Talk:The General Taiwan Map of Kangxi

General Taiwan Map of Kangxi

The General Taiwan Map of Kangxi is the earliest known surviving single scroll map of

Taiwan in China, with a horizontal length of 536 cm and a vertical width of 66 cm. This

map was drawn during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. The exact year of the

drawing is unknown. However, scholars generally agree that it was during the 38th to

43rd (1699-1704) year of the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (1). The Qing court

commissioned Western missionaries to measure the topography of Taiwan, which Chinese

landscape painters then drew (2).

The General Taiwan Map of Kangxi is a long horizontal scroll drawn with traditional

Chinese landscape techniques. The map presents a bird’s-eye view of western Taiwan

from west to east over the Taiwan Strait, with north on the left and south on the right. The

map’s content is a realistic depiction of the 17 th and 18 th centuries, including the

mountainous terrain and rivers in western Taiwan from north to south, the deployment of

administrative armaments, roads, urban and rural life, and other landscapes. This map is

the epitome of social and cultural life in Taiwan during this period and the knowledge of

Taiwan’s geography in the early Qing Dynasty. It also serves as a geographic, armament,

and custom map. It is an essential collection of the National Taiwan Museum (3)(4).

This map was purchased by the Governor-General of Taiwan from the Cheng family in

Hsinchu in 1902 (Meiji year 35) during the Japanese rule in Taiwan as a collection of the

National monument of Taiwan. After the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the

Government of the Republic of China took over Taiwan; the collections of other Taiwan

Governor’s Palace Museums were taken over by the National Taiwan Museum (5). 126yt (talk) 07:43, 13 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]