Re: The Chinese Seem To Have Their Own "Vinland Map"

We must thank
On 16 Jan 2006 14:32:16 -0800, dweller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
for the update below as posted to social.culture.china.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


On the "Overall Map of the Geography of All Under Heaven" and Zheng
He's Fleets
by
Gong Ying-yan of the Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang
University
(Written 15 Jan 2006) (
(Chinese original at:
http://bbs.omnitalk.org/alumni/messages/28967.html)
(Draft translation by Geoff Wade 16 January 2006)
(Text)
2005 marks the 600th anniversary of the first voyage to the Western
Ocean by Zheng He, and many people both within and outside China have
employed various forms to commemorate this great achievement in global
navigational history. Of course, in this, not everyone's aims have
been
the same. Abroad, the retired British commander Gavin Menzies in his
book "1421: the Year China Discovered the World" suggested that Zheng
He's fleets had carried out the first circumnavigation of the world.
His views were responded to by many people who were not very sure of
their facts and were also subject to criticism by some scholars. After
a number of critics had shown through clear historical facts that
Menzies viewpoint was completely mistaken, at the end of 2005, someone
advised that a recently-discovered ancient Chinese map could prove
Menzies' claims and proclaimed that "history should be rewritten to
show that Zheng He's fleets were the first to discover the entire
world!"
?http://huangzhangjin.blogchina.com/3880436.html?

It was learned that this map, named "Overall Map of the Geography of
all under Heaven" had on its left panel the characters "Copied in the
second month of spring in the kui-wei year of the Qian-long reign
(1763) from a map of the barbarians from all under Heaven who offer
tribute to the Court of the 16th year of Yong-le reign of the Ming
dynasty, drawn by Mo Yi-tong." That is to say, this map was drawn by
someone named Mo Yi-tong in 1763, and it was partially based on a "map
of the barbarians from all under Heaven who offer tribute to the
Court"
drawn in the 16th year of the Yong-le reign (1418) during the Ming
dynasty. The map has the following notation: "Those annotations
without
red borders are not from the original map." This means that all those
with red borders were from the original "map of the barbarians from
all
under Heaven who offer tribute to the Court". On the "Overall map of
the Geography of all under Heaven" there are found the words: "In the
13th year of the Yong-le reign (1415), I followed the senior envoy,
the
eunuch director Ma San-bao, and others to Bengal and other barbarian
lands all the way to Hormuz and such countries, to read the royal
proclamations and confer rewards. In the 16th year (1418), I returned
to the capital." As these words have a red border, it can be assumed
that these were on the original "map of the barbarians from all under
Heaven who offer tribute to the Court". The words "I followed the
senior envoy, the eunuch director Ma San-bao, and others to Bengal and
other barbarian lands all the way to Hormuz and such countries, to
read
the royal proclamations and confer rewards" certainly refer to Zheng
He's voyages to the Western Ocean. The "map of the barbarians from all
under Heaven who offer tribute to the Court" was thus seemingly drawn
on the basis of Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean, and the
"Overall map of the Geography of all under Heaven" copied the "map of
the barbarians from all under Heaven who offer tribute to the Court".
Thus, the "Overall map of the Geography of all under Heaven" reflected
the scope of the activities of Zheng He in his voyages to the Western
Ocean. What surprises people is that the "Overall Map of the Geography
of all under Heaven" is "an almost complete world map", "including not
only all the major continents (as well as the South Pole, the North
Pole and Greenland), with red-bordered annotations on both the
American
and Australian continents." From this we can conclude that Zheng He's
fleets truly did conduct a global circumnavigation. These were the
basic claims of the person who revealed details of this map.
This news attracted the attention of the global media and
researchers,
and we were all waiting to catch a glimpse of this ancient map, hoping
that this newly-discovered and important historical source would
powerfully promote the deeper development of Zheng He research. On 12
January 2006, we finally had more news: The British journal "The
Economist" had published a colour photo of this map. It noted that the
map was going to be unveiled in Beijing and London on 16 January.
Although the photograph of the "Overall Map of the Geography of all
under Heaven" published in The Economist was not large, and the
characters could not be clearly seen, the basic shape of the various
continents of the globe could be observed very clearly. On closer
examination, the map proved to be a great disappointment: Its origins
lay certainly not in any Chinese map from the age of Zheng He, but
rather in European world maps of the early 17th century.
The "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven" is a
transversal
projection world map, and we only have to have a glance through the
many world maps published in Europe from the 1630s to the middle of
the
1700s, such as the world maps of the family of the Dutchman Johan
Blaeu, to easily see that this is completely copied from a European
map. The only difference is that on the European maps, Asia is placed
on the right side and America is situated on the left side, whereas on
this map China is in the centre. We know that at the end of the 16th
century, when Matteo Ricci was translating maps published in Europe
into Chinese-language maps, such a rearrangement was made for the
first
time. (It needs to be pointed out here that people generally believe
that Ricci made this change to accord with the Chinese view that China
lay at the centre of the world. However, Ricci himself said that all
countries in drawing their maps place their own country at the centre
of the map). This way of drawing maps initiated by Ricci was followed
by later missionaries who came to China, such as the "Complete map of
the 10,000 countries" by Jules Aleni (1582-1649) and the "Complete Map
of the Earth" by Francois Sambiasi (1582-1649). It became a model,
extending even up until today.
In 1760, three years before the "Overall Map of the Geography of all
under Heaven" was drawn in 1763, the French missionary Michel Benoist
(1715-1774) drew his "Complete Map of the Earth" as a present for the
Qian-long emperor in commemorations of his 50 years on the throne.
Somewhat earlier, the Belgian missionary Ferdinand Verbiest
(1623-1688)
had also drawn a "Complete Map of the Earth". These two maps spread
quite widely and copies of them are still available to us today. Of
these two world maps, that of Benoist copied the maps published in
Europe exactly, with Asia on the right of the map and America on the
left. However, the world map drawn by Verbiest was like the world map
done by Ricci. The form of the "Overall Map of the Geography of all
under Heaven" is identical with that of Verbiest's "Complete Map of
the
Earth", with the exception of some differences in the area of the two
poles and Australia. This can only mean that the map on which the
"Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven" was based was a
more
accurate European map later than Verbeist's.
>>From a cartographic point of view, there were three main preconditions
for drawing a map like the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under
Heaven". 1) There must be a belief that the world is a globe and not a
flat plane. 2) In order to represent the globe as a flat plane world
map, there needs to be knowledge of and methods for projection. 3)
There must have been a very clear knowledge of the actual geographical
situations of the various continents of the globe, or else they could
not have been represented so accurately on the "Overall Map of the
Geography of all under Heaven". In the history of Western cartography,
we can find the progress of the development of these three
preconditions. The "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven"
reflects the results of the development of European cartography, and
particularly the major achievements following European overseas
explorations and the development of cartography.
Conversely, in the China of Zheng He's time, these three major
preconditions did not exist. We only need to compare the "Overall Map
of the Geography of all under Heaven" with the "Navigation Maps of
Zheng He" to know this. No only in the time of Zheng he, but actually
throughout China's history (excluding those maps influenced by Ricci
and other Western missionaries), there is no map which portrays the
world as a globe and projects this globe onto a flat plane. The
traditional geographers in China could not produce a map like the
"Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven". The map does not
belong to an ancient Chinese cartographic tradition, but rather to a
European cartographic tradition.
Of course, some might at a stretch claim that even though in the
extant
Chinese texts we have not found precursors and successors of the
"Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven", that this does not
mean that there was no source for these in the past, and it is
completely possible that these may all have been lost. And also that
it
is completely possible that soldiers who accompanied Zheng he's
distant
voyages might have included some geniuses who discovered extremely
advanced map projection methods and drew these maps. And that the
accuracy of the shape of the continents on the "Overall Map of the
Geography of all under Heaven" shows that not only were Zheng He's
fleets the first to circumnavigate the globe, but that they also
conducted geo-surveys of a huge scale. As the "Overall Map of the
Geography of all under Heaven" clearly states the "map of the
barbarians from all under Heaven who offer tribute to the Court" on
which it is based came from the actual voyages of Zheng He. Thus, the
key here is to determine whether or not the "Overall Map of the
Geography of all under Heaven" has any links with the Zheng He
voyages.
If this map clearly has links with the Zheng He voyages, then the
scientific history of China and the rest of the world needs to be
rewritten, as must even the final chapters of the history of human
civilization. If the map is not linked with Zheng He, we cannot
ascribe
the map to Zheng He, and we can assign the account of Zheng He
travelling around the globe to the realm of fairytale. In brief, if
the
1418 map truly existed, Menzies' 1421 story of China discovering the
world in 1421 will be supported!
The "map of the barbarians from all under Heaven who offer tribute to
the Court" on which the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under
Heaven" was based no longer exists, and we have no knowledge of its
original form. At the top of the "Overall Map of the Geography of all
under Heaven" are the words: "Those annotations without red borders
are
not from the original map." This means that all those with red borders
were from the original "map of the barbarians from all under Heaven
who
offer tribute to the Court". This is an essential pivot intimately
tying together the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven",
the "map of the barbarians from all under Heaven who offer tribute to
the Court" and Zheng He. It is also the only thread for us if we want
to resolve the crucial issues. Although the annotations which have
been
revealed so far are not numerous, we only need to take one example to
be able to powerfully affirm that that important statement on the
"Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven" that "Those
annotations without red borders are not from the original map" is not
correct, or at least show that some of those within red borders could
not have been on any "map of the barbarians from all under Heaven who
offer tribute to the Court". This example comes from a space between
Asia and Europe and above there is an annotation within a red border.
"The people in this place have deep-set, round eyes and wrap their
head
in a cloth. They have loose clothes and long trousers. When women go
out, they must cover their faces, with offenders being punished." In
eastern Europe, there is another annotation in a red border which
notes: "The people here all worship God (shang-di) and their religion
is called 'Jing'."
Even those with only a little understanding of history will know
that the term "shang-di", which is used by Chinese Christians as the
name of God, appeared long ago in pre-Qin (pre 220 BCE) Chinese works.
For example, it appears in the "Book of Odes" (Zhou-song: zhi-jing)
At the end of the 16th century, after Matteo Ricci and other Western
missionaries came to China, in order to propagate their religion to
the
Chinese, they had to find a Chinese term by which to translate the
name
for their highest power (in Latin: Deus). They investigated all sorts
of possibilities, first using a phonetic representation -translating
"Deus" as "Duo-si". However, it was difficult for Chinese people to
accept this method of representation. After the missionaries became
more familiar with Classical Chinese texts, they found some terms in
the Confucian texts which were very suitable -"tian-zhu" (Lit: Lord of
Heaven) and "shang-di" (Lit: The Emperor on High). In his "The Real
Purport of the Lord of Heaven", Ricci clearly stated: "Our Lord of
Heaven is the Shang-di of the ancient texts" and "Reading the ancient
texts, one comes to understand that 'shang-di' and 'tian-zhu' are but
different names for the one thing." Of course, what "shang-di" meant
to
Chinese people prior to the Qin dynasty (pre 200 BCE) and what it
meant
to the European Christians in using it to represent Deus, was
completely different. That is to say, the use of the term "shang-di"
to
represent the Christian God began at the end of the 16th century and
prior to this, the correlation between this term and this concept did
not exist. The use of the term "shang-di" on the Eastern Europe
portion
of the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven" shows that
this annotation could not have derived from a map of the period of
Zheng He. During the Tang dynasty, when the Nestorian sect of
Christianity entered China (in the 7th century CE), the Chinese called
the religion the "Jing religion" In the 9th century, when Emperor
Wu-zong (814-846 CE) of the Tang dynasty persecuted Buddhists,
Nestorianism was also harshly attacked and it gradually withered away.
During the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368 CE), Christianity in China was
called the "Ye-li-ke-wen" (Mongol term: Erkeun or Arkaim) religion. It
was only in about 1625, when the "Stele of the Spread of Da-qin
(Eastern Roman Empire or Syria) Nestorianism in China" was discovered
in Xi-an, that people first knew that Christianity had been in China
during the Tang dynasty. After the discovery of this stele, it was
given great attention by the Western missionaries in China as well as
European scholars and a great amount of research was conducted upon it
because it proved the long-term existence of Christianity in China.
That is to say, the identification of Nestorianism as a form of
Christianity was something which happened after 1625. At the time of
Zheng He, Nestorianism had long ceased to exist, and certainly no-one
knew that the Nestorianism of the Tang dynasty was a form of
Christianity. This proves that the annotation "The people here all
worship God (shang-di) and their religion is called 'Jing'" found on
the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven" could only have
been created after 1625, and certainly could not have come from the
age
of Zheng He.
The note on the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven"
says that "Those annotations without red borders are not from the
original map". However, through our analysis of the annotation "The
people here all worship God (shang-di) and their religion is called
'Jing'", we have shown that the suggestion that this was from the
original map cannot be accurate. Thus there are annotations in red
borders on the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven"
which
actually did not come from any "map of the barbarians from all under
Heaven who offer tribute to the Court" of the Zheng He period, but are
instead from some time after the end of the 16th century. The
statement
"Those annotations without red borders are not from the original map"
on the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven" is not
something which can be believed. If the "Overall Map of the Geography
of all under Heaven" was directly copied by Mo Yi-tong from an
original
"map of the barbarians from all under Heaven who offer tribute to the
Court", the annotation "Those annotations without red borders are not
from the original map" shows that Mo Yi-tong was deceitful. If Mo
Yi-tong was just copying a "map of the barbarians from all under
Heaven
who offer tribute to the Court" drawn by someone else, then the
annotation "Those annotations without red borders are not from the
original map" would have been added by that person and Mo Yi-tong was
deceived. To sum up, the annotation "The people here all worship God
(shang-di) and their religion is called 'Jing'" is a cast-iron proof
that the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under Heaven" has
nothing
to do with Zheng He. The sub-text of the statement is that
Christianity
is a belief in various parts of the world and China should accept
Christianity as its religion. Such an idea would certainly have come
from the pen of a European missionary.
We can see in the few annotations on the "Overall Map of the Geography
of all under Heaven" which have been revealed the vestiges of European
missionaries in China. On the west coast of America, there is an
annotation which reads: "The local people of this place have black-red
skin and on their head and at their waist they wear feathers. They are
practiced in cannibalism." One just has to look at Aleni's "World
Atlas" ( "Zhi-fang wai-ji" (of 1623 -gw) which notes of North America
that "The men and women all wear feathers and capes of tiger and bear
fur" of look at the "Map of the Complete Geography of all Under
Heaven"
where it is noted on the southern part of Africa that "The skin of
the people here is the colour of black lacquer, their teeth are white,
their lips red and their hair curly." Or one can look at Aleni's
"World
Atlas" where it is noted that "There are many countries here. The
people are all of variants of black colour. As you move northwards,
they become lighter, and as you move southwards they become darker,
with some even the colour of lacquer. However, their teeth and eyes
are
extremely white. Here, as in Verbeist's (1623-1688) "Illustrated
Explanation of Geography", one can see similar types of descriptions.
Our analysis of the "Overall Map of the Geography of all under
Heaven" indicates that it is in the form of a European map, with
annotations similar to those of the Western missionaries who came to
China. There is no evidence of anything to do with Zheng He. We
believe
that, following the complete unveiling of the "Overall Map of the
Geography of all under Heaven", this assessment will be completely
verified.
Carbon 14 dating can only determine the age of the ink and paper.
If
this is indeed a map from the Qian-long period, it will be good news
as
many maps from that time have been destroyed by natural and man-made
disasters. The non-historical nature of the annotations within red
borders cannot but cause us to have grave doubts about this map. The
map not only reflects the influence of Western culture on China after
the great geographical discoveries, but also a proof that only a very
few advanced Chinese people studied Western culture at that time. In
the long stream of Chinese history, what is evident by its lack is
this
spirit of actively studying those cultures which are different from
ours. If we use this valuable map to weave a modern fairy-tale about
"Zheng He discovering the world" it will be a violation of the real
significance of this map, contrary to the spirit of Zheng he's voyages
to the Western Ocean and also contrary to the global trends of our
times.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: china and the us
    ... Zheng was born in 1371 of the Hui ethnic group and the Muslim faith. ... princess of China, Princess Hang Li Po, was sent by the ... The Kangnido map predates Zheng's voyages and suggests that he ... Early 17th century Chinese woodblock print, ...
    (soc.culture.filipino)
  • Re: The Chinese Seem To Have Their Own "Vinland Map"
    ... > On the "Overall Map of the Geography of All Under Heaven" and Zheng ... > advised that a recently-discovered ancient Chinese map could prove ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Duh !
    ... nearly one-third of young Americans recently polled ... couldn't locate Louisiana on a map and nearly half were unable to ... · One-third of respondents couldn't pinpoint Louisiana on a map and 48 ... "Geography exposes children and adults to diverse cultures, ...
    (alt.politics.bush)
  • (RSPW) And Now, For Something Completely Delicious...
    ... Many Young Americans Unable to Find Louisiana on Map ... "Geography exposes children and adults to diverse cultures, ...
    (rec.sport.pro-wrestling)
  • Re: Geography skills report
    ... It's difficult to make a fair comparance due to size. ... size of an average European country. ... At some point geography and linguistic becomes real once ... have at least one kind of map in their home or car. ...
    (sci.geo.geology)