A Blue Map of China

This past weekend I finally got to the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library to see their exhibit, Heaven and Earth: The Blue Maps of China on one of its final days. Yes, I should have visited months ago when I could have encouraged readers to see it but though they have taken it down, you can still look at the digital exhibit. The main focus of the exhibit is two large map prints done in Prussian blue; one terrestrial and one celestial. Here is my photo of the geographic map as it was displayed.

Apologies for the yellowing effect that seems to happen on my phone. The lines and text are white. This map titled "Complete map of the geography of the everlasting, unified Great Qing Dynasty" was printed by making a positive image rubbing on a woodblock. Prussian blue, an iron based compound, was developed in Berlin but the Chinese learned to make it from local materials. 

Here is a description from the online exhibit: "Several geophysical attributes help to orient the viewer. The two vivid white lines trace out the Yellow River (north) and the Yangzi River (south). Just north of the Yellow River is a stippled band of white dots that marks the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts. Wave patterns indicate oceans, including the Atlantic (top left) and Pacific (occupying much of the second panel from right). There are two prominent human-made structures. The Great Wall, with its distinctive crenellated wall pattern, runs between the Yellow River and the Gobi Desert. The Willow Palisade, which emerges close to where the Great Wall meets the sea, is shown with cross-hatched lines."

Here is a detail from the map.

The full map can be seen here. Place names are "encoded toponyms"- what this really means is that the place names are placed inside of shapes representing their administrative order. Here is a legend from the Leventhal Center web site,

and here is an older map where the shapes are placed next to the text instead.

I could talk about the star chart but that could be another entire post and I don't really have the knowledge to say much about it. Here is a sample.

via Leventhal Map Center

One final picture: the Leventhal Center usually has a map placed on the floor at their entrance. The one for this exhibit outlines some of the features for better comprehension. The lighting and size made it hard to get a complete picture but here is a sample.

You can read more and see many more maps and earlier versions of these on their online exhibit.