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Distributed for Bodleian Library Publishing

The Selden Map of China

A New Understanding of the Ming Dynasty

1st Edition

Dating from the seventeenth century at the height of the Ming Dynasty, the Selden Map of China reveals a country very different from popular conceptions of the time, looking not inward to the Asian landmass but outward to the sea. Discovered in the stacks of the Bodleian Library, this beautifully decorative map of China is, in fact, a seafaring chart showing Ming Dynasty trade routes. It is the earliest surviving example of Chinese merchant cartography and is evidence that Ming China was outward-looking, capitalistic, and vibrant.

Exploring the commercial aims of the Ming Dynasty, the port city of Quanzhou and its connections with the voyages of the early traveler Zheng He, this book describes the historical background of the era in which the map was used. It also includes an analysis of the skills and techniques involved in Chinese map-making and the significance of the compass bearings, scale, and ratios found on the map, all of which combine to represent a breakthrough in cartographic techniques.

The enthralling story revealed by this extraordinary artifact sheds light on the long history of China’s relationship with the sea and with the wider world.

80 pages | 38 color plates | 9 x 10 | © 2019

History: Asian History, General History


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Reviews

"For a long time, research on the society and art of the Ming Dynasty has mostly focused on the literati art and cultural consumption in the southern region of the Yangtze River. This book has drawn attention to the coastal region of China and changed the impression that the coastal areas were closed due to the official prohibition of maritime trade in the early Ming Dynasty. Nie’s work discloses a more dynamic, outward-oriented, and diversified society and culture in the Chinese coastal region of the late Ming Dynasty through her careful analysis of many topics related to the Selden Map, such as culture and consumption, Catholicism and Western technology, foreign maritime trade, and the influx of new food and the Chinese diaspora."

Renaissance Quarterly

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