MAPS AND CARTOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES IN THE GAZETTEERS OF THE SONG CHINA (A.D.960-1279).

This paper examines a largely neglected and rarely explored topic, the maps and cartographic techniques in the gazetteers (Fangzhi) of the Song China (960-1279 A.D.). In both fields of the history of China and history of cartography, the maps in the gazetteers of the Song dynasty is a significant topic. As Joseph Needham, a world-renowned scholar in the history of Chinese science, comments, "Anyone at all acquainted with Chinese literature is familiar with the host of 'gazetteers',... In other literatures there is little comparable to this forest of monuments which the industry of provincial scholars erected over the centuries". (Needham 1959, vol. 3, 517). Since very few gazetteers before the Song dynasty have survived, the existed Song gazetteers have become rare and highly valued objects both for research and for collecting. In Chinese culture, a gazetteer is a comprehensive record of a local area. Maps were often considered as an important portion. These maps are an important portion of the extant maps of the Song period and have their own unique characteristics. In addition, they have great influence on later gazetteer maps. Through cartographic analysis on the maps in the nine existed Song gazetteers in detail, this paper reveals characteristics of the gazetteer maps in this period. Similar to the nature of the gazetteers themselves, the maps in these gazetteers presented various spatial images of a local area with the focus on the state administrative structures. Following the practice of the traditional Chinese cartography, all these maps were made based on the same concept of the flat earth surface. On this basis, multiple modes of cartographic representation and variety of map orientation were applied in the map making process. These modes include grid system, plane maps, and bird's eye view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]