Cartography as the mediator of making place:

the emergence of Matsu Islands on the Chinese Maps.

 
 
 
 
 
 

呂嘉耘 Chia-Yung Leu

Department of Anthropology
National Taiwan University
Introduction
•This was most apparent in the coastal regions, where the ancient
Chinese official map often had vague and inexact details about the
distance between islands and sea routes.

•On the contrary, the knowledge of the local people about their
environment and landscape was preserved as a secret knowledge which
is passed orally.
• However, the situation changed after the introduction of modern
cartography in the 19th century.

• The spatial representation of the modern map, which indicating the

exact distance and geographical distribution, had greatly facilitated
the late imperial governance in the control of coastal regions.
Matsu Islands
• We can only correlate the limited number of place names (about 14 to
20, often port names) in the texts based on homophonic to the
present day map.

• The name and boundary of Matsu Islands cluster was not exist until
late 19th century, and since then the Matsu was gradually fixed
through the years of political changes in China.
Literature review & Research question

•In Chinese historical research, the Map Issues are never neutral. The
map represented the Imperial cosmology and the ideal geographic order.
(Yee, 1994)

•When analyzing what the map and local record represented, we can
study not only the idealized order of the picture & official records, but
also the govern scheme & measures the Government planned to do.
(Hostetler, 2001)
• The images of the locals was often scattered and vague in the official
records, for the administrative power never really know the locals.

• In the marginal area of China, such as the southeast coast, the

technology of knowing and representing the local is almost the key
factor of governmental efficiency.
Concern & Argument

•My research question is: as a key factor of knowing and controlling a

certain geographical space, how do local and scientific knowledge
operate and serve function?

•And by what mean the scientific knowledge is “better” or “powerful”

than the local knowledge?
• The local knowledge of sea must work with the intimate
environmental experience of local sailors, while the scientific
knowledge could be adapted by ANY ONE who can read.

• In the ancient China, the function of map was to arrange its territory in
Imperial cosmological order.
• After the introduction of modern cartography, the intimate, local
knowledge that used to be a powerful weapon for the marginal people
to hide against the government remains “local”, and the technology of
“universal” bring the Imperial power into local life which no longer
protected by the locals' intimacy.
Local knowledge & Maps in Ancient China

•Sailors who lacked a textual record had their unique map-less practical
mastery to rely on. Their local knowledge made their own “places” of
their own usages.

•The "practical mastery" of the environment consists of owning full

knowledge of what the environment feels like from all available points of
view. (Gell,1985)

• Views throughout the journey from A to B.

(in Gell's words)
The contemporary local place names
 The local coastal sailing route ---
a narrow channel leads to a local port
Route that Compass Needled (Zhen lu tu, 針路圖 ) in
Sending to Zhong-Shan (Zhong shan chuan xin lu, 中山傳信錄 ), 1719.
Map of naval defenses across miles
(wan li hai fang tu 萬里海防圖 ),
1552-1561.

The red circled ones are the place names

in contemporary Matsu Islands.
They are part of “Matsu Islands”.

From
“the recent translated maps of dangers and
importances on the river and sea of China”
(shin yi zhong guo jiang hai xian yao tu zhi
新譯中國江海險要圖誌 )(1899),

Which book translated from

“The China Sea Directory”
(1873) @ England
 Current conclusion

•As an example, by showing the contrast between local knowledge and

modern cartography, I want to talk not only the limitations of Imperial
control, but also the role cartographic technology played in determining
the local-Imperial relative political autonomy.

• On the controlling of marine issues in the 19th century, the decisive
difference between the sovereign power of Qing dynasty and the local
society comes from the different technologocal tools/aspects they had at
that time.
• Furthermore, by introducing "making place" to historical studies, we can learn
more about that the "places" made by different technology actually involve the
elicitation of different thinkings/feelings and social practices,  which lead to various
social decisions in historical events.

• And it is only after "piercing through" the exclusive position of local

knowledge(having the ability to access the detailed, relative positioned
geographical information), that the Qing dynasty can finally gain their substantial
sovereign power back, and that the southeast-coast islands,including Matsu
islands, finally clearly appears on the territorial map of China, and become the
crucial geographic units that tangled with military and political powers through the
history of modern China.
 Thank you for your attention.

r96125001@ntu.edu.tw