Angela Schottenhammer
Angela Schottenhammer, Mathieu Torck,
Wim de Winter
on the “Barbarians”:
Interactive Online Resource created by Guillermo Ruiz-Stovel, Peter Färberböck, and Stefan Schwaiger Back to Research Notes
Cheng Bai’er 程百二 (fl. 1606–1615) from a family of printers from Huizhou 徽州 (today in southern Anhui, but part of Nanzhili during the Ming, often identified by its old name Xin’an 新安) took charge in compiling the Fangyu shenglüe 方輿勝略 (Complete Survey of the World), a comprehensive geography of the Ming, discussing and mapping all Chinese provinces, and giving information on coastal defence and other topics. A second part titled Fangyu shenglüe waiyi 方輿勝略外夷 (Complete Survey of the World: Outer Barbarians) describing non-Chinese regions and peoples came attached to it. This second part includes a world map in two hemispheres, one showing Eurasia and Africa, the second one the Americas, making the Fangyu shenglüe an important artefact that exhibits Ming Chinese knowledge of the Americas and the Pacific (fig. 1). The complete book was printed in or shortly after 1612 (the date of the latest preface), although the first blocks were already carved in 1609. [1]This article is a revised and updated version of a chapter translated into Spanish and published as “Viejas y nuevas miradas sobre los ‘bárbaros’: el Fangyu shenglüe 方輿勝略 (1612).” … Continue reading
Figure 1. World map in the Fangyu shenglüe (1612) in two hemispheres. Height of paper ca. 26.5 cm. National Archives of Japan.
The Fangyu shenglüe was published by people from Huizhou [2]On Huizhou publishers, see Xu Xuelin, “Shilun Huizhou diqu de gudai keshuye”; Yan Zuozhi, “Lun Mingdai Huizhou keshu”; Chia, “Huizhou Natives and the Publishing World of Late Ming China”; … Continue reading and one of the preface writers to the Fangyu shenglüe explains that Cheng Bai’er compiled the Fangyu shenglüe to provide an up-to-date overview on geography so officials could make correct decisions when governing. The Fangyu shenglüe, thus had practical needs in mind, in contrast to some other contemporary books on geography and non-Chinese peoples such as the Luochong lu 臝蟲錄 (Records on Naked Creatures), which aimed at a wide audience for entertainment. [3]On the Luochong lu, see He Yuming, Home and the World, 202–44. Despite at least eighteen copies of the work surviving until today (see Table 1), the Fangyu shenglüe did not spread widely, only few people during the remainder of the Ming and the following Qing cited the Fangyu shenglüe, and only few Ming and Qing library catalogues mention it. Some notable exceptions such as Mao Yuanyi 茅元儀 (1594–1640) in his military treatise Wubei zhi武備志 (1621) and Pan Guangzu 潘光祖 (1625 jinshi), Li Yunxiang 李雲翔, and Fu Changchen 傅昌辰 in their comprehensive geography Huiji yutu beikao quanshu 彙輯輿圖備考全書 (Complete collection of maps for reference, 1633) make use of this book. [4]Searching through the Erudition Database of Chinese Ancient Classic Texts for the title of the work, yields hardly any results. This stands in contrast to other works such as Huang Zhong’s 黃衷 … Continue reading This scarcity of citing the Fangyu shenglüe is certainly linked to the book being forbidden during the Qianlong 乾隆 period (1736–1795) due to its inclusion of information about the Jurchen. [5]Wang Bin, Qingdai jinshu zongshu, 154f; Zhang Minhui, “Qingdai Anhui jinshu sanji,” 75.
Nevertheless, the Fangyu shenglüe was known outside of China already in the seventeenth century. It is listed in a 1722 catalogue stating that it arrived in Japan in 1657 [6]Ba Zhaoxiang, “Ming-Qing shiqi difangzhi dongzhuan Riben de lishi guocheng,” 152. and the Japanese world map Bankoku sōzu 萬國総圖 (Complete Map of All Countries) first printed in 1645 based the contours of the continents on the map contained in the Fangyu shenglüe, changing the projection (fig. 2). [7]Unno Kazutaka, “Addendum to the reprint of Shōhōkan ‘Bankoku sōzu’ no seiritsu to rufu,” 382–83; Papelitzky, “Description and Analysis of the Japanese World Map Bankoku Sōzu,” 43. Even more evident is the connection between the map in the Fangyu shenglüe and the map in the Japanese encyclopaedia Morokoshi kinmō zui 唐土訓蒙圖彙 (Illustrated collection of instructions from China, 1719) by Hirazumi Sen’an 平住專庵 (text) and Tachibana Morikuni 橘守國 (1679–1748, credited as Naramura Yūzeishi 楢村有税子, illustrations). This map follows the map from the Fangyu shenglüe in keeping the two-hemispheres projection but slightly differs in terms of place names and outlines of the landmasses (fig. 3). [8]Hirazumi Sen’an and Naramura Yūzeishi (Tachibana Morikuni), Morokoshi kinmō zui, j. 2, 2a–3a; Papelitzky, “World Maps from China Reimagined in Japan.” Not only Asian but also European scholars read the work: In the early eighteenth century, the Jesuit Jean Baptiste Régis (1663–1738) made use of the Fangyu shenglüe’s description of Korea. [9]Régis’ description of Korea is contained in Jean-Baptiste du Halde’s (1674–1743) Description géographique, where he cites a “Geographie universelle” titled “Fang yu ching lio” that … Continue reading
3
Figure 3. “Sansen yochi zenzu” in Morokoshi kinmō zui (1719). Height of paper ca. 22 cm. National Archives of Japan.
While the first part of the Fangyu shenglüe has hardly been studied at all, the second part has caught the interest of scholars because of its world map. The authors of the Fangyu shenglüe credited this map to the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) who during his stay in China, had been involved in making several world maps, the most well-known being the 1602 Kunyu wanguo quantu 坤輿萬國全圖 (Complete Map of All Countries on Earth, fig. 4), which Ricci had made in collaboration with Li Zhizao 李之藻 (1565–1630) and others. The Fangyu shenglüe became well known in 1936, when the book and the map were introduced in the journal Yugong banyue kan 禹貢半月刊 [10]Hong Weilian, “Kao Li Madou de shijie ditu”; Li Jinhua, “Fangyu shenglüe tiyao”; Chen Guansheng, “Fangyu shenglüe zhong geguo dufenbiao zhi jiaoding.” . Most scholars who discuss the work today do so in the context of Jesuit–Chinese interactions, discussing how the Fangyu shenglüe is an example of early Chinese adaptation of European knowledge and stressing the importance of the Fangyu shenglüe for understanding the history of Matteo Ricci’s mapmaking endeavours. [11]See for example Huang Shijian and Gong Yingyan, Li Madou shijie ditu yanjiu, 37–41; Unno Kazutaka, “Min, Shin ni okeru Mateo Ricchikei sekaizu: Shutoshite shinshiryō no kentō”; Xu Guangtai, … Continue reading However, this view is problematic, as it reduces the Fangyu shenglüe to its world map, and furthermore relates this map only to Ricci, erasing the context this world map was embedded in as well as the contribution of the Chinese scholars involved in the making of the map. [12]Cams and Papelitzky, “Introduction: Remapping the World in East Asia.” It also diminishes the complexities of the world view expressed in this work that not only shows a map of the world but also describes non-Ming regions and peoples in a manner typical for the late Ming. In this article, I will give an overview of the Fangyu shenglüe in its entirety and discuss how the compilers presented the non-Ming world.
Table 1. List of extant prints of the Fangyu shenglüe
Library | Number of ce (call number) | Comment |
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National Library of China | 8 ce (15945) | scan available online |
Beijing University Library | 12 ce (SB/981.5/2611) | one of the copies of Beijing University Library is reproduced in Siku jinhui shu congkan, shibu 21 |
Beijing University Library | 8 ce (NC/3020.7/2111) | |
Beijing University Library | 6 ce (LSB/5652) | unclear from catalogue whether this is a complete copy |
Nanjing Library 南京圖書館 | 12 ce (GJ/118999) | |
Nanjing University Library 南京大學圖書館 | 8 ce (260-535) | incomplete according to the catalogue |
Tianjin Library 天津圖書館 | 6 ce (S546) | part about China only; scan available online |
Gansu Provincial Library 肅省圖書館 | 553 | only eighteen juan extant, but the catalogue does not specify which juan. |
Shanghai Library 上海圖書館 | 4 ce (T341951-54); and 1 ce (787186) | incomplete, only juan 1, 2, 6–13, and juan 3–6 of the waiyi section are extant |
National Central Library Taipei 國家圖書館 | 1 ce, 1 juan; 210.1 03230 | part about China only; scan available online |
Fu Sinian Library of Academia Sinica 中研院傅斯年圖書館 | 8 ce (A 926.6 535) | part about China only |
Fu Sinian Library of Academia Sinica | 2 ce (A 916 541) | waiyi only |
Cabinet Library 内閣文庫 | 8 ce (?120-0008) | scan available online |
National Diet Library 国立国会図書館 | 12 ce (117-161) | |
Kyoto University, Yoshida-South Library 京都大学吉田南総合図書館 | 20 ce (533//57/???) | scan available online |
T?y? bunko 東洋文庫 | 4 ce (XI-3-A-b-165) | waiyi only |
Sonkeikaku of the Maeda Ikutokukai 前田育徳会尊経閣 | 4 ce | waiyi only |
Library of Congress | 8 ce (B117.C41) |
References[+]
↑1 | This article is a revised and updated version of a chapter translated into Spanish and published as “Viejas y nuevas miradas sobre los ‘bárbaros’: el Fangyu shenglüe 方輿勝略 (1612).” In Periferias imaginadas. “Bárbaros” en el Este asiático desde la antigüedad y a lo largo de la era imperial, edited by Ana Carolina Hosne, Paula Hoyos Hattori, and Ignacio Villagrán, 57–88. Puntarenas: Editorial de la Sede del Pacífico, Universidad de Costa Rica, 2023. This research was supported by and contributes to the European Research Council AdG project TRANSPACIFIC, which has received funding from the ERC under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement no. 833143). |
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↑2 | On Huizhou publishers, see Xu Xuelin, “Shilun Huizhou diqu de gudai keshuye”; Yan Zuozhi, “Lun Mingdai Huizhou keshu”; Chia, “Huizhou Natives and the Publishing World of Late Ming China”; Bussotti, Gravures de Hui. Bussotti points out that scholars from Huizhou migrated further east and published their work there, while still claiming to be from Huizhou, so speaking of “publishing by people from Huizhou” is more appropriate than speaking of “publishing in Huizhou” (Bussotti, Gravures de Hui, 186–87; Bussotti, “Introduction,” 193–94). I was not able to ascertain if the book was actually published in Huizhou or elsewhere. |
↑3 | On the Luochong lu, see He Yuming, Home and the World, 202–44. |
↑4 | Searching through the Erudition Database of Chinese Ancient Classic Texts for the title of the work, yields hardly any results. This stands in contrast to other works such as Huang Zhong’s 黃衷 (1474–1553) Haiyu 海語 (1536), which was cited consistently during the Ming and Qing – a book that was not censored as it only concerns countries at China’s maritime border. On the use of the database as a source for understanding the history of reading of this work, see Papelitzky, “Editing, Circulating, and Reading Huang Zhong’s Hai yu.” The Huiji yutu beikao was first printed in the late Ming with a preface dated 1633. The same woodblocks were then reused, Fu Changchen’s name erased and the date of the preface changed to 1650. The National Archives of Japan hold an unaltered Ming print (https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/img/4752499), while the Siku jinhuishu congshu 四庫禁燬書叢刊 reproduced the altered 1650 print. |
↑5 | Wang Bin, Qingdai jinshu zongshu, 154f; Zhang Minhui, “Qingdai Anhui jinshu sanji,” 75. |
↑6 | Ba Zhaoxiang, “Ming-Qing shiqi difangzhi dongzhuan Riben de lishi guocheng,” 152. |
↑7 | Unno Kazutaka, “Addendum to the reprint of Shōhōkan ‘Bankoku sōzu’ no seiritsu to rufu,” 382–83; Papelitzky, “Description and Analysis of the Japanese World Map Bankoku Sōzu,” 43. |
↑8 | Hirazumi Sen’an and Naramura Yūzeishi (Tachibana Morikuni), Morokoshi kinmō zui, j. 2, 2a–3a; Papelitzky, “World Maps from China Reimagined in Japan.” |
↑9 | Régis’ description of Korea is contained in Jean-Baptiste du Halde’s (1674–1743) Description géographique, where he cites a “Geographie universelle” titled “Fang yu ching lio” that served as his main source for writing the history of Korea. That he indeed means the Fangyu shenglüe with “Fang yu ching lio” is easily confirmed, as he mainly translates the chapter on Korea from the Fangyu shenglüe (Du Halde, Description géographique, vols. 4, 538). See also Chŏn Chong-ho, “‘Chunghwa cheguk chŏchi’”; McCune, “Geographical Observations on Korea”; Landry-Deron, La preuve par la China, 144. |
↑10 | Hong Weilian, “Kao Li Madou de shijie ditu”; Li Jinhua, “Fangyu shenglüe tiyao”; Chen Guansheng, “Fangyu shenglüe zhong geguo dufenbiao zhi jiaoding.” |
↑11 | See for example Huang Shijian and Gong Yingyan, Li Madou shijie ditu yanjiu, 37–41; Unno Kazutaka, “Min, Shin ni okeru Mateo Ricchikei sekaizu: Shutoshite shinshiryō no kentō”; Xu Guangtai, “Li Madou ‘Wanguo eryuan tu’ yu Feng Yingjing yin ‘doi mappamondi piccoli’ kao”; Cao Wanru et al., “Zhongguo xiancun Li Madou shiejie ditu de yanjiu”; Zhang Qiong, Making the New World Their Own, 332–33; Hummel, “Division of Orientalia (1939),” 224–26; Yee, “Traditional Chinese Cartography,” 175. |
↑12 | Cams and Papelitzky, “Introduction: Remapping the World in East Asia.” |
In the late Ming, an increasingly large number of books on geographical matters was published, including books on the geography of China and on the history and geography of non-Chinese regions. [1]Not only books on geographical matters were published in great numbers, but in general, the late Ming saw an increase in publishing. For more information, see for example Chow Kai-wing, Publishing, … Continue reading There are books about a single country and books about the whole world. Information on the non-Chinese world could be contained in monographs, and it could be attached to books of other genres such as military treatises, encyclopaedias, and travel writing. [2]For an introduction to many texts about foreigners, see Franke and Liew-Herres, Annotated Sources, 619–744. During the early Ming, many writers had still been abroad themselves, such as Ma Huan 馬歡 (fl. 1413–1451) who had accompanied Zheng He 鄭和 (1371–1433) on three of his seven voyages to the Indian Ocean and who had written a detailed description of the people and countries he had visited, the Yingya shenglan 瀛涯勝覽 (Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores, 1451). By the late Ming however, hardly any of the scholars had experienced first-hand the far-away places they were describing, except for those discussing China’s direct neighbours and borderlands. Instead, they relied on earlier written descriptions. This is despite a general trend at that time of attaching more importance to including personal experience and travelling in books. [3]Shin, “Thinking about ‘Non-Chinese,’” 299–302.
A particular genre of books that emerged in the last decades of the Ming were monographs about the history and customs of what the authors perceived to be the whole world, claiming comprehensiveness. [4]Of course, from the view of the twenty-first century, these books are not actually comprehensive; none of them describes the Americas for example, and even Europe is only sparingly described. … Continue reading These world histories include better-known books such as Yan Congjian’s 嚴從簡 (fl. 1559–1575) Shuyu zhouzi lu 殊域周咨錄 (Record of the Dispatches Concerning Various Regions, completed 1574, printed 1583) and Luo Yuejiong’s 羅曰褧 (fl. 1585–1597) Xianbin lu 咸賓錄 (Records on All Guests, 1591), and more obscure works such as Shen Maoshang’s 慎懋賞 (fl. 1578–1607) Siyi guangji 四夷廣記 (Extensive Records of All Barbarians, c.1601–1603) and Yang Yikui’s 楊一葵 (fl. 1592–1622) Yisheng 裔乘 (Historical Records of Distant Lands, 1615). Their authors are scholars who had never left Ming China, and their books follow in the footsteps of the chapters on foreign countries from the dynastic histories. Instead of attaching the information about non-Chinese regions and people to texts about other topics (something that also happened increasingly in the late Ming), the authors of these world histories emphasise the non-Chinese world so much that they thought it necessary to publish stand-alone works. [5]For a study of these world histories, see Papelitzky, Writing World History. For a case study of the world histories and other texts that only attach information on the foreign to books about other … Continue reading They are part of a general worldwide trend of being interested about the world and writing world history in the early modern period. [6]Subrahmanyam, “On World Historians in the Sixteenth Century.”
Not only books about the non-Chinese world became popular, but the number of general works on the geography of China, comprehensive geographies, increased significantly during the late Ming—of the 41 Ming comprehensive geographies that Du Yongtao identified, 28 date to the last 100 years of the Ming. [7]Du Yongtao, “Literati and Spatial Order,” 18–19. The “model” was Li Xian 李賢 (1408–1467) and Peng Shi’s 彭時 (1416–1475) Da Ming yitong zhi 大明一統志 (1461), a gazetteer sponsored by the Ming state that circulated widely and which included provincial maps as indices to the text. [8]Cams, “The Confusions of Space,” 518. A different way of ordering and writing about the space of the Ming state emerged in the mid-sixteenth century with Luo Hongxian’s 羅洪先 (1504–1564) atlas Guang yutu 廣輿圖 (Maps of Extensive Lands, first printed in 1556 or early 1557). In contrast to the Da Ming yitong zhi, where the text made up the core of the book, the maps in the Guang yutu were central to the work and featured a larger number of toponyms. The maps of the Guang yutu served as the source for many of the subsequent illustrations in later comprehensive geographies and other geographical works. [9]Cams, “The Confusions of Space.” On the Guang yutu, see Fuchs, The “Mongol Atlas”; Unno Kazutaka, Chizu bunkashijō no Kōyozu. On the spread of the maps of the Guang yutu and the practice of … Continue reading All these comprehensive geographies describe the geography of the Ming state, organized by prefecture (in the case of the Da Ming yitong zhi) or by province (in most other works)—starting with the capital Beijing and the province Beizhili 北直隸. In addition, the Da Ming yitong zhi, Guang yutu, and several (but not all) comprehensive geographies discuss non-Ming regions in the last one or several juan, sometimes also adding maps for these regions.
The Fangyu shenglüe is one of several late Ming works that bring together elements of these various strands of writing geography. [10]Cams, “The Confusions of Space,” 536. The textual content of the Fangyu shenglüe claims decent from the Da Ming yitong zhi: Several of the prefaces as well as the fanli 凡例 (editorial principles) [11]In the fanli of a book, the author often explains their reasons for writing the book the way they wrote it, giving information about the arrangement of the contents, the sources etc. of the Fangyu shenglüe explain that the compilers used the state gazetteer, updated it, and added information such as the amount of taxes each region had paid. [12]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, fanli 1a.. The maps on the other hand are drawn in the manner of the Guang yutu, providing a detailed view of the administrative structure of the Ming state. However, most likely the compilers of the Fangyu shenglüe did not use an edition of the Guang yutu, but instead relied on a book that had in turn copied from the Guang yutu, the Guangyu kao 廣輿考 (Thoughts on Extensive Lands, 1595) by Wang Fengyu 汪縫預 (?–1594) and his son Wang Zuozhou 汪作舟, also from Xin’an (figs. 5–8). [13]The Guangyu kao was printed at least twice: first around 1595, a copy of which reached Florence already in 1606. This print includes a postscript by Wang Zuozhou and a preface by Yu Yilong, both … Continue reading
In one aspect, the Fangyu shenglüe differs from other comprehensive geographies, namely the way the book deals with the non-Ming world. Instead of including this information in the last one or several juan, the compilers chose to start counting the juan again from 1, adding a preface to this section, and calling it Fangyu shenglüe waiyi. By paratextually separating the text on China and on the non-Chinese, the second volume of the Fangyu shenglüe on the “outer barbarians” is part of the genre of world histories like the Shuyu zhouzi lu. The compilers of the Fangyu shenglüe waiyi based their complete description besides the section with the world map, on one of the world histories, Luo Yuejiong’s Xianbin lu. [14]Papelitzky, Writing World History, 169–70. Singling out the chapters on the non-Ming world but keeping the structure of geographies, makes the Fangyu shenglüe a unique work at the intersection of world history and comprehensive geography. Yet, this combination and repurposing of material again firmly places the Fangyu shenglüe within common trends of the late Ming book market. [15]Cams, “The Confusions of Space,” 539–40.
References[+]
↑1 | Not only books on geographical matters were published in great numbers, but in general, the late Ming saw an increase in publishing. For more information, see for example Chow Kai-wing, Publishing, Culture, and Power. For a bibliographical essay on this topic, see Meyer-Fong, “The Printed World.” On Ming geographies, see Cams, “The Confusions of Space.” |
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↑2 | For an introduction to many texts about foreigners, see Franke and Liew-Herres, Annotated Sources, 619–744. |
↑3 | Shin, “Thinking about ‘Non-Chinese,’” 299–302. |
↑4 | Of course, from the view of the twenty-first century, these books are not actually comprehensive; none of them describes the Americas for example, and even Europe is only sparingly described. Nevertheless, for these late Ming authors, these books presented a comprehensive view of the world. |
↑5 | For a study of these world histories, see Papelitzky, Writing World History. For a case study of the world histories and other texts that only attach information on the foreign to books about other topics, see Papelitzky, “Gui’an.” |
↑6 | Subrahmanyam, “On World Historians in the Sixteenth Century.” |
↑7 | Du Yongtao, “Literati and Spatial Order,” 18–19. |
↑8 | Cams, “The Confusions of Space,” 518. |
↑9 | Cams, “The Confusions of Space.” On the Guang yutu, see Fuchs, The “Mongol Atlas”; Unno Kazutaka, Chizu bunkashijō no Kōyozu. On the spread of the maps of the Guang yutu and the practice of using maps in printed works more generally, see Akin, East Asian Cartographic Print Culture. |
↑10 | Cams, “The Confusions of Space,” 536. |
↑11 | In the fanli of a book, the author often explains their reasons for writing the book the way they wrote it, giving information about the arrangement of the contents, the sources etc. |
↑12 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, fanli 1a.. |
↑13 | The Guangyu kao was printed at least twice: first around 1595, a copy of which reached Florence already in 1606. This print includes a postscript by Wang Zuozhou and a preface by Yu Yilong, both dated 1595, as well as a preface by Wang Fengyü dated 1594. On this edition, including a reproduction of the prefaces (likely from the print held by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin), see Chang Hao, “About the Birthplace of Wang Feng-Yü.” Around 1611, the book was printed again. Kyoto University holds a print with an additional preface dated to 1611. Furthermore, the date of Wang Fengyu’s preface was changed to 1610, that of Wang Zuozhou’s postscript to 1602, while Yu Yilong’s name was replaced by that of Wang Ying 汪應 and the preface dated to 1611 (https://rmda.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/item/rb00022995). These changes were made without recarving the blocks of the work, but by only replacing the relevant characters. Unno also reports a version that changed the date of Wang Zuozhou’s postscript to 1604 (Unno Kazutaka, Chizu bunkashijō no Kōyozu, 163). On the Guangyu kao, see Unno Kazutaka, “Kōyozu wo mohō shita chizujō”; Unno Kazutaka, Chizu bunkashijō no Kōyozu, 163–67; Chang Hao, “About the Birthplace of Wang Feng-Yü.” Several annotations and elements on the maps in the Fangyu shenglüe point to the compilers having used the Guangyu kao. These include: 1) The Fangyu shenglüe cites Yu Yilong’s 1595 preface to the Guangyu kao (see Table 2). 2) The Fangyu shenglüe includes explanations of the maps titled “[Province] yutu shuo” 輿圖說. The Guangyu kao also includes such explanations under the same title, while the earlier editions of the Guang yutu (1556/7 and 1558) do not include these sections and later editions title them differently (“[Province] tu xu” 圖敘). The wording of these sections in the Fangyu shenglüe and Guangyu kao is not identical, although particular in the case of Guizhou province, the text is very close. 3) Some of the symbols used for toponyms on the maps are the same in the case of the Guangyu kao and Fangyu shenglüe, differing from the Guang yutu. On the map of Guizhou for example, Huguang wuzong 湖廣五宗 is marked with a triangle on the Guang yutu (editions of 1556/7, 1558, and 1566), which is missing on both the Guangyu kao and Fangyu shenglüe maps. |
↑14 | Papelitzky, Writing World History, 169–70. |
↑15 | Cams, “The Confusions of Space,” 539–40. |
The book was a collaborative effort. The idea of writing the Fangyu shenglüe traces back to Feng Yingjing 馮應京 (1555–1606) who died before the book could be finished. Feng Yingjing was acquainted with Ricci and was involved in one way or the other in several projects of making world maps. [1]On Feng Yingjing and Matteo Ricci, see for example Elman, On Their Own Terms, 53–57. Besides initiating the idea for the Fangyu shenglüe, he wrote a preface to the 1603 Liangyi xuanlan tu 兩儀玄覽圖 (Mysterious Visual Map of the Two Forms) by Ricci and Li Yingshi 李應試 (1559–1620?), and included a world map titled “Shanhai yudi quantu” 山海輿地全圖 (Complete Map of Mountains, Seas, and Lands) in his book Yueling guangyi [2]Feng Yingjing, Yueling guangyi, shoujuan 60b–61a. A nearly identical map was later included in the encyclopaedia Sancai tuhui and several other works. For a discussion, see Ayusawa Shintarō, … Continue reading (fig. 9). Feng Yingjing had also involved Cheng Bai’er’s friend Li Ding 李鼎 (fl. 1588–1612) in the process of making the Fangyu shenglüe. [3]Feng Yingjing’s and Li Ding’s (named by his zi Zhangqing 長卿) involvement in the making of the Fangyu shenglüe is mentioned in two prefaces (Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, Xu … Continue reading It was then Cheng Bai’er who took up the project, gathered further scholars, and completed and printed the geographical work. [4]Xu Xuelin, “Shilun Huizhou diqu de gudai keshuye,” 218; Du Xinfu, Mingdai banke zonglu, j. 5, 24a. Each juan was compiled by different scholars, most of them from Cheng Bai’er’s hometown. Three of those credited for the waiyi section had Nanchang (in Jiangxi) as their hometown, where several of the preface writers were from. Many of them seem to have been related, with several authors being from the Cheng 程, Wu 吳, Pan 潘, Li 李, and Wang 汪 families. In addition to the authors listed at the beginning of a juan as having compiled parts of the Fangyu shenglüe, several men are also mentioned as having “written” (shu 書) the prefaces and some other minor sections, referring to the physical act of doing the calligraphy. Two of the prefaces also mention that a certain Huang Yigui 黃一桂 had carved the woodblocks. This name does not surprise: the Huang family was a well-known family of carvers in Huizhou. [5]Chia, “Huizhou Natives and the Publishing World of Late Ming China.” For a list of contributors, see table 2.
Table 2. Compilers and contents of the Fangyu shenglüe.
Juan | Compiler(s) | Hometown | Fangyu shenglüe content |
---|---|---|---|
Li Weizhen 李維楨 | Huguang, Jingshan 京山 | Preface (Fangyu shenglüe xu 方輿勝略敘) | |
Nan Shizhong 南師仲 | Shaanxi, Xi’an | Preface (Fangyu shenglüe xu 方輿勝略序 ) | |
(Written by Wang Daohui 汪道會書, [carved] by Huang Yigui 黃一桂) | |||
Zhu Mouwei 朱謀偉 | Nanchang | Preface (Fangyu shenglüe xu 方輿勝略敘) | |
Jiao Hong 焦竑 | Nanjing | Preface (Ti Fangyu shenglüe 題方輿勝略) | |
(Written by Wu Ji’en 吳繼恩, carved by Huang Yigui 黃一桂) | |||
Xu Laifeng 徐來鳳 | Jiangxi, Nanchang | Preface (Fangyu shenglüe yin 方輿勝畧引) | |
(Written by Cheng Jin 程溍) | |||
Li Bengu 李本固 | Shandong, Linqing 臨清 | Postscript to the Fangyu shenglüe (Fangyu shenglüe ba 方輿勝略跋 | |
(Written by Cheng Qi 程琦) | |||
Cheng Bai’er 程百二 | Xin’an | Table of contents (Fangyu shenglüe zongmu 方輿勝畧總目) [Actually not a table of contents, but basic numbers of the administrative subdivisions, amount of tax etc. of the provinces] | |
Yu Yilong 余一龍 (1565 jinshi) | Nanzhili, Wuyuan | Untitled comment, part of zongmu, after map of China. Citation of Yu Yilong’s preface to the Guangyu kao | |
(Written by Cheng Jiuwan 程九萬) | |||
Gui E 桂萼 (died 1531) | Jiangxi, Anren 安仁 | Untitled citation from Gui E’s preface to his Da Ming yudi tu 大明輿地圖 (1530) [See Chen Zilong, Xu Fuyuan, and Song Zhengbi, Ming jingshi wenbian, j. 182, 2b–3a.] | |
(Written by Zhang Fangqing 張房倩) | |||
1 | Wang Weidu 汪為度 | Xin’an | Discussion of the geography of the capital (Jingdu xingsheng lun 京都形勝論) |
Xin’an | Beijing | ||
2 | Wang Youdao 汪有道 | Zhejiang, Hulin 虎林 (Hangzhou 杭州) | Nanjing |
3 | Hu Bangzhi 胡邦直 | Zhejiang, Guzhang 古鄣 (Anji 安吉) | Shanxi |
4 | Feng Ting 馮霆 | Nanzhili, Xuyi 盱眙 | Shandong |
5 | Cheng Du 程度 | Xin’an | Henan |
6 | Wang Jialiu 汪家騮 | Xin’an | Shaanxi |
7 | Hu Guangji 胡光吉 | Xin’an | Zhejiang |
8 | Wu Jizhi 吳繼志 | Guzhang | Jiangxi |
9 | Cheng Kezheng 程可徵 | Xin’an | Huguang |
10 | Wu Tengxiang 吳騰驤 | Xin’an | Sichuan |
11 | Pan Yiji 潘一驥 | Xin’an | Fujian |
12 | Dai Ren 戴任 | Nanzhili, Haiyang 海陽 | Guangdong |
13 | Li Chunfeng 李春逢 | Xin’an | Guangxi |
14 | Pan Yiju 潘一駒 | Nanzhili, Guangling 廣陵 | Yunnan |
15 | Cheng Yingpin 程應聘 | Xin’an | Guizhou |
16 | Cheng Mingjian 程明劍 | Xin’an | Liaodong |
17 | He Panlong 賀攀龍 | Xin’an | Nine frontiers (Jiubian 九邊) |
Cheng Ji 程驥 | Xin’an | Complete Map of the Nine frontiers (Jiubian zongtu 九邊總圖) | |
18 | Yan Buyi 顏不疑 | Guangling | Discussion on the source of the [Yellow] River (Heyuan lun 河源論) |
Cheng Ce 程策 (1610 jinshi) | Xin’an | Map and Explanation of Coastal Defence (Haifang tushuo 海防圖說) | |
Wang Weidu 汪為度 | Xin’an | Grain transport (Caoyun 漕運) | |
Wang Xijue 王錫爵 | Shanxi, Taiyuan 太原 | Preface to the Fangyu shenglüe waiyi (Fangyu shenglüe waiyi yin 方輿勝略外夷引) | |
1.1 | Tang Shisheng 唐時升 | Nanzhili, Jiading 嘉定 | [World map in two hemispheres, explanation, and list of coordinates] |
Jiao Zunsheng 焦尊生 | Moling 秣陵 (Nanjing) | ||
Liu Yican 劉一燦 | Jiangxi, Yuzhang 豫章 (Nanchang) | ||
Cheng Bai’er | Xin’an | ||
1.2 | Cheng Bai’er | Xin’an | [Northern barbarians] |
Wu Mianxue 吳勉學 | Xin’an | ||
2 | Li Meng 李䝉 | Yuzhang | [Eastern barbarians] |
Li Kejia 李克家 | Yuzhang | ||
3 | Sun Guangyu 孫光寓 | Xin’an | [Western barbarians 1] |
Wu Ji’en 吳繼恩 | Xin’an | ||
4 | Zheng Benlie 鄭本烈 | Xin’an | [Western barbarians 2 = Tibet] |
Wu Tengxiang 吳騰驤 | Xin’an | ||
5 | Hu Bangzhi 胡邦直 | Xin’an | [Southern barbarians] |
Fang Shiye 方世業 | Xin’an | ||
6 | Wu Laifeng 吳來鳳 | Xin’an | [Southern minorities] |
Pan Yiyu 潘一馭 | Xin’an |
Note: Several of the compilers (but not the preface writers) use old names for their hometowns. The current names are given in brackets. The order of the prefaces follows the print held by the National Archives of Japan. Each print I have seen orders the prefaces slightly different. From the prints I have seen, Li Bengu’s preface is only contained in the print held by the National Archives of Japan, Kyōto University, and the Library of Congress. The print at Tianjin University Library only includes Jiao Hong’s, Zhu Mouwei’s, and Xu Laifeng’s prefaces. The print of Kyōto University Library only includes Li Bengu’s preface.
Hardly any of the writers of the Fangyu shenglüe are known. Most of them do not even appear in local gazetteers and did not hold any official degrees. Even information on Cheng Bai’er is scarce. He might have been a brother or cousin of Cheng Dayue 程大約 (also known as Chen Junfang 程君房, 1541–1616?), who printed religious pictures given to him directly by Ricci. [6]On Cheng Dayue printing religious pictures, see Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China. Volume One: 635–1800, 811; Goodrich and Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 212–15. On Cheng Bai’er … Continue reading The following is known about the other contributors: Wu Mianxue 吳勉學 was a printer from Xin’an, Li Kejia 李克家 the son of Li Ding, and Jiao Zunsheng 焦尊生 the son of the famous scholar Jiao Hong 焦竑 (1541–1620) who had contributed a preface. [7]For Li Ding’s and Li Kejia’s biographies, see Xinjian xianzhi (Tongzhi), j. 48, 19b–21b. Li Kejia collaborated with Zhu Mouwei on at least two occasions. See Kerlouégan, “Printing for … Continue reading Dai Ren 戴任 had enlarged Feng Yingjing’s almanac Yueling guangyi 月令廣義 (Extended meaning of the monthly proceedings, 1602) and Cheng Ce 程策 (1610 jinshi) is the only contributor besides the preface writers of whom I could find a record that he had passed his jinshi examination. [8]For his biography, see Xiuning xianzhi, j. 6, 49ab.
Despite the lack of fame of the compilers, Cheng Bai’er managed to convince several prominent scholars and even a prince to write prefaces for the work, namely: [9]It is however possible that Cheng Bai’er simply claimed that these prominent figures wrote the prefaces, a practice we can find during the Ming to increase the sale by attaching the names of … Continue reading Jiao Hong (preface dated 1609), prince Zhu Mouwei 朱謀㙔 (c.1550–1624, preface dated 1610), [10]Zhu Mouwei was a prince of the house of Ning 寜 based in Nanchang who was well connected with the literati world. Zhu Mouwei is credited to have written 112 titles. See Kerlouégan, “Printing for … Continue reading Wang Xijue 王錫爵 (1534–1610), [11]On Wang Xijue, see Goodrich and Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1376–79. and Li Weizhen 李維楨 (1547–1626). [12]On Li Weizhen, see Guoli zhongyang tushuguan, Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, 220. In addition, there are also prefaces of lesser known scholars: Nan Shizhong 南師仲 (1595 jinshi), Xu Laifeng 徐來鳳, and Li Bengu 李本固 (preface dated 1612). [13]On Li Bengu, see Papelitzky, Writing World History, 57. Cheng Bai’er knew at least some of them personally. Especially his relationship with Jiao Hong seems to have been quite close: In his Chengshi congke 程氏叢刻 (1615), he reprinted several books held in Jiao Hong’s library.
The book shows evidence of being created within a network centred around Xin’an with close ties to Nanchang, not just concerning the compilers of the work, but also the sources they used. Wang Fengyu and Wang Zuozhou, from Xin’an, created the Guangyu kao, which was one of the sources for the first part on China. In addition, one of the very few explicitly cited sources, the Liangzhe haifang leikao xubian 兩浙海防類考續編 (Sequel of the Thoughts on Coastal Defence of Zhejiang, 1602), was co-compiled by an author from Xin’an, Fan Lai 範淶 (1574 jinshi). Both the Guangyu kao and Liangzhe haifang leikao xubian feature a preface by Yu Yilong 余一龍 (1565 jinshi), of which the first one was copied in the Fangyu shenglüe. For the third part, the typical late Ming world history, as well, can we find a possible personal relationship and connections between the compilers of the Fangyu shenglüe and the scholars involved in the making of the source. Luo Yuejiong’s Xianbin lu was printed in Nanchang by Liu Yikun 劉一焜, who judging from the name was a brother or cousin of Liu Yican 劉一燦, who is credited as co-compiler for one of the juan on the non-Ming world. The Fangyu shenglüe was the result of close cooperation between the people credited and their acquaintances, brought together by Cheng Bai’er in Xin’an.
References[+]
↑1 | On Feng Yingjing and Matteo Ricci, see for example Elman, On Their Own Terms, 53–57. |
---|---|
↑2 | Feng Yingjing, Yueling guangyi, shoujuan 60b–61a. A nearly identical map was later included in the encyclopaedia Sancai tuhui and several other works. For a discussion, see Ayusawa Shintarō, “Getsurei kōgi shosai no Sankai yochi zenzu to sono keitō”; Ptak, “The Sino-European Map.” |
↑3 | Feng Yingjing’s and Li Ding’s (named by his zi Zhangqing 長卿) involvement in the making of the Fangyu shenglüe is mentioned in two prefaces (Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, Xu Laifeng yin 徐來鳳引 2b; Li Weizhen xu 李維楨序 1b). See also Huang Shijian and Gong Yingyan, Li Madou, 39; Du Yongtao, “Literati and Spatial Order,” 22. Cheng Bai’er helped publishing Li Ding’s collected writing, Li Zhangqing ji 李長卿集. He wrote out the preface by Li Weizhen and edited juan 20. Li Ding also included a poem, commemorating sending Cheng Bai’er to the north (without specifying where exactly) (Li Ding, Li Zhangqing ji, j. 2, 7b). For Feng Yingjing’s biography, see D’Elia, Fonti Ricciane: Documenti Originali Concernenti Matteo Ricci e La Storia Delle Prime Relazioni Tra l’Europa e La Cina (1579–1615), II:162–163, note 1. |
↑4 | Xu Xuelin, “Shilun Huizhou diqu de gudai keshuye,” 218; Du Xinfu, Mingdai banke zonglu, j. 5, 24a. |
↑5 | Chia, “Huizhou Natives and the Publishing World of Late Ming China.” |
↑6 | On Cheng Dayue printing religious pictures, see Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China. Volume One: 635–1800, 811; Goodrich and Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 212–15. On Cheng Bai’er and Cheng Dayue being related, see Wang Zhongmin, Zhongguo shanbenshu tiyao, 185–86. Some of the contributors of the Fangyu shenglüe also provided material for Cheng Dayue’s Chengshi moyuan: Jiao Hong, Nan Shizhong, and Wang Xijue. |
↑7 | For Li Ding’s and Li Kejia’s biographies, see Xinjian xianzhi (Tongzhi), j. 48, 19b–21b. Li Kejia collaborated with Zhu Mouwei on at least two occasions. See Kerlouégan, “Printing for Prestige?,” 51. On Wu Mianxue, see Chia, “Huizhou Natives and the Publishing World of Late Ming China,” 332–38. On Jiao Zunsheng, see Shangyuan xianzhi (Qianlong), j. 10, 51b. For Jiao Hong’s biography, see Hummel, Eminent Chinese, 145–46. |
↑8 | For his biography, see Xiuning xianzhi, j. 6, 49ab. |
↑9 | It is however possible that Cheng Bai’er simply claimed that these prominent figures wrote the prefaces, a practice we can find during the Ming to increase the sale by attaching the names of prominent figures. If and to what extent this was done in the Fangyu shenglüe, is impossible to know. |
↑10 | Zhu Mouwei was a prince of the house of Ning 寜 based in Nanchang who was well connected with the literati world. Zhu Mouwei is credited to have written 112 titles. See Kerlouégan, “Printing for Prestige?,” 46, 52. On Zhu Mouwei, also see Goodrich and Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1376–79. |
↑11 | On Wang Xijue, see Goodrich and Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1376–79. |
↑12 | On Li Weizhen, see Guoli zhongyang tushuguan, Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, 220. |
↑13 | On Li Bengu, see Papelitzky, Writing World History, 57. |
Mapping China
The structure of the China part of the Fangyu shenglüe follows the standard structure of comprehensive geographies, first describing Beizhili and Nanzhili and then discussing all other provinces each in their own juan. Before the beginning of most juan, the compilers added a map of the respective province as well as a short discussion of the map, followed by some statistics on the province. These sections of the Fangyu shenglüe resemble the Guangyu kao. Then the compilers give information about key geographical features such as mountains, rivers, and lakes, some information on the customs of the people and the products the region produces, some notes on famous people from history as well as exemplary women, organized by prefecture. The structure in these parts of the Fangyu shenglüe follows the Da Ming yitong zhi, which includes similar categories although the text in the Fangyu shenglüe is much shorter. [1]The Da Ming yitong zhi also makes the subcategories easier to distinguish by printing the title of the section (e.g. “shanchuan 山川, mountains and rivers) in a black box with the characters … Continue reading The last provinces to be mentioned are those at the borderlands—Guizhou (juan 15) and Liaodong (juan 16). Liaodong is the only province not illustrated with a map. Juan 17 describes the jiubian 九邊, the nine frontiers, referring to the Chinese borderlands in the northeast. The last juan contains information and maps about the source of the Yellow River (“Heyuan lun” 河源論), coastal defence (“Haifang tushuo” 海防圖說), and on grain transport (“Caoyun” 漕運), each illustrated with a map.
The maps for the China section are drawn with less attention to detail compared to the Guangyu kao. What are curved lines of rivers on the maps in the Guangyu kao, become nearly straight lines in the Fangyu shenglüe. While Cheng Bai’er and his companions also drew a grid on their maps, [2]To show distances on a map, Chinese mapmakers sometimes added a grid to their map stating that each square represents a certain distance. their grids often are rather elongated rectangles instead of squares. This is especially evident in the map of Sichuan: Instead of one double page, it is stretched to two double pages in the Fangyu shenglüe (figs. 10–11).
Sichuan yutu (Map of Sichuan) in the Fangyu shenglüe (1612). Height of paper ca. 26.5 cm. National Archives of Japan (4752488-03, 04)Figure 10. Sichuan Yutu (map of Sichuan) in the Fangyu shenglüe (1612). Height of paper ca. 26.5 cm. National Archives of Japan.
The “Haifang tushuo” deserves more attention. Several coastal defence maps were created when the so-called Japanese pirates (wokou 倭寇) troubled the Chinese coast particularly in the mid-sixteenth century. The most extensive coastal defence map of the Ming is contained in Zheng Ruozeng’s 鄭若曾 (fl. 1505–1580) Chouhai tubian 籌海圖編 (Illustrated Naval Strategy, first edition 1562), spanning across 72 double pages. [3]Zheng Ruozeng, Chouhai tubian, 52–195. (fig. 12). Similar extensive as well as abbreviated coastal maps can be found in other Ming books. [4]See e.g. Mao Yuanyi, Wubei zhi, j. 210–218; Zhang Huang, Tushu bian, j. 57, 1a–11b. On coastal and defence maps, see Molenaar, “Location the Sea”; Lee, “The Cartographic Construction of … Continue reading However, the “Haifang tu” in the Fangyu shenglüe is not one of these coastal defence maps. Instead, the compilers of the Fangyu shenglüe took the map of ocean transport, the “Haiyun tu” 海運圖, found in the Guangyu kao, and changed the title. This map shows the coast from the Bohai Sea 渤海 to Fujian with a line drawn in to depict the sailing route along the coast. In the Guangyu kao, this map is accompanied with a discussion of the route ships for transporting grain took from southern China to the north, while the Fangyu shenglüe discusses issues of coastal defence (figs. 13–14).
12 Chouhai tubian coastal defence NAJ Figure 12. Coastal map in Chouhai tubian (1562). Height of paper ca. 26 cm. National Archives of Japan.
Haifang tu (Map of coastal defence) in Fangyu shenglüe (1612). Height of paper ca. 26.5 cm. National Archives of Japan (4752489-093, 094).Figure 13. Haifang tu (Map of coastal defence) in Fangyu shenglüe (1612). Height of paper ca. 26.5 cm. National Archives of Japan (4752489-093, 094).
Part of Haiyun tu (Map of ocean transport) in Guangyu kao (1595/1611). Height of paper ca. 39 cm. Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto University.Figure 14. Part of Haiyun tu (Map of ocean transport) in Guangyu kao (1595/1611). Height of paper ca. 39 cm. Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto University.
Cheng Ce, the author of this juan, cites Cheng Bai’er in a comment inserted directly before the map, in which he states that discussing coastal defence and ocean transport together presents a more complete picture. After Cheng Bai’er’s comment, Cheng Ce also cites Li Chunfeng (who compiled juan 13 of the Fangyu shenglüe) who explains that Zheng Ruozeng had made a large coastal defence map, but that there is also Matteo Ricci’s Shanhai yudi quantu. The reader should consult the maps together. [5]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. 18 “Haifang tushuo”, 1a. It is not entirely clear which map he referred to here, most likely either the map in the Fangyu shenglüe or one of the no longer extant world maps Ricci had been involved in making in China. Regardless, which Shanhai yudi quantu he meant, neither one of them nor the “Haiyun tu” would be particularly useful for understanding China’s coastal defence system. The “Haiyun tu” only covers parts of the coast and neither the world map in the Fangyu shenglüe nor the Kunyu wanguo quantu depict the coast in detail. These maps do not provide any information on strategic positions and defence infrastructure in contrast to Zheng Ruozeng’s coastal map.
This switch in name of the map to a coastal defence map is even more curious, when looking at the description that follows the maps. Here, Cheng Ce explicitly cites Fan Lai’s and Shi Jichen’s 史繼辰 (1577 jinshi) Liangzhe haifang leikao xubian – one of the few occasions in the Fangyu shenglüe that a source is named. [6]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. 18 “Haifang tushuo”, 9b. Fan Lai and Shi Jichen included a coastal map of Zhejiang (on 40 double pages) resembling in many aspects the one in the Chouhai tubian, drawing out the coast as a long strip and adding information on defence infrastructure (fig. 15). Cheng Ce thus could have easily added a “real” coastal defence map in the Fangyu shenglüe. This shows that the compilers of the Fangyu shenglüe had a rather crude understanding of coastal defence. While on a first glance, the Fangyu shenglüe seems to have simply followed previous sources on the geography of China, the coastal map and the discussion thereof showed how the compilers attempted to innovate to create a work that went beyond simply copying previous sources.
15 Liangzhe coastal defence NAJ Figure 15. Coastal map in Liangzhe haifang leikao xubian. Height of paper ca. 27 cm. National Archives of Japan
Mapping the “barbarians”
The second part of the Fangyu shenglüe about the non-Ming world is titled Fangyu shenglüe waiyi. The waiyi section of the work is divided into two parts, with two juan 1. The first one consists of the world map in two hemispheres and a list of coordinates, and the second juan 1, being the first of six juan, gives a comprehensive summary of China’s relation with the non-Chinese world. The title—waiyi—relates the book to the usual naming convention for non-Chinese regions and people in Chinese sources. Throughout the Ming (and earlier periods of Chinese history), non-Chinese were designated by terms usually translated as “barbarian” and grouped into cardinal directions. There were “eastern barbarians” (dongyi 東夷), “southern barbarians” (nanman 南蠻), “western barbarians” (xirong 西戎), and “northern barbarians” (beidi 北狄), although the Chinese terms varied slightly. The overall designation was usually siyi 四夷, the “four barbarians”, but sometimes terms like waiyi were used instead. A popular way to think about foreigners was the idea of the distinction between the Chinese (Hua 華) and the “barbarians” (yi 夷). The “civilized” Chinese lived at the centre of the world, surrounded by “uncivilized barbarians”. [7]On this concept of the Hua–yi zhi bian 華夷之辨 (distinction between China and the barbarians), see Shin, The Making of the Chinese State, 158–70; Crossley, A Translucent Mirror, 247–52; … Continue reading A term like “outer barbarians” made this distinction even clearer.
Aside from the two-hemisphere map, the first juan 1 includes several comments and prefaces added before and after the map, as well as a detailed list of cities and their coordinates. [8]This list of longitudes and latitudes is discussed in Chen Guansheng, “Fangyu shenglüe zhong geguo dufenbiao zhi jiaoding.” Some of these comments give the title of the map as “Shanhai yudi quantu” while Zhu Mouwei calls the map “Wudazhou quantu” 五大州全圖 (Complete Map of the Five Continents) in his preface to the Fangyu shenglüe. [9]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, “Zhu Mouwei xu” 1b. Not all of these comments were written specifically for the Fangyu shenglüe. Some appeared on maps Ricci had co-authored. They include a preface by Wu Zhongming 吳中明 (born 1557, 1586 jinshi) from Xin’an, found on the 1602 Kunyu wanguo quantu, a preface by Feng Yingjing from the 1603 Liangyi xuanlan tu, as well as the description of the map by Matteo Ricci himself (although the Fangyu shenglüe does not credit him) that also appears on the 1602 and 1603 maps. Furthermore, there are comments by Xu Guangqi 徐光啟 (1562–1633) from Shanghai, Zhang Jingyuan 張京元 (1604 jinshi) from Guangling, Xu Shijin 徐時進 (1595 jinshi) from Guyin 古鄞 (Yinxian 鄞縣, Zhejiang), and Cheng Bai’er. These comments bolster the validity of the world map. [10]On these prefaces on the Kunyu wanguo quantu and related maps, see Standaert, “World Maps as Spaces of Intercultural Communication.”
The two hemisphere map is extremely detailed, every space is filled with text and the shape of the continents resemble those from the 1602 Kunyu wanguo quantu. Even though the map is so detailed, the compilers were aware of its limitations. In the introduction to the map, they state in a comment: “it is not possible to record this on a small map, the large map is detailed and complete.” [11]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, waiyi j. 1.1, 7b. The text of this introduction is nearly identical to one of the prefaces signed by Matteo Ricci on the Kunyu wanguo quantu, but Ricci’s name is missing in this case in the Fangyu shenglüe, and the comment on the small size is of course not on the Kunyu wanguo quantu. [12]This is the preface by Ricci to the very right of the Kunyu wanguo quantu. There are some minor differences between the versions, notably the remark that the map is in two hemispheres as found in the … Continue reading
Nevertheless, the details of the map in the Fangyu shenglüe are remarkable, which becomes especially clear when comparing the map in the Fangyu shenglüe with other world maps contained in printed books. The “Shanhai yudi quantu” Feng Yingjing had included in his Yueling guangyi contains hardly any place names. Similarly, Pan Guangzu, Li Yunxiang, and Fu Changchen used the two-hemisphere map of the Fangyu shenglüe to make their own map in two hemispheres for their Huiji yutu beikao quanshu. [13]Pan Guangzu, Li Yunxiang, and Fu Changchen, Huiji yutu beikao quanshu, j. 1, 1b–3a. However, they slightly reduced the amount of place names and changed the shapes of the landmasses to better fit the place names. This is even though the height of the paper of all these books equally measures around 26 to 27 cm. (figs. 16–17) The level of detail in the world map of the Fangyu shenglüe is certainly remarkable and shows that Cheng Bai’er and the other compilers attached importance to little geographical details. This stands in contrast to how they dealt with the maps of the Chinese provinces. The world map was not only an illustration for their book, but an important piece in it.
Chandu tu (World map in two hemispheres) in Huiji yutu beikao quanshu (1633). Height of paper ca. 26 cm. National Archives of Japan (4752499-27, 28).Figure 16. Chandu tu (World map in two hemispheres) in Huiji yutu beikao quanshu (1633). Height of paper ca. 26 cm. National Archives of Japan (4752499-27, 28).
South America in the world maps of the Fangyu shenglüe (left, A) and Huiji yutu beikao (right, B). In B, the shape of South America is expanded further west to make space for toponymsFigure 17. South America in the world maps of the Fangyu shenglüe (left, A) and Huiji yutu beikao (right, B). In B, the shape of South America is expanded further west to make space for toponyms
The Fangyu shenglüe’s list of coordinates provides knowledge of the wider world and the Americas going beyond what is depicted on the map. It divides the world into the continents of Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas (further divided into North and South America), and the southern continent Magellanica (fig. 18). [14]Kenneth Ch’en transcribed and compared the place names in the table with those from the Kunyu wanguo quantu, showing that most place names are the same as on the 1602 map. Chen Guansheng, “Fangyu … Continue reading This list also includes coordinates for places in the Ming empire, thus placing a discussion of parts of the geography of the Ming into the section on the “barbarians”. For each continent, a brief text introduces the extent of it and the lower register of the table gives some curious remarks for some place names that resemble (but are not identical to) those on the Kunyu wanguo quantu. In this table, we can find some of the earliest descriptions of the Americas in a Chinese book. The note for the continent reads:
North and South America are surrounded by water on four sides. Therefore, their area is broad, and the people are barbaric and crafty. At the moment, we do not know the customs of the people of all countries.
南北亞墨利加四圍皆海。然其地廣闊而人蠻滑。各國人俗迄今未詳。 [15]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. waiyi 1.1, 23b.
The brief annotations in the lower register speak of Brazilian cannibals, a story often repeated in Renaissance Europe and which made it to East Asia as well, as well as of a “balsam tree” (ba’ersuomo shu 巴尔娑摩樹), usually associated with Peru but in this case categorized under the country of Amazonas (Yamazan Guo 亞馬鐟國). [16]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. waiyi 1.1, 37b, 38a; Leca, “Brazilian Cannibals in Sixteenth-Century Europe and Seventeenth-Century Japan”; Schottenhammer, “‘Peruvian Balsam.’” The text in the Fangyu shenglüe claims that not much is known about the Americas – this would change around a decade later with the publication of Giulio Aleni (1582–1649) and Yang Tingyun’s 楊廷筠 (1557–1627) Zhifang waiji 職方外記 (Record of Everything beyond the Administration, 1623), which includes a whole chapter on the customs of the continent. [17]Aleni Giulio and Yang Tingyun, Zhifang waiji, j. 4. Yet, these short snippets in the lower margins of the table of coordinates already allow for a glimpse into the customs of places not usually described in Ming sources.
The second part of the waiyi section follows the usual Ming way of writing about the non-Chinese world. Not a single map was added to the second waiyi part despite a range of maps being available from sources such as the Guang yutu, Chouhai tubian, and Guangyu kao (fig. 19). [18]On the lack of including maps in the second part of the waiyi section and other world histories, see Papelitzky, Writing World History, 59–62. For this second part, the compilers only copied from Luo Yuejiong’s Xianbin lu and shortened it slightly. There is a subchapter for each described country, in which the compilers give details about its history and customs. In total, the book features entries for 97 countries and peoples. [19]For a list and table of contents, see Papelitzky, Writing World History, 186. The text is arranged geographically. While Luo Yuejiong made it clear which cardinal direction each “barbarian” country belonged to, the compilers of the Fangyu shenglüe did not preserve that information. Nevertheless, they copied the structure of the Xianbin lu exactly, starting first with the “northern barbarians” (e.g. the Mongols, juan 1), followed by the “eastern barbarians” (e.g. Japan, juan 2) and the “western barbarians” (e.g. Tibet, juan 3 and 4). The last part is devoted to the “southern barbarians” (e.g. Siam, juan 5). In contrast to many other late Ming works, Luo Yuejiong, and in consequence the compilers of the Fangyu shenglüe, considered not only Southeast Asian countries as “Southern barbarians”, but also the people living in the southern borderlands of China (juan 6). [20]On the other hand, Shen Maoshang and Mao Yuanyi for example did not include the peoples in the southern borderlands in the discussion of the non-Ming world in their Siyi guangji and Wubei zhi. Other … Continue reading
The information in the second waiyi section is selective and does not include information on the most recent history of the regions described. In the chapter for Siam, for example, the most recent event mentioned dates to the Longqing 隆慶 period (1567–1572), despite contemporary and even earlier Ming books including more recent information on the country. [21] Papelitzky, Writing World History, 100–102. How Europeans are presented in the Fangyu shenglüe further exemplifies this. The compilers did not make a single reference to the Portuguese, Spanish, or Dutch, neither as their own chapter, nor do the compilers mention the Portuguese conquest of Melaka in 1511 or the Spanish in Manila, information we can find in other contemporary sources. [22]For example in the Shuyu zhouzi lu, Siyi guangji, and Huang Ming xiangxu lu 皇明象胥錄 (Records of the Interpreter of the Glorious Ming, 1629). On writing about Europeans in these texts, see … Continue reading The section on Luzon in the Fangyu shenglüe, for example, reads:
Luzon: This land produces gold. During the Hongwu and Yongle periods [Luzon] came to bring tribute. In the 4th year of Wanli (1576), [Luzon] sent help to suppress a fleeing thief and had success. The tribute route enters from Fujian.
呂宋其地產金。洪武永樂初朝貢。萬曆四年助討逋賊有功。貢道由福建入。 [23]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. 5, 24a.
While by 1576, Spanish had already settled in Manila, the text makes no distinction between the pre-colonial and colonial period. The fleeing thief most likely refers to Limahong (Lin Feng 林鳳), who with his crew repeatedly raided the Chinese coast in the mid-sixteenth century, Manila in 1574 and finally was caught by authorities and surrendered in 1576. [24]Shutz, “Limahong’s Pirates, Ming Mariners, and Early Sino– Spanish Relations,” 316–17. The Fangyu shenglüe deals with Europeans in the same way as in the Xianbin lu. It’s author Luo Yuejiong reflects on this at the beginning of his book, claiming to write about the “xianbin 咸賓”, guests, who come to China to bring tribute, and not about “all barbarians”, the siyi. [25]Luo Yuejiong, Xianbin lu, 12. While he does not name them explicitly, this excludes the Portuguese who were not on the list of tribute bringing countries sanctioned by the Ming state. In contrast to other contemporary works, Cheng Bai’er and his fellow compilers did not add information. This part of the Fangyu shenglüe firmly presents a view of the world centred on China and the state’s official connections to the world, a world that included Luzon as its easternmost point, ignoring the vast waters of the Pacific and the lands beyond, despite the world map and table of coordinates in the juan before clearly integrating the Ming into this wider world (fig. 20).
References[+]
↑1 | The Da Ming yitong zhi also makes the subcategories easier to distinguish by printing the title of the section (e.g. “shanchuan 山川, mountains and rivers) in a black box with the characters appearing white, with each category starting in a new line. This makes it easy to browse through the gazetteer. In the Fangyu shenglüe,the titles of the characters are printed in the same characters as the main text printed continuously without line breaks. |
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↑2 | To show distances on a map, Chinese mapmakers sometimes added a grid to their map stating that each square represents a certain distance. |
↑3 | Zheng Ruozeng, Chouhai tubian, 52–195. |
↑4 | See e.g. Mao Yuanyi, Wubei zhi, j. 210–218; Zhang Huang, Tushu bian, j. 57, 1a–11b. On coastal and defence maps, see Molenaar, “Location the Sea”; Lee, “The Cartographic Construction of Borders,” 350–96. |
↑5 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. 18 “Haifang tushuo”, 1a. |
↑6 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. 18 “Haifang tushuo”, 9b. |
↑7 | On this concept of the Hua–yi zhi bian 華夷之辨 (distinction between China and the barbarians), see Shin, The Making of the Chinese State, 158–70; Crossley, A Translucent Mirror, 247–52; Mittag, “Offensive Expansion,” 79; Guan Yanbo, “Mingdai de yutu shijie: ‘Tianxia tixi’ yu ‘huayi zhiyu’ de chengzhuan jianbian.” |
↑8 | This list of longitudes and latitudes is discussed in Chen Guansheng, “Fangyu shenglüe zhong geguo dufenbiao zhi jiaoding.” |
↑9 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, “Zhu Mouwei xu” 1b. |
↑10 | On these prefaces on the Kunyu wanguo quantu and related maps, see Standaert, “World Maps as Spaces of Intercultural Communication.” |
↑11 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, waiyi j. 1.1, 7b. |
↑12 | This is the preface by Ricci to the very right of the Kunyu wanguo quantu. There are some minor differences between the versions, notably the remark that the map is in two hemispheres as found in the Fangyu shenglüe. For a comparison of the different versions of this preface, see Unno Kazutaka, “Min, Shin ni okeru Mateo Ricchikei sekaizu: Shutoshite shinshiryō no kentō,” 43–44. For a translation of the version in the Sancai tuhui, see Akin, East Asian Cartographic Print Culture, 282–85. |
↑13 | Pan Guangzu, Li Yunxiang, and Fu Changchen, Huiji yutu beikao quanshu, j. 1, 1b–3a. |
↑14 | Kenneth Ch’en transcribed and compared the place names in the table with those from the Kunyu wanguo quantu, showing that most place names are the same as on the 1602 map. Chen Guansheng, “Fangyu shenglüe zhong geguo dufenbiao zhi jiaoding.” |
↑15 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. waiyi 1.1, 23b. |
↑16 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. waiyi 1.1, 37b, 38a; Leca, “Brazilian Cannibals in Sixteenth-Century Europe and Seventeenth-Century Japan”; Schottenhammer, “‘Peruvian Balsam.’” |
↑17 | Aleni Giulio and Yang Tingyun, Zhifang waiji, j. 4. |
↑18 | On the lack of including maps in the second part of the waiyi section and other world histories, see Papelitzky, Writing World History, 59–62. |
↑19 | For a list and table of contents, see Papelitzky, Writing World History, 186. |
↑20 | On the other hand, Shen Maoshang and Mao Yuanyi for example did not include the peoples in the southern borderlands in the discussion of the non-Ming world in their Siyi guangji and Wubei zhi. Other members of their families also did not. For details, see Papelitzky, “Gui’an,” 124–25. |
↑21 | Papelitzky, Writing World History, 100–102. |
↑22 | For example in the Shuyu zhouzi lu, Siyi guangji, and Huang Ming xiangxu lu 皇明象胥錄 (Records of the Interpreter of the Glorious Ming, 1629). On writing about Europeans in these texts, see Papelitzky, Writing World History, 152–55. |
↑23 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, j. 5, 24a. |
↑24 | Shutz, “Limahong’s Pirates, Ming Mariners, and Early Sino– Spanish Relations,” 316–17. |
↑25 | Luo Yuejiong, Xianbin lu, 12. |
Even though the compilers of the Fangyu shenglüe do not discuss the concept of the distinction between Hua and yi explicitly in their book, they make a paratextual distinction between contents on China and on the “barbarians”. There is “us” in the first part of the Fangyu shenglüe, and then there is “them” in the second part. However, there are two views on “them”. The predominate narrative during the Ming saw China at the very centre of the world surrounded by “barbarians” that brought tribute to the Ming court. The compilers made no effort to revise the chapters that propagated this view that was far from reality, even though material to do so was available to them. The new “them” on the other hand that showed that China was only a small country among many needed to be phrased in a way to convince others.
By not including the world map in the counting of juan for the chapters on the foreigners, the authors separated the new world view from the old one. Each could stand on their own. Nobody would realize, if somebody removed the juan 1 with the map; there would still be another juan 1, keeping the count intact. The people involved in making the Fangyu shenglüe certainly agree that the new world view was useful. They even thought that the map was helpful for one of the pressing issues of the time: coastal defence, claiming that this was a suitable map on that topic. In what seems to be an attempt to add weight to what they were writing and to make their book more convincing, a comparatively large number of scholars attached their name to the juan with the world map. In contrast to the chapters on China with only one compiler each, four authors are credited with the chapter on the map and the description is full of citations of other people. Nearly every statement is backed up by the name of someone else. Thus, the compilers present the map not as the crazy idea of a single person, but they highlight that many scholars showed support.
The first juan 1 of the waiyi part includes a preface by Feng Yingjing, challenging the idea of the whole world centring on China. Feng Yingjing explains:
When it comes to our Ming, many [countries] submitted to us. In the south and east at the maritime border there are countries like Korea (Chaoxian 朝鮮), Siam (Xianluo 暹羅), and Java (Zhuawa 爪哇), in total 17 countries. [There are also] the southwestern barbarians (xi’nanyi 西南夷) like Brunei (Poluo 婆羅) and Melaka (Manlajia 滿剌加), in total 29 countries. Then there are those that come from [the direction of] Mecca (Tianfang 天方), in total 28 countries. Then, in the western regions, there are Nepal (Nila 泥剌) [1]Nila is a mistake for Nibala泥八剌, Nepal. and Kham (Duogan 朶甘), in total 7 countries. There are 28 countries that come from [the direction of] Hami 哈密. There are many kinds of northern barbarians (beilu 北盧), we keep them all under control. Looking at the old prestige of [Chinese] rulers and their influence on culture, [China] is outstanding and prosperous. [However], looking at this map, [China] is only one fifth [of the earth]. The saying “Regardless of how far away, there is no place, where [the influence of China] has not arrived.” Is this true? [2]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, waiyi j. 1.1, 1b. For a punctuated version of this preface, see “Fulu,” 195–96. D’Elia also translated the complete preface by Feng Yingjing from the … Continue reading
Here, Feng Yingjing describes a world in which everyone submitted to the Ming, but then he questions the validity of this claim by explaining that China only is a small part of the world as shown on the world map. Yet, by adding the question at the end, he does not outright reject the idea that the Ming might indeed have been the central and most important state in the world. The other comments and prefaces to the map, including Cheng Bai’er’s, focus on describing the usefulness of the map for understanding the spherical shape of the earth and other geographic and astronomical features, information found at the margins of the Kunyu wanguo quantu. Feng Yingjing’s comment is the only one to question China’s position in the world.
The vocabulary used to describe the non-Ming regions and peoples differs slightly between the first juan 1 and the rest of the waiyi section of the work. In the first juan 1, any of the various Chinese terms for “barbarian” are used extremely sparingly. Besides the above cited section by Feng Yingjing in which he discusses China’s place in the world mentioning the “southwestern barbarians”, only a short note at the end of Cheng Bai’er’s preface states that he added information on the “four barbarians” (siyi) that bring tribute. [3]Huang Shijian and Gong Yingyan believe that this note was added by Cheng Bai’er and was not written by Feng Yingjing (Huang Shijian and Gong Yingyan, Li Madou shijie ditu yanjiu, 39). The other authors either use terms such as “every country” (geguo 各國) or simply name the countries and continents they are talking about without using any of the terms for “barbarian.” This stands in contrast to the second part of the Fangyu shenglüe waiyi. The compilers clearly labelled the Mongols as “northern barbarians” (beihu 北胡) and the chapter on Korea starts: “Korea is a large country of the eastern barbarians (dongyi 東夷)”. [4]Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, waiyi j. 1.2, 1a; j. 2, 1a. Nevertheless, the whole second part of the Fangyu shenglüe, including the map in two hemispheres, is titled “outer barbarians” (waiyi) and not “outer/foreign countries” (waiguo 外國) as for example the Mongol compiler Tuotuo 脱脱 (Toghto, 1314–1355) had called the chapters on foreign countries in the dynastic histories he had compiled, or how the Qing compilers termed the chapters on foreign countries in the Mingshi 明史 (History of the Ming, 1739). [5]Brose, “Realism and Idealism”; Qian Yun, “Cong ‘siyi’ dao ‘waiguo’. Zhengshi zhoubian xushi de moshi yanbian.” The many writers of comments and other short pieces of the first juan 1 might have used terms for “barbarian” sparingly, but the overall label in the Fangyu shenglüe remains that of all foreigners being “barbarians.”
The “Shanhai yudi quantu” is contained in a section termed “outer barbarians”, even though the world map and the list of coordinates presents a holistic view of the world that also includes China. The title waiyi therefore only makes sense for the second part of the waiyi section, where the compilers describe non-Chinese countries and people following long established patterns of doing so. Nevertheless, the map takes up an important position in the Fangyu shenglüe. By omitting any of the maps of foreign countries, the only way to locate these countries on a map in the Fangyu shenglüe is the two-hemisphere map.
Conceptually different from the Fangyu shenglüe is Cao Junyi’s 曹君義 Tianxia jiubian fenye renji lucheng quantu 天下九邊分野人跡路程全圖 (Complete Map of All under Heaven, the Nine Frontiers, Astral Allocations, Human Traces, and Route Itineraries, 1644), which was taken as the model for Wang Junfu’s 王君甫Tianxia jiubian wanguo renji lucheng quantu 天下九邊萬國人跡路程全圖 (Complete Map of All under Heaven, the Nine Frontiers, All Countries, Human Traces, and Route Itineraries, 1662, fig. 21). Both these maps depict a large China at the centre surrounded by non-Ming places, which include Africa, Europe, and the Americas in the margins. Cao Junyi had used another world map, the “Wanguo quantu” 萬國全圖 (Complete Map of All Countries, fig. 22) from Aleni and Yang Tingyun’s Zhifang waiji and synthesized what he knew from Chinese maps of China and information from the world map into a single source without making any paratextual separation. [6]On Cao Junyi’s map, see Cams, “Circling the Square.” The result reminds conceptually of late seventeenth and eighteenth century Japanese Buddhist maps that incorporated knowledge from … Continue reading For Cao Junyi, the Americas had become part of a sino-centric world. In contrast to this map, the Fangyu shenglüe does not blend what the authors perceived as European and Chinese knowledge, but kept it separate.
The Fangyu shenglüe, thus, is a mix between comprehensive geography and world history compiled by authors mostly from Huizhou based on sources the compilers could access through personal connections. It is one of the earliest works to present information on the Americas in Chinese. Separating the world view centred on China and the one showing China as only one of many countries paratextually was probably a strategy used by the compilers to make the new world view more convincing to their readers. Feng Yingjing and Cheng Bai’er might have been convinced that the incoming world view had value, but they left it open for other scholars to judge and offered them the world view familiar to Ming scholars as well.
References[+]
↑1 | Nila is a mistake for Nibala泥八剌, Nepal. |
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↑2 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, waiyi j. 1.1, 1b. For a punctuated version of this preface, see “Fulu,” 195–96. D’Elia also translated the complete preface by Feng Yingjing from the Liangyi xuanlan tu (D’Elia, “Recent Discoveries and New Studies,” 128–36). |
↑3 | Huang Shijian and Gong Yingyan believe that this note was added by Cheng Bai’er and was not written by Feng Yingjing (Huang Shijian and Gong Yingyan, Li Madou shijie ditu yanjiu, 39). |
↑4 | Cheng Bai’er et al., Fangyu shenglüe, waiyi j. 1.2, 1a; j. 2, 1a. |
↑5 | Brose, “Realism and Idealism”; Qian Yun, “Cong ‘siyi’ dao ‘waiguo’. Zhengshi zhoubian xushi de moshi yanbian.” |
↑6 | On Cao Junyi’s map, see Cams, “Circling the Square.” The result reminds conceptually of late seventeenth and eighteenth century Japanese Buddhist maps that incorporated knowledge from Renaissance world maps into a Buddhist representation of Jambudvīpa, the continent of the humans. See Moerman, The Japanese Buddhist World Map, 128–75. |
Kyōto University holds one print of the Fangyu shenglüe, which is now bound differently than other copies of the work, changing the way the world map functioned in the book. This print starts with Wang Xijue’s 王錫爵 preface, which in the usual bindings starts the waiyi section of the work. However, the last characters of the title of the preface were cut out of the paper, instead of being a “Preface to the Fangyu shenglüe waiyi” (Fangyu shenglüe waiyi yin 方輿勝略外夷引), the preface is simply titled “Fangyu shenglüe.” The marks of where the paper was cut away are clearly visible (fig. 23). Next follows Li Bengu’s “Postscript to the Fangyu shenglüe”, which the print at the National Archives of Japan had included as the last preface at the beginning of the work (see Table 2), and the print at the Library of Congress had as the second preface to the waiyi part of the Fangyu shenglüe. After these two prefaces, follows the world map in two hemispheres and most of the first juan 1 of the waiyi section. Missing, however, is the first page of the juan that announces this as being juan 1 from the waiyi section. After the world map, the Kyōto print includes the part on the geography of the Ming state without any of the prefaces, which in turn is followed by the waiyi chapters. At the beginning of the waiyi section are the first pages of the first waiyi juan, introducing the world map, usually bound before the world map. The introduction to the world map is therefore separated from the map itself.
First page of Wang Xijue’s preface to the Fangyu shenglüe: A (left): copy from Yoshida-South Library, Kyoto University; characters for waiyi have been cut out. B (right): National Archives of Japan (4752490-02).Figure 23. First page of Wang Xijue’s preface to the Fangyu shenglüe: A (left): copy from Yoshida-South Library, Kyoto University; characters for waiyi have been cut out. B (right): National Archives of Japan (4752490-02).
This binding essentially erases all traces of the world map belonging to the “barbarian” part of the book. The characters are cut out, the introduction to the map that explicitly mentions that this is part of the waiyi section is removed from the map, and most importantly, the map is placed at the very beginning of the Fangyu shenglüe. Doing so, makes the world map not only a map of the non-Ming regions but turns it into a universal map, a map that also includes the Ming empire. In its arrangement, the Kyōto print of the Fangyu shenglüe therefore resembles the Huiji yutu beikao quanshu, of which the compilers had relied on the maps of the Fangyu shenglüe to create their own maps, but placed the world map in two hemispheres at the very beginning of the work, in front of the maps of the Ming provinces.
We do not know who rebound the Fangyu shenglüe or when this was done. On the book are stamps dated 1937 (Shōwa 12) from the Daisan kōtō gakkō 第三高等学校, a school of higher education in Kyōto, showing that the book came into possessions of a library in Kyōto in its current form at that time at the latest. Anyone from a Ming to a Qing person or someone in Japan could have rearranged the book. Although it is impossible to answer this question, the Kyōto print shows how straightforward it was to change the function of the world map. The dichotomy of old and new views could easily be erased, and what had originally been a view of the world carefully integrated into the rest of the book and backed up with the authority of a great number of scholars, was pushed to the very front taking up a prominent place in the book.
Primary sources
Aleni Giulio 艾儒略 and Yang Tingyun 楊廷筠. Zhifang waiji 職方外紀. 1623. www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/bunko08/bunko08_c0488.
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