Geographic Map

Southern Song dynasty (1127�1279), undated, ca. 1190, engraved Chunyou period (1241�52), dated 1247

Drawn by Huang Chang (1146�94), ca. 1193; engraved on stone stele by Wang Zhiyuan (1193�1257) in 1247

Dimensions of original stele: 202.3 x 105.0 cm, 108.8 cm at the base

Hanging scroll, ink rubbed on paper; approx. 183.9�184.2 x 101.0 cm

Date of rubbing not given, Republican period, between 1911 and 1949

Inventory number: 2/1187/2/5022

The scholar and imperial tutor Huang Chang drew this map around 1190 as one of eight cartographic works presented to Zhao Kuo, the prince of Jia, who subsequently ascended the throne as the Southern Song emperor Ningzong (1168�1224; r. 1195�1224).� The map shows the lu (circuits), fu (superior prefectures), jun (military prefectures), and zhou (ordinary prefectures) in the Southern Song territories.� On the one hand, the map was produced as a didactic tool to illustrate the loss of large territories to the Jurchens, who established the Jin dynasty (1115�1234), including the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng, the Yellow River basin, the Great Wall, and "a vast forest stretching several thousands of li."� On the other hand, it was designed to impress upon the future sovereign that he had a responsibility to reclaim those lands for the Chinese Empire.

The first character of the map's elegantly engraved title at the top is pronounced zhui; it is an archaic version of the character di.