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Transition in Knowledge of Chinese Geography in Early Modern Europe: a Historical Investigation on Maps of China

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Transition in Knowledge of Chinese Geography in Early Modern Europe: a Historical Investigation on Maps of China Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 16(2)/2019: 45-65 Transition in Knowledge of Chinese Geography in Early Modern Europe: A Historical Investigation on Maps of China Jingdong YU Xue-heng Institute for Advanced Studies & School of Government Nanjing University 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China [email protected] Abstract: During the 17th and 18th centuries, European investigations into Chinese geography underwent a process of change: firstly, from the wild imagination of the classical era to a natural perspective of modern trade, then historical interpretations of religious missionaries to the scientific mapping conducted by sovereign nation- states. This process not only prompted new production of maps, but also disseminated a large amount of geographical knowledge about China in massive publications. This has enriched the geographical vision of Chinese civilization while providing a new intellectual framework for Europeans to understand China. Concurrently, it has formed another route for the travel of knowledge and intercultural interactions between the East and the West. Those interactions between space and knowledge have been reflected in the production, publication and dissemination of numerous maps of China in early modern Europe. Keywords: map of China; the Jesuits; early modern Europe; travel of knowledge Throughout the cultural exchanges that took between China and the West during the 17th and 18th centuries, maps represented not only the coalescence and conjuncture of spatial information over time, but also their function, as basic vessels for circulating and disseminating knowledge. By the end of the 16th century, with the help of maps, Michele Ruggieri (Luo Mingjian 㖻᱄฻) and Matteo Ricci (Li Madou ࡟⪠ヽ) had already contacted with Chinese literati and officialdom (Gernet, 1985: 15). In traditional researches, maps tend to be a value-free instrument. It is usually regarded as the objective representation of geographical space while little attention is paid to their subjective values and historical process of mapping (Harley, 1988). In fact, values are closely related to the presentation and representation of maps. Matteo Ricci modified the Euro- centric world map, placing China at the world’s centre, a clever manoeuvre which was recognized by the Emperor and his officials (Harley and Woodward, 1994: 172). This reflects an interactive and transcultural © 2019 Jingdong YU - https://doi.org/10.3726/CUL022019.0004 - The online edition of this publication is available open access. Except where otherwise noted, content can be used under the terms of the Creative 45 Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). For details go to http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/ Jingdong YU / Transition in Knowledge of Chinese Geography in Early Modern… perspective of cartographic representation while most of those popular maps of China in the Europe around 18th century were the combination of western culture and eastern discoveries (Mungello, 1989: 123). Moreover, a cross-cultural travel of knowledge occurred in history during this process of cartographic interactions. This paper tries to analyse some popular maps of China in this period, investigating the disseminating process of Chinese geographical knowledge in Europe while rethinking its cartographic representation. In addition, it reviews the socio-historical process of producing European maps of China during the early 17th and 18th centuries; this enables us to understand the early exchanges between Chinese and Western civilizations from a spatial perspective. I. EARLY GEOGRAPHY OF TRADE AND NAUTICAL MAPS Before the 17th century, few maps of China were originally depicted in Europe. Most of the depictions about China were part of the world map (Mappa Mundi) or prevailing nautical maps (such as the portolan charts). China was usually located in a remote position on those maps, vaguely depicted with limited details. Most of these maps were made according to the cartographical principles of the classical period, which held that the earth was flat and boundless, meaning a map could be spliced together by linking many fragments of different proportions. Jerusalem, the Holy City of Christianity, was often located at the center of the whole image, while remote and unknown areas like China were frequently substituted with legendary monsters or savages concocted through the imagination. In a traditional perspective of Eurocentrism, most early European maps of China adhered to a dualist perspective characterized by Christian and barbarian division. Therefore, the absence of knowledge on Chinese geography and the wild imagination of Europeans were frequently combined with each other. After the 17th century, most popular maps of China produced in Europe came from the Flemish Region, which covers the Netherlands, Belgium and other traditional lowland countries. In 1584, Abraham Ortelius published The Map of China (Chinae, olim Sinarum regionis, nova descriptio, 1584, Fig. 1) drawn by Ludovico Georgio (also called Luis Jorge de Barbuda), which was in fact the first western map of China. In the earlier editions of Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the depiction of 46 Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 16(2)/2019: 45-65 China was only part of the bigger region like the East Indies (Indiæ Orientalis Insularum que Adiacientium Typus, 1570). It also marked the beginning of wild imagination on the map giving way to pragmatic information gathered from trade and navigational sources. With overseas activities brought by the Age of Discovery and the opening of new sea routes, cities like Antwerp and Amsterdam had become centers of economic activity and hubs for information circulating in Europe. The business of navigation and exploration not only brought about a large amount of geographical knowledge and other relevant data to these port cities, but also integrated the early archives of China in Italy, Spain and Portugal, providing abundant materials for cartographers and the various industries involved in producing maps. In the latter, new commercial models of atlases and ideas of global trade combined, enabling the Flemish map industries to assume the leading role in Europe. Overseas business and economic trade not only contributed informational input, but also created systematic knowledge output under the motivation of providing services to travelers and publicising the information to the broader public. By the end of the 17th century, most of the new maps of China used by European businessmen and diplomats were made by Flemish cartographers. For example, in 1689, when China and Russia held their diplomatic negotiations on the northern border, Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin, the Russian ambassador, was holding The Map of North- and East- Tartary (Nieuwe Lantkaarte van het Noorder en Ooster deel van Asia en Europa strekkende van Nova Zemla tot China, 1687) drawn by Nicolaas Witsen, a Dutch cartographer (Baddeley, 1916: 214-215).1 When those spatial materials and information were transmitted to the Netherlands and Belgium from overseas, other European regions such as France and Germany were also affected through the travel of geographical knowledge and its cartographic representation in map-making process. Paris also rose as a center of map-making in the late 17th century. In 1596, Johannes Metellus (also called Jean Matal) redrew a map of China (Regnum Chinae, 1596) according to Ludovico Georgio’s original copy (Guo, 2015: 59; Metellus, 1600). In this map, the author provided more extensive geographical information on bays, ports, rivers and coastal cities, which were also the areas where the western merchant ships probably passed. The figure of river system was extremely exaggerated in proportion while details about coastal islands and several neighboring peninsular countries were of high proportion, which suggests that Europeans knew more 47 Jingdong YU / Transition in Knowledge of Chinese Geography in Early Modern… about China’s coastal areas than its inland (Fig. 2). Later in France, this kind of cartographic method prevailed for a certain period. For example, in 1677, when Pierre Duval published his map of China (Carte du voyage des ambassadeurs de la Compagnie orientale des Provinces-Unies vers le Tartare, empereur de la Chine, 1677, Fig. 3), it was basically the same style with more accurate depiction and details since littoral area and river system continued to be focused on. Johannes Metellus’ map was originally drawn by the Portuguese (Ludovico Georgio) based on two kinds of sources. Firstly, the discovery and travel records sent back to Spain and Portugal from the eastern hemisphere like the East Indies and the Philippines. Secondly, historical archives and writings related to China like Discourse of the Navigation (Discurso de la navegacion, 1569-1577) written by Bernardino de Escalante, a Spanish geographer. Escalante had never been to China, but he organized the navigation records of Portuguese explorers and merchants and finished this book (Lach, 1994: 818-820). Duval’s map was similar in this way. However, in the late 17th century, Duval’s map was largely updated with new substantive information of Chinese geography. As we can see in the inscription of the map, it was drawn according to the newest travel records of the East India Company. Johan Nieuhof, a Dutchman who served as an envoy to China, followed the Dutch East India Company as an embassy from Guangzhou to Beijing, paying
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