Chapter 7 Section 6 "Mega Domain Map"

According to the "Warring States Policy · Zhao Policy", when Su Qin persuaded Zhao Wang to participate in the Hezong, he said: "The ministers stole the pattern of the world, and the land of the princes is five times that of Qin." (I privately used the map of the world to estimate it. , the total area of ​​the vassal states is five times that of Qin.) If Su Qin’s words are true, it proves that the maps of the late Warring States period have been drawn according to a certain scale, so they can reflect the multiple relationship between the actual areas of the countries.But these words came from the mouth of a lobbyist and debater like Su Qin, so people naturally have doubts about its authenticity.What is the truth? In 1978, a "Zhaoyu Tu" unearthed from the tomb of King Zhongshan during the Warring States Period in Pingshan County, Hebei Province provided reliable physical evidence.

"Zhaoyu Tu" is a planning plan of the cemetery, engraved on a rectangular copper plate with a length of 94 centimeters, a width of 48 centimeters, and a thickness of about 1 centimeter, and the plan indicates the specific size.The owner of the tomb was buried around 310 BC, so this map has a history of more than 2,300 years, roughly the same time as the "Fangmatan Map". In the central part of "Zhaoyutu", there are three large "tangs" of equal size and two small "tangs" of equal size. The big "tang" is "two hundred feet square" and the distance is "hundred feet"; One hundred and fifty feet square", and "eighty feet" from the big "hall". On the outside of the "tang", there are four "palaces" of equal size and "square hundred feet". The distance between "Qiuzu" (the slope foot of the tomb slope) and the big "hall" is "50 feet for the level of the hill, and 50 feet for the slope".According to the actual measurement, the east-west lengths of the three big "halls" (Aihou Hall, Wang Hall, and Queen Hall) marked "200 feet square" on the map are 8.670 cm, 8.686 cm, and 8.86 cm, respectively. The ruler is equivalent to 4500 centimeters, so it can be seen that the scale of this picture is roughly 1:500.

Although the "Zhaoyu Map" does not indicate the direction, the gates of the four palaces on the map are shown at the top, and the tomb door of the King Zhongshan's tomb opens to the south, indicating that the direction of the map is up south and down north, which is exactly the opposite of the "Fangmatan Map" , but it is expressed in the same way as the subsequent "Mawangdui Map". "Zhaoyutu" also has a strict symmetrical relationship. The reference lines and graphic lines of "tang", "gong" and "qiuzu" on the map are all symmetrical, and even the arrangement of annotations is also symmetrical.

Although so far, experts still have different opinions on whether "Zhaoyutu" is a map, but they have no objection to the proportional relationship on the map. "Fangmatan Map" and "Zhaoyu Map" eloquently prove that the records in ancient books about the Warring States Period and previous maps are not exaggerated at all and are credible.This also shows that by the Qin Dynasty at the end of the 3rd century BC, China's map surveying and mapping technology had entered a mature period and completed the transition from primitive maps to early maps.