Geographical sources and maps
General geographical reference works
As everyone knows, and as we are ceaselessly reminded in our work, China is a big place. An early step in most any research project will necessitate tracking down information relating to geography, whether someone's home town, the location of a county, the site of a temple, etc. A very large number of tools are at the historian's disposal to help in this regard, some more useful than others. A growing number are available online, but some of the most useful must still be consulted in paper form. Below are some basic works that offer good places to start.
Zhonghua renmin gongheguo diming da cidian 中華人民共和國地名大詞典. 3 vols. Cui Naifu, ed. Shanghai: Shangwu, 1998-2000.
With 180,000 place names and extensive historical information, this is by far the most complete and authoritative dictionary of its kind. Coverage goes up through 1994.
Zhongguo lishi diming da cidian 中國歷史地名大辭典. Wei Songshan, ed. Guangzhou, 1995.
Even though it has a self-avowed historical focus, the information here is not necessarily as detailed as in the preceding work; coverage ends in 1949.
Zhongguo lishi diming da cidian 中國歷史地名大辭典. 2 vols. Shi Weile, ed. Beijing: CAS, 2005.
Same title as the preceding, but an entirely different, and much more authoritative work, which took over twenty years to produce. The guiding figure behind this was Tan Qixiang, late dean of Chinese historical geography.
Zhongguo gujin diming da cidian 中國古今地名大辭典. Zang Lihe, ed. Shanghai: Shangwu, 1931; many reprints.
With about 40,000 place names, for decades this was perhaps the most complete geographical dictionary available. It’s old-fashioned and looks nice on the shelf, but is now superseded.
The Cities and Towns of China: A Geographical Dictionary. G.M.H. Playfair. Hong Kong, 1879 and Shanghai, 1910.
An old standard, a translation of Jean Baptiste Biot’s 1842 Dictionnaire des noms anciens et modernes des villes et des arrondissements compris dans l'empire chinois, itself based on the Jiaqing-era Yitong zhi. Is it still useful?
Zhongguo lidai xingzheng quhua 中國歷代行政區劃. Zhang Minggeng and Zhang Mingju, eds. 1996.
Allows you to locate the changing administrative boundaries of counties and provinces through the entire imperial period and most of the twentieth century.
Qingdai zhengqu yange zongbiao 清代政區沿革綜表. Niu Pinghan, ed. Beijing: Zhongguo ditu, 1990.
Extremely detailed listing of all administrative changes during the Qing, including references to the citation in the Shilu noting the change. Also gives latitude and longitude.
Maps and atlases
China has one of the oldest map-making cultures in the world, with extant examples dating back to the pre-imperial period. Maps of various sorts are found in many gazetteers, but for the Qing they abound in other places, too, including libraries and archives both in China and abroad. Unfortunately, many maps – including quite a few in the First Historical Archives – remain classified (“neibu” 內部) and are not available for scholarly use (maps in the NPM, on the other hand, are readily viewable). The good news is that more and more maps are being published, and the quality of reproductions is improving to the point that many of these materials can usefully be consulted. Ironically, compared to other fields of history, the pickings are relatively scarce when it comes to accurate and detailed Chinese historical atlases for scholarly use. The best is the set edited by Tan Qixiang, but these have their limitations. Do not forget the maps included in the Cambridge History of China series.
Zhongguo lishi dituji 中國歷史地圖集. Tan Qixiang, ed. 8 vols. 2nd rev. ed., 1985.
Collection of maps of the different regions/provinces of China presented chronologically. Fairly detailed, and based on good scholarship, with modern administrative boundaries represented. There is an index. The biggest drawback to its use is the poor quality of most editions and the inability to include all the information that the editors had gathered. The inherent teleology of projecting back today’s national borders to the distant past distorts some maps.
Zhongguo gudai dituji 中國古代地圖集. Cao Wanru, ed. 3 vols. Beijing: Wenwu, 1997.
The largest and most comprehensive collection of published maps to appear from the mainland. Volume 3 contains 212 maps from the Qing.
Zhongguo ducheng lishi tulu 中國都城歷史圖錄. 4 vols. (vol. 3 covers Song-Qing). Lanzhou, 1986-87.
This collection contains maps of the capitals of China starting from pre-Shang period to the year of 1949. In addition to maps, there are also photos of archeological discoveries of the capitals and illustrations of unearthed relics.
Da Qing yitong zhi 大清一統志 12vl. Mujangga, Pan Xi'en eds. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe (1995-1999).
There are three editions, one compiled during 1744, one finished in 1784, and the last one during the Jiaqing Reign. The editions were related to the territorial annexations.
Huang yu xia lan: Beijing daxue tushuguancang Qingdai caihui ditu 皇與遐覽：北京大學圖書館藏清代彩繪地圖. Yao Boyue, ed. Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Press (2008).
This book contains maps collected and preserved at the Peking University Library. There are a variety of maps, including those of the different provinces, travel routes, well-known sites and etc.
The History of Cartography, vol. 2, book 2: Cartography in the Traditional East and Southeast Asian Societies. J.B. Harley and David Woodward, eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994
Contains three important interpretive essays by Cordell Yee, all of which are heavily illustrated. The HOLLIS link provides access to a pdf copy of the book.
Zhongguo guditu zhenpin xuanji 中國古地圖珍品選集. Liu Zhenwei, ed.Harbin: Harbin ditu, 1998.
Over 100 pages of Qing-era maps, some in black-and-white, many in color, from the collection in the Dalian Library. Of reproducible quality.
Beijing lishi dituji 北京歷史地圖集. Hou Renzhi, ed. Beijing: Beijing CBS, 1985.
Overseen by the doyen of geographical studies in China, this volume contains extensive documentation on Beijing throughout history, including of course the Qing. The extremely detailed maps of the city are very useful for research.
Ouzhou shoucang bufen Zhongwen guditu xulu 歐洲收藏部分中文古地圖敘錄 (“A Descriptive Catalogue of Pre-1900 Chinese Maps Seen in Europe”). Li Xiaocong. Beijing: Guoji wenhua CBS, 1996.
An excellent descriptive catalogue of maps, mainly from the Qing, found in libraries in Europe. The text is in English and Chinese. The only regrettable thing about this book is that the b&w illustrations are so few, so small, and so inconveniently located.
The World and Its Warp and Woof: A Special Exhibition of Antique Maps donated by Prof. Johannes Hajime Iizuka 經緯天下. Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2005.
Contains fine reproductions of some 30-odd European maps of Asia and China. There are useful essays at the back on the history of Western cartography of Asia and on the typical features of Chinese maps.
Der Jesuiten Atlas der Kanghsi-Zeit. Walter Fuchs. Beijing, 1943.
Contains facsimiles of the entire set of provincial maps made for the Kangxi emperor by Jesuit cartographers in the 1710s. Does not include the Huangyu quanlantu general map.
Da Qing guangyu tu 大清廣輿圖.
A fine digitized version of the Kyushu University Library's 1785 Japanese copy of a Kangxi-period map, itself based on a Ming original, the Guangyu tu.
Online maps and geographical tools
Recent developments in digital technology have opened an entirely new type of resource that is of great value to historians of the late imperial (and other) periods. Here is a wonderful catalogue for GIS data and map archives of historical and modern China, provided by Center for Geographical Analysis, Harvard University. Below is information about some geographical databases most frequently used by Ming-Qing historians.
The China Historical Geographic Information System project was launched in January 2001 to establish a database of populated places and historical administrative units for Chinese history between 222 BCE and 1911 CE which can be queried and linked to digital geographic objects. CHGIS provides a base GIS platform for researchers to use in spatial analysis, temporal statistical modeling, and representation of selected historical units as digital maps. There is very good information available for Qing. Version 4 was released in 2007, and a beta of Version 5 was released in 2012, available here. Version 6 was released in December 2016, available here. Place name searches are also provided. CHGIS scanned maps and atlases of historical interest can be found in the CHGIS Archive .
Chinese Civilization in Time and Space
This database is provided by Academia Sinica. Based on Tan Qixiang's Zhongguo lishi dituji, it returns details on the current name for the place, the time period during which the name was being used, and the higher jurisdiction within which it belonged.
ChinaMap (on the open-source WorldMap platform)
Offers collection of data layers for browsing online as web maps, many of which can be freely downloaded. Users are allowed to group maps of different periods/themes into one, as well as switching different layers on a variety of base maps. Maps of Late Imperial China are accessible under “Historical Places” of the left sidebar. Even more datasets on the People’s Republic period are available for exploration.
China's History in Maps (on the open-source WorldMap platform)
Contains another collection of free geographic data layers powered by the WorldMap, China’s History in Maps is tailored for historians of late imperial China. Here you can find layers for Qing charity organizations, Ming/Qing courier stops and routes, heatmaps for Yuan/Ming/Qing exams, just to name a few.
CHMAP: Land Survey Maps of China: A Cartographic Database (1895-1944)
This cartographic database of the Max Planck Institute provides digitized land survey maps of China produced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, made by China’s central and provincial governments and the Land Survey Department of the Japanese Army.
Created by the U.S. Army Map Service during the Cold War period. It has an index map and detailed maps of each index, covering most of Eastern China (or Heihe–Tengchong Line).
Contains more than 400 historical map plates that can be georeferenced and exported for use in GIS applications.
This site contains declassified satellite images of China, taken for reconnaissance purposes during the Cold War. Though the images were taken well after the late imperial period, they were taken before the massive urbanization following the economic reform since the 1980s and thus contain useful information for historians.
Instruction: create an account, select an area you wish to view (click several points to choose a polygonal area), then go to Data Sets and look for Declassified Data. Declass 1 (1996) contains images from 1960-1972; Declass 2 (2002), 1963-1980; and Declass 3 (2013), 1971-1984. If you find this too complicated, or if the download speed is too slow (which seems to be the case for some regions outside of the US), downloading service is also available on Taobao at a price (~$5).
OldMapsOnline provides index and webmap for over 400,000 historical map scans held in libraries and private collections around the world. A list of participating libraries and institutions is here.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Antique Maps Collection
Collection of nearly 180 European maps of China dating from the 16th-19th centuries.
Maps from Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong reigns, with searchable location names.
Macau: A Selection of Cartographic Images (site no longer accessible)
Collection of historical maps of Macau from 1655-1991, hosted by the Library of Congress. Some maps include Guangdong and the southeastern coastline of mainland China. Maps are mostly from European countries. Images of the maps may be downloaded in JPEG format.
Perry-Castaneda Map Collection, UT Austin
Offers historical maps of early twentieth century China, as well as historical maps of Asia that might be of interest to some.
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
The largest collection of East Asian language books outside of Asia, LC boasts an outstanding collection of maps from the Qing, many of which are available online in high-resolution images. A search (Oct 2020) with limiting terms "China," "online," and "map" yields approximately 320 results for the period between 1600 and 1900. One such is the D'Anville atlas, based on the early-18th-c. surveys of the empire done under Jesuit supervision.
World Digital Library 世界数字图书馆
A wonderful digital library operated by UNESCO, the Library of Congress and other organizations. It collects digitalized documents from 193 countries ranging from 8000BCE to 2000 CE. A quick search for "清代" will result in 62 hits, a few of which are high-resolution maps produced in the Qing, including 皇清地理圖 and 大清萬年一統地理全圖.
This website provides an access to 1,170 old maps from Ming-Qing period held at the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, which covers thirteen categories such as 天文, 水路路程, 名勝, and etc. All characters and texts in the maps are digitized for researchers, which makes this database more valuable. Also, each items are introduced with a brief explanation on its content and context. This archive is free and open to public, but you have to register an account and receive an authorization before using it.
An easy to use, powerful GIS tool for displaying interactive geographical information on a rotatable globe. Play around with the time slider to animate events across time as well as space. Can be downloaded or displayed as a browser plug-in. With a bit of searching of the Google Earth Community Forums, you can find GIS projects of varying degrees of breadth, depth and reliability.
This is an information system established by Academia Sinica. By searching keywords, you can have access to the maps published or held by different organizations. It is a good resource for maps of Late Qing and after 1912.
This is a collection of antique maps dated between 14th century and 18th century under the Rare & Special e-Zone of HKUST (the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) library. This collection consists of more than 180 maps, charts, pictures and atlases. It has samples of almost all maps of China produced by European cartographers from the 16th to 19th centuries, vividly recording the long history of cross-cultural exchanges between China and the West.
Yokohama Shiritsu Daigaku Shozō no Kochizu Dētabēsu 横浜市立大学所蔵の古地図データベース
An elegant collection of rare maps from the library of the Yokohama City University. It includes around thirty or so historical maps of China. While most of these are from Japan, there are exceptions, such as a stunningly detailed street map of Beijing, the 京師城內首善全圖. A very useful resource for thinking about the Qing in a broader East Asian context, and especially for understanding Sino-Japanese relations. Also recommended as a place to go for research inspiration.
OSGeo 中国中心: Chinese version; English version.
Initiated by National Remote Sensing Center of China (NRSCC) 國家遙感中心 and maintained by Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) China Center 開放地理空間基金會中國中心, students of our course may find the collection of Chinese historical maps 中國歷史地圖 (from the pre-Qin period 先秦 to modern times 近現代) and Chinese draft history maps 中國史稿地圖集 from this site (Chinese version only) must useful. The overlap of historical and contemporary map provides users a transparent view. If students are interested in maps such as historical administrative division maps in the early PRC period 中國行政區劃沿革地圖, agroclimatic resource maps 農業氣候資源地圖, or natural disaster maps 災害地圖, this site is also a good place to consult. The English version of the site provides only natural disaster maps.
A digital program launched by Academia Sinica. Although it does not provide maps of its own, it provides high-resolution images of approximately 300 Ming-Qing maps in total stored at the Library of Congress and the British Library. In addition to the catalogue, which enables researchers to locate relevant maps by theme, it also has a detailed introduction of each of the maps in Chinese, as well as an analysis written by Lin Tianren, a researcher at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. At the end of the Chinese introduction, he lists relevant pieces stored in the National Palace Museum in Taipei so as to enable researchers to compare.
An online website selling old and rare maps. There are several hundreds of maps on China, mostly on the Ming-Qing and Republican period. One does not need to purchase the maps to be able to view high-resolution images.
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Libraries Digital Collection
This is the Digital Map Collection of the maps collected by the American Geographical Society. There are approximately 400 maps on China, many of which are on Late Qing and the Republic period.
There are more than 2000 maps on China, half of which can be viewed online.
Another website selling old and rare maps online. There are 100 or so maps on East Asia.
Tokyo National Museum Digital Archives 東京国立博物館研究情報アーカイブズ
The digital archive has a small number of maps from China and Taiwan, mostly dating from Edo Period and Meiji Period. These maps tend to focus on specific areas, such as Manchuria, the Manchu-Russia border, and seaport cities in the southeast. This small collection of maps could be interesting to look at to get a sense of the Japanese perspective – what areas of the Qing / China seemed interesting and relevant, from what dimensions could these areas be understood (geological, military, historical, etc.). Some maps have hand-written notes in Japanese attached to them.
Route books (路程書) W 50.7.4
Like “magistrate’s handbooks,” these are practical guides written by travelers for other travelers. They thus provide an entirely different perspective on geography and getting around. Only fifty or so survive.
Bibliography
- Timothy Brook, Geographical Sources of Ming-Qing History, 2nd ed. (Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, 2002), pp. 3-9, 31-41.