Article ID: CBB485265665

Relocating the Qing in the Global History of Science: The Manchu Translation of the 1603 World Map by Li Yingshi and Matteo Ricci (2018)

unapi

The Map of Observing the Mysteries of the Heaven and Earth is a world map in eight panels created in 1603 by the Ming dynasty military official Li Yingshi 李應試. The map is a variant of the known work by the Italian Jesuit savant Matteo Ricci and the scholar Li Zhizao 李之藻. This essay focuses on one copy of this 1603 world map, which was in the possession of the Manchus of the Later Jin state, the precursor of the Qing. This essay argues that the map was used in the Shenyang palace before 1644, the year when the Manchus conquered Beijing and established the Qing, China’s last ruling imperial dynasty, and that it was inscribed with selective translations of the map’s cosmological elements and place-names in a version of the Old Manchu script. The Map of Observing the Mysteries of the Heaven and Earth matters because it prompts us to rethink the process of knowledge circulation between China and early modern Europe. The map shows that the Manchus accessed and used the products of Western learning even before their conquest of China and sought to adapt them to their needs through translation.

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Authors & Contributors
Sun, Chengsheng
Tang, Kaijian
Mark Stephen Mir
Zhou, Xiaolei
M. Antoni J. Ucerler
Tian, Xiaoli
Concepts
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Transmission of ideas
East Asia, civilization and culture
Missionaries and missions
Mathematics
Maps; atlases
Time Periods
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
Ming dynasty (China, 1368-1644)
17th century
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
Places
China
Europe
Institutions
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
Académie Royale des Sciences (France)
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