Get out the map
Last week in an emailed newsletter from the Bookworm, I noticed an announcement for an evening talk about the history of maps and mapmaking in China by one of the partners of Beijing Postcards. I needed to schedule an appointment for my passport renewal at the Embassy, not terribly far from there. It worked out perfectly for Randy to take me (and to watch the kids while I waited in lines at the Embassy) and all of us to enjoy an afternoon together in Beijing proper, topped off by an evening at the Bookworm.
The hour-long talk on the history of mapmaking in China, both by Chinese and Western mapmakers. It was a broad talk, hitting the high points of thousands of years of history, but was completely fascinating. Maps have played a different role historically in China than in Western Countries. There was a time that cartography, and the understanding of scale, aided by a grid work, was much more advanced in China than in the West, but use of these techniques were not used much, or for very long.
Chinese maps tended to have a lot of information on them, but nothing we Westerners would consider useful on a map. In the absence of scale, and a consistent sense of direction, the map would include instead descriptions of the people who lived in countries outside of their own, sometimes useful and true (like how to do business with them) and some highly mythologized (like this country is inhabited by three-headed people). The mythology on the maps, always just outside the borders of the Middle Kingdom, reminded me so much of the movie The Village, and how the founders created terror that lie in wait outside the village so that their children would never be curious to venture out.
ANYWAY, the maps drawn in China historically have served purposes other than relating geography and giving direction. Maps sometimes had vague borders, notably in the area of Xinjiang, where defined borders might give away strategic defensive information. Other important information, like territories inside of China that operated independently (Zhuang, Miao) were also not often included because it wasn't important for showing the strength of the emperor. This was also fascinating to me because I went to college at a time when all anyone wanted to discuss is the socio-political ramifications of map projections, like the Peters Map. Any map is bound to have a political point-of-view, and it was interesting to hear the history of these in China, and how these continue to influence how maps are considered in China.
And of course, some people's favorite Jesuit made an appearance
An hour was too brief, and it left us with more questions and avenues of interest than we had before the talk. Beijing Postcards had at least one copy of a 19th century German map with them last night that was of Beijing and the northern regions, and included Changping. Since we have been piecing together from various sources the history of this part of the world (of which there is often little interest by writers of popular histories because it isn't nearly as sexy as stories from inside the larger cities). I think we might have to pay a visit to Beijing Postcards and see what they have that we could afford.
One funny coincidence happened at the Bookworm that evening. After we finished supper and before the evening program began, I bumped into Damien from Yizhou Dinosaur Park! While the Bookworm is the kind of place we would go to often if we lived closer to it, we just can't manage to be there more than once a month, and almost never in the evening. Damien, living in Liaoning Province, is also seldom in Beijing city, but he had business to attend to at the Paleontology Museum in Beijing. Completely random, as the kids would say, and after talking to him I am really motivated to take Myles up there again. Myles, unfortunately, missed this chance encounter as he was with his dad in another room.
The hour-long talk on the history of mapmaking in China, both by Chinese and Western mapmakers. It was a broad talk, hitting the high points of thousands of years of history, but was completely fascinating. Maps have played a different role historically in China than in Western Countries. There was a time that cartography, and the understanding of scale, aided by a grid work, was much more advanced in China than in the West, but use of these techniques were not used much, or for very long.
Chinese maps tended to have a lot of information on them, but nothing we Westerners would consider useful on a map. In the absence of scale, and a consistent sense of direction, the map would include instead descriptions of the people who lived in countries outside of their own, sometimes useful and true (like how to do business with them) and some highly mythologized (like this country is inhabited by three-headed people). The mythology on the maps, always just outside the borders of the Middle Kingdom, reminded me so much of the movie The Village, and how the founders created terror that lie in wait outside the village so that their children would never be curious to venture out.
ANYWAY, the maps drawn in China historically have served purposes other than relating geography and giving direction. Maps sometimes had vague borders, notably in the area of Xinjiang, where defined borders might give away strategic defensive information. Other important information, like territories inside of China that operated independently (Zhuang, Miao) were also not often included because it wasn't important for showing the strength of the emperor. This was also fascinating to me because I went to college at a time when all anyone wanted to discuss is the socio-political ramifications of map projections, like the Peters Map. Any map is bound to have a political point-of-view, and it was interesting to hear the history of these in China, and how these continue to influence how maps are considered in China.
And of course, some people's favorite Jesuit made an appearance
An hour was too brief, and it left us with more questions and avenues of interest than we had before the talk. Beijing Postcards had at least one copy of a 19th century German map with them last night that was of Beijing and the northern regions, and included Changping. Since we have been piecing together from various sources the history of this part of the world (of which there is often little interest by writers of popular histories because it isn't nearly as sexy as stories from inside the larger cities). I think we might have to pay a visit to Beijing Postcards and see what they have that we could afford.
One funny coincidence happened at the Bookworm that evening. After we finished supper and before the evening program began, I bumped into Damien from Yizhou Dinosaur Park! While the Bookworm is the kind of place we would go to often if we lived closer to it, we just can't manage to be there more than once a month, and almost never in the evening. Damien, living in Liaoning Province, is also seldom in Beijing city, but he had business to attend to at the Paleontology Museum in Beijing. Completely random, as the kids would say, and after talking to him I am really motivated to take Myles up there again. Myles, unfortunately, missed this chance encounter as he was with his dad in another room.
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