SLIDE 227
TITLE: Kuang Yü T'u or The Mongol
Atlas
DATE: ca. 1320 /1555
AUTHOR: Chu Ssu-Pen / Lo Hung-hsien
DESCRIPTION: The culmination of indigenous Chinese cartography is
found in the contributions of Chu Ssu-Pen and his successors who, beginning
in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1260 -1368), established a mapping tradition
that provided the basis of China's cartographic knowledge which was not
seriously challenged until the early 19th century. The Mongol conquests,
besides promoting the unification of Asia and extending its sphere of influence
as far as the boundaries of Europe, also combined growing commercial and
intellectual contacts with Persians and Arabs to bring to China a wave of
fresh information about the countries beyond its borders. Taking advantage
of this explosion of knowledge, Chu Ssu-Pen (1273-1337) built upon a scientific
cartographic heritage that extended back to P'ei Hsiu (Chin Dynasty, 3rd
century A.D.) and the astronomer Chang Hêng (a contemporary of Ptolemy).
Chu synthesized and collated the work of his predecessors with new knowledge
acquired through both personal travel and the increased contact with the
West to produce, between 1311 and 1320, a large roll-map of China and the
surrounding regions.
It should be mentioned that, at least by the time of Chu Ssu-Pen, the Chinese
cartographers knew principles of geometry and possessed instruments that
would greatly facilitate their mapping activities. The instruments included
the gnomon, and a device similar to the groma of the Romans, with plumb
lines attached. The Chinese also used sighting tubes and something akin
to the European cross-staff for estimating height, as well as poles for
leveling and chains and rope for ground measurement. The odometer or carriage
measuring instrument, by which distance is ascertained by the revolutions
of the wheels, is referred to in China at least as early as in Europe. Compass
bearings, implying the use of the magnetic needle, seems to have been made
by the 11th century A.D.; it is assumed that the magnetic needle was transmitted
westward to Europe shortly after this period.
It may also be of some interest to note that Chu Ssu-Pen was himself a Taoist,
and studied under famous Taoists such as Chang Jen-Ching and Wu Chhlian-Chieh.
Chu says in his preface that among other sources he consulted theYü
Chi T'u [ Map of the Tracks of Yü] of 1137 A.D. (Slide 218 ). The
reliability of the information on which his map was based was of the greatest
concern to Chu, whose attitude was quite modern in this respect. We cannot
be sure exactly how far his coverage extended, as his original map is lost,
and Chu himself expresses great caution in mapping the more distant regions:
Regarding the foreign countries of the barbarians southeast of the South
Sea, and northwest of Mongolia, there is no means of investigating them
because of their great distance, although they are continually sending tribute
to the court. Those who speak of them are unable to say anything definite,
while those who say something definite cannot be trusted; hence I am compelled
to omit them here.
From what we know of the original map of Chu's, which was simply titled
Yü T'u [Earth Vehicle (i.e. Terrestrial) Map], it was so large
as to be difficult to handle, not dissected, and probably was in manuscript
roll form. For about two centuries this great map remained only in manuscript
or epigraphic form (rare copies in manuscript and inscribed on stone in
a Taoist temple lasted until the 19th century). In 1541 the Yü T'u
was enlarged, dissected and revised by the Ming scholar, Lo Hung-hsien (1504
- 1564) and published in the form of a printed atlas in about 1555, under
the title Kuang Yü T'u [Enlarged Terrestrial Atlas]. This is
the earliest copy, albeit derivative, of Chu Ssu-Pen's work to have survived.
Lo Hung-hsien's preface to the atlas explains his reasons for the change
in format and his respect for Chu Ssu-Pen:
Chu Ssu-Pen's map was prepared by the method of indicating the distances
by a network of squares, and thus the actual geographic picture was faithful.
Hence, even if one divided [the map] and put it together again, [the individual
parts ] in the east and west fitted faultlessly together .... His map was
seven feet long and therefore inconvenient to unroll; I have therefore now
arranged it in book form on the basis of its network of squares.
Apart from the general map of China (Slide #227), there were sixteen sheets
of the various provinces, sixteen of the border regions, three of the Yellow
River, three of the Grand Canal, two of sea routes, and four sheets devoted
to Korea, Annam, Mongolia and Central Asia. The scale used was usually 100
li to the division (square), but sometimes other scales such as 40,
200, 400 or 500 li were employed.
In addition to those referenced by Chu, Lo Hung-hsien naturally drew on
many other Yuan and Ming sources in his revision, including the schematic
grid-map of the northwestern countries, Hsi-Pei Pi Ti-Li T'u, in
the Yuan Ching Shih Ta Tien [History of Institutions of the Yuan
Dynasty], 1329 (Slide #227C).
In spite of Chu Ssu-Pen's caution about far-distant regions, it is remarkable
that, as Walter Fuchs has pointed out, Chu and his contemporaries had already
recognized the triangular shape of Africa. Among the map sheets of Lo Hung-hsien's
atlas, one is entitled The Countries in the South-western Sea which
covers a considerable portion of the Indian Ocean and a large part of Africa
(Slide #227A). In European and Arabic maps of the 14th century the tip of
Africa is always represented as pointing eastwards (Slides #246, 247 and
249), and this is not corrected until the middle of the 15th century; the
atlas revised by Lo Hung-hsien, however, has it pointing south, and other
evidence shows that Chu Ssu-Pen must have drawn Africa in this way as early
as 1315. Furthermore, in the interior of the continent, two rivers are shown
flowing north, one emptying into a large body of water and the other leading
further north but terminated by the margin of the map. The name of the latter
river was rendered as Ha-na-i-ssu-chin, which is a possible corruption of
the Arabic words Al-Nil-Azrak , meaning the Blue Nile. The island
off the east coast is called San-pa Nu, apparently designating the source
of the Zanzibar Slaves. On the upper left corner of the map, the coastline
turns sharply westward, suggesting the orientation of what appears to be
the Guinea coast. Between the west coast and the inland water body, one
sees an area named Sang-ku, a Chinese transliteration of the Arabic
term Zangue, or the Black People, hence the Congo. Below the inland
water area and to the southwest of the river discharging into the lake is
a name pronounced as Che-pu-lu-ma. The first three syllables combined
are recognizable as a corruption of the Arabic word djebel, meaning
"mountains". An obvious conjecture is that it is an elevated area
which the Arabs called the Ma Mountains, corresponding closely to
the titled plateau of the Drakensberg, and evidenced by a later map produced
in 1402 by the Ming cartographer named Ch'üan Chin (Slide
#236).
On the upper right-hand corner of the map, one sees the southern portion
of Asia, gridded by vertical and horizontal lines and bulging out toward
Sumatra, the largest island on the map, with Java next on the right. Near
the edge of the continent are marked Such places as Chan-ch'eng [Champa
or Vietnam], Mien-tien [Burma], Hsien-lo [Thailand] and Meng-to
[the Tenasserim Coast]. Areas covered by a wave pattern are ocean waters
stretching from the South China Sea in the lower right to Africa on the
upper left and doned with a score of island names. The empty portions in
the lower left and at the bottom of the map naturally suggest areas totally
unknown.
In the absence of longitudinal and latitudinal estimations, distance between
places is represented in two ways. On land, it is measured by unit lines
forming grid-like squares. In the case of this map, the grid system is imposed
only upon the Asian continent, each division or square representing 400
li, or the equivalent of about 133 miles. The locations of major cities
and states can best be ascertained in terms of their positions relative
to major rivers and, to a lesser degree, mountains as well as coastlines.
These methods, again, date back to the time of P'ei Hsiu, the most renowned
cartographer of the Chin Dynasty (266 - 420 B.C.), and the publication of
the River Classics by an unknown author of the 3rd century and elaborately
annotated by Li Tao-yuan in 527 A.D. Although P'ei Hsiu's work has long
since been lost, the established tradition is, again, reflected in the previously
mentioned source of Lo Hung-hsien, the Hsi-Pei Pi Ti-Li T'u grid
map and is further evidenced in the Yü Chi T'u also previously
mentioned as a source used by Chu, which employed the same unit scale as
P'ei Hsiu, 100 li (Slide #218B ). As distances increased and knowledge became
more scanty, the location of far away places becomes increasingly relative
to the then known major rivers and mountains as well as water bodies and
coastlines. These, then, are the principles underlying Lo Hung-hsien's atlas
and, indeed, those of others such as Ch'uan Chin's early 15th century map
of the world which conceivably could have been seen by Lo Hung-hsien, especially
with regards to its portrayal of Africa.
However, for distances over the ocean, the above methods are impractical
in making approximations. Chu Ssu-Pen admitted in his brief annotation under
the caption of his map that 'currents in the outer seas are difficult to
predict and so is the estimation of distance.' Also, it is curious to note
the absence of the grid-system on the portion of Africa that is depicted.
Possibly this follows from the philosophy expressed by Chu that it is better
not to relay any information unless it can be reliably confirmed.
As can be seen in the illustrations presented here, the 16th century printed
edition of Chu's map employs quite modern symbolism to indicate physical
features and sizes of settlements. Thus, as explained on the table shown
on the right of this page, cities of the first order are indicated by a
white square, those of the second rank by a white lozenge, and those of
the third by a white circle; post-stages are represented by a white triangle
and forts by a black square, etc. While colors used to indicate areas and
frontiers are known to have been employed in a military map as early as
1084 A.D. in China, this systematic use of symbolism, with an explanatory
legend, is one of the earliest known employments of its kind.
Two pages or sheets from the Kuang Yü T'u form the general map
of China on a grid scale of 400 li to the division or square. The large
black band running from the northeast to the southwest, just above the Hwang
Ho and Great Wall, represents the Gobi Desert This famous and influential
map of China contains most of the previously mentioned symbols that Lo Hung-hsien
used for physical and cultural features. The treatment of the ocean with
its 'angry lines', a common representation in Oriental cartography, perhaps
suggests perceptions of the sea as a hostile environment. This may be further
evidenced by the rather generalized nature of the coastlines as compared
to the detail of the interior, again, possibly reflecting greater familiarity
and concern for the land.
This particular map of China provided the basis for several later European
derivatives. Beginning with the one printed in Purchas his Pilgrimes,
1609 (Slide #404), further editions of the Kuang Yü T'u continued
to be published until 1799. The atlas of Lo Hung-hsien also provided the
foundation for the Novus Atlas Sinensis of Martin Martini published in 1655,
the first European atlas of China. The influence of this work can also be
seen on Father Matteo Ricci's world map of 1602 (Ricci arrived in China
a mere thirty years after the printing of the Kuang Yü T'u )
and the maps of China drawn by Michael Boym in the middle of the 17th century.
Indeed Western knowledge of the geography of China, as expressed by or through
the Jesuits, was derived exclusively from this atlas until the Jesuits themselves
undertook their great survey of China for the emperor Ch'ien-lung between
1756 and 1759.
LOCATION: The Library of the Imperial Cabinet of Tokyo, Japan
REFERENCES:
* Chang, Kuei-sheng, "Africa and the Indian Ocean in Chinese maps of
the 14th and 15th centuries",
Imago Mundi, vol. XXIV, pp. 21 30.
* Needham, J., Science and Civilization in China, volume 3, pp. 551-555.
*Thrower, N.J.W., Maps and Man, pp. 25-27.
*Fuchs, W., "The Mongol Atlas of China", Monumenta Serica, monograph
Vlll.
*illustrated