their putative equivalents in the metric system. According to the latter, the gazar was 576 m, the qubi was 1/10 of a gazar, and the alda was 1.6 m. 13 See Chan (1995) for a discussion of the use of the bowshot as a measure of length in Asia and the Altaic world specifically. In early Mongol texts, the basic unit of measurement was the alda (outstretched arms span) and the bowshot feats of heroes were given as amazing distances counted in alda (Chan 1995, 36-37).…”

Section: The Mongolian Maps In the Context Of Chinese And Tibetan Map...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mongolian map-making as practice

Humphrey

2021

Interdisciplinary Science Reviews

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In the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries Qing officials in China periodically instructed their Mongolian subordinates to make maps of the regions they governed. The Qing were aiming thereby to gain information about the Empire, but the Mongols had other concerns. This article focuses on Mongolian map-making practice and argues that it differed from that prevalent at the time in both China and Russia. Concerned less with conveying practical information than with locating the domain in a cosmological understanding of the world, the Mongol maps were holistic. They were also both 'participatory', involving several different actors in their compilation, and 'relational', concerned to demonstrate the stance of the map-making subject in relation to the map's receiver (the office of the Lifanyuan and ultimately, the Qing Emperor).

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Section: The Mongolian Maps In the Context Of Chinese And Tibetan Map...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…13 See Chan (1995) for a discussion of the use of the bowshot as a measure of length in Asia and the Altaic world specifically. In early Mongol texts, the basic unit of measurement was the alda (outstretched arms span) and the bowshot feats of heroes were given as amazing distances counted in alda (Chan 1995, 36–37).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mongolian map-making as practice

Humphrey

2021

Interdisciplinary Science Reviews

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"'The Distance of a Bowshot': Some Remarks on Measurement in the Altaic World" by Hok-lam Chan

Cited by 1 publication

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Mongolian map-making as practice

Mongolian map-making as practice

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