The standardization of ancient Chinese cartographic principles began in Peixiu in the Western Jin Dynasty, and to the Tang and Song Dynasties, with the continuous improvement of cartographic techniques, more and more maps were beyond the previous generation And the cartography theory began to appear, which marked the beginning of a brand new stage in China's cartography level.
1. Master of the history of Chinese cartography-Pei Xiu
In the history of Chinese cartography, the first cartographer with a clear record was Pei Xiu of the Western Jin Dynasty. Pei Xiu was a native of Wenxi, Hedong County (now Yuncheng, Shanxi). During the Cao Wei period, Pei Xiu held an important position in the palace. In the Western Jin Dynasty, he went to Sikong, and later Pei Xiu began to concentrate on map drawing.
"Book of Jin·Pei Xiu Biography" contains: " made eighteen articles of "Yugong Geographical Map", hidden in the secret house. " The document has a clear record, Pei Xiu has produced "Yugong Geographical Map", after going through And "hidden in the secret house", and this kind of map is only available to civil servants or emperors and nobles. But with the changes of the times, this "Map of Yugong Region" has ceased to exist.
Although the "Yugong Geographical Map" has been lost, it is the earliest historical atlas recorded in Chinese literature at present, and the most precious one is Pei Xiu in the preface ( The preface is kept in "Book of Jin·Pei Xiu Zhuan" and "Art and Literature Collection" (), which puts forward the six basic principles of map drawing, which is the famous "制图六体" in the history of ancient Chinese maps. The six bodies of the drawing are Daoli, Zhunwang, Gaoxia, Fangxie, Yuzhi , etc., which are the six basic principles of traditional map drawing. The terminology translated into today’s map is scale, elevation, distance, azimuth and terrain slope. These six system principles deeply influenced the later drawing of traditional Chinese maps and laid the foundation for traditional Chinese cartographic theories.
The map made by Pei Xiu is also a kind of silk map. Its style is similar to that of Mawangdui silk map. Although Pei Xiu handed over the map to the palace forbidden area to be preserved, it is Because the map is hidden in this forbidden area that cannot be seen by more people, it is difficult to survive in the world, and there is no detailed explanation and description outside the original map. Regarding Pei Xiu's cartography theory and practice, we can only find some clues from scattered literature records.
Pei Xiu's map theory has influenced a large number of geographers and cartographicists in later generations. He is also recognized as the earliest cartographer in China who is respected by later generations. Although maps such as Mawangdui and Fangmatan have appeared in the history before Pei Xiu, there is a lack of records and information about their origin, let alone who made them. So in a sense, Pei Xiu is an epoch-making master in the history of cartography in our country.
2. "Yuanhe Prefectures and Counties" and Jia Tan
In the Sui and Tang dynasties, as China ended the situation of splitting for nearly three hundred years since the Eastern Han Dynasty, ushered in A new round of stability and development has provided a good environment for the development of later maps. From the Tang Dynasty, the drawing of ancient Chinese maps has entered a new stage of development.
如 The National Local Chronicles of the Tang Dynasty "Yuanhe Prefectures and Counties". When the author Li Jifu made this book, he wrote a map for each county. The amount of drawing can be If you think about it in general, you can also imagine the level of drawing in the Tang Dynasty at that time. However, the map of this book has been lost due to the age of Yuanhe County Maps. Although Li Jifu was unable to pass the maps he compiled to the world, we can still imagine the superb skills of drawing at the time through the text in the book.
Another influential cartographer in the Tang Dynasty should be Jia Dan. Jia Dan is not only good at writing geography, but also good at drawing maps. He once mentioned Pei Xiu's six drawing styles in the table text of his book "Longyou Mountain South Map", and has made new developments based on it.
The most influential Jia Dan should be the "Hua Yi Tu in China". It took him 17 years to complete the drawing. He was nearly 50 years old when it was completed. It was mentioned in the "Hua Yi Tu"The scale is one inch folded, and different place names are marked with different colors on the map. These two mapping methods are called "計里画方" and "古今朱墨" , which were made in Peixiu. On the basis of the six-body system, new requirements are further put forward for the drawing of the map.
"Hai Nei Hua Yi Tu" is a huge national map in the Tang Dynasty. Although it was later lost due to the war, it affected the drawing of the Song Dynasty map.
3. "Yu Ji Tu" and "Hua Yi Tu"
In the Song Dynasty, the production of maps was more diverse than that of the Tang Dynasty, and the scope of application was also obtained. A great expansion. The most representative of the level of Song Dynasty cartography is "Yu Ji Tu" and "Hua Yi Tu" . According to the stele records on the two pictures, the two pictures were made in the seventh year of Fuchang (1136) and are now in the collection. Xi'an Stele Forest Museum.
The two drawings follow the principles of Pei Xiu and Jia Dan's drawing principles. The original version of "Hua Yi Tu" is the "Hua Yi Tu" by Jia Dan. Since the two pictures are stele maps, after nearly 9 centuries of wind and rain, the contents of the map can still be learned from the rubbings of these two pictures.
"Hua Yi Map" covers a wide range of geographic areas. Although the map does not use the principle of planning, it shows the four directions of east, west, south and north. The picture shows the rivers, mountains, roads, and geographical locations of various states throughout the Song Dynasty.
and "Yu Ji Tu" adopts the drawing principle of the plan plan inherited from Jia Dan. Each square is folded a hundred miles, of which there are 71 horizontal squares and 73 vertical squares, a total of 5110 squares. Cartography also greatly improves the accuracy of map drawing. The word "Yu Ji" in "Yu Ji Tu" refers to "Dayu's Footprints". This picture is obviously influenced by "Shangshu·Yugong". It includes the names of Kyushu, rivers and mountains described in "Yugong", which also compares ancient and modern with the local geography. According to scholars, the author of "Yu Ji Tu" is most likely Shen Kuo, a scholar of the Song Dynasty.
文史君说
China’s map production has achieved rapid development since the beginning of the Jin Dynasty, from Pei Xiu’s "graphic six bodies" to Jia Dan's "planning". The cartographic principles of "Lihuafang" have all made positive contributions to the development of ancient Chinese maps. Although with the changes of the times, the original map left by the two no longer exists, but the theory of their mapping was inherited by the Song Dynasty, so that we can still see the appearance of ancient Chinese maps before the Song Dynasty through the Song Dynasty maps.
References
Han Zhaoqing: "The Research on Chinese Cartography History from the Present to the Ancients and from the Ancients to the Ancients-A Comment on Yu Dingguo's History of Chinese Cartography", "Journal of Fudan University (Social Science Edition)" Issue 11, 2009.
Wang Chengzu: "Ancient Chinese Geography (Pre-Qin to Ming)", Commercial Press, 2015 edition.
(Author: Yu Gong literature and history awe-inspiring Walker)
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