Chapter 22 Section 4 Development of Nautical Charts

The "Xuanhe Fengshi Koryo Picture Book" written at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty originally had pictures, but it was lost later.According to Wang Yinglin's "Yuhai", in May of the second year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1132), the Privy Council (equivalent to the Ministry of National Defense) reported according to the spies' intelligence: "The enemy is stationed in Huaiyang Army (northwest of Suining County, Jiangsu Province today) and Haizhou. (southwest of Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province today), I am afraid that fast boats will be used to go south from the sea, which will disturb the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, because the sea route south of Suzhou Ocean is smooth and can go directly to Zhejiang.” Song Gaozong ordered the chiefs of Liangzhe Road to quickly send people to inspect the terrain and guard the danger. , and successively draw maps and report them.Soon, Zhongcheng Shen Yuqiu reported: "Sea ships coming to Zhejiang from the north must first go to Pingjiang (now Suzhou, Jiangsu) from Shigang, Liujiao, Chentie, Tongming Town and other places in Taizhou (now Taizhou, Jiangsu). Nanbeiyang, then to Jinshan in Xiuzhou (now Jiaxing, Zhejiang), and then to Xiangtou in Mingzhou (now Ningbo, Zhejiang). I heard that the water in Liaojiao and other places is turbulent. If you can recruit sailors in Shigang, Liaojiao and other places, give How can the enemy get through?" In July, Lu Yihao reported two more sea routes: one is Zhedong Road, which came from the northern sea and went straight to Dinghai (now Zhenhai District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang); It is Zhejiang West Road, from Tongzhou (now Nantong City, Jiangsu Province) to Liujiao into the sea, to Qinglong Port (the mouth of the Wusong River at that time, about north of Chuansha Town, Pudong, Shanghai), and along the coast to Jinshan Village and Haiyan County ( Today's Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province), directly to the bank of Qiantang River in Lin'an Prefecture (now Hangzhou City).The content reported by Shen Yuqiu and Lu Yihao is obviously drawn in the "Shaoxing Sea Road Map".This nautical chart, which was first seen in records, was probably only a confidential map for the imperial court, so it has not been circulated.

In the Yuan Dynasty, sea transportation was quite developed, especially domestic coastal shipping, which once replaced the northern section of the Grand Canal as the main route of north-south transportation.At that time, the "picture book" was used for maritime navigation, but unfortunately it has long been lost. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch Zheng He (1371-1435 AD) was dispatched by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di. From 1405 AD to 1433 AD, he led a huge fleet to the Western Ocean seven times, and the farthest reached Manba on the east coast of Africa. Sa (Mombasa, today's Mombasa, Kenya).Zheng He's voyages originally left detailed archival materials, including the "water journey" (that is, the sea route) recorded at that time, but during the Chenghua period (AD 1465-1487), Ming Xianzong sent eunuchs to the Ministry of War to check Zheng He's missions to the West. When the water journey was completed, the head (deputy minister) Liu Daxia was afraid that the emperor would do something that would waste people and money after finding out these water journeys, so he transferred all these files first, and then he disappeared.The "Zheng He Navigation Map" that can be seen now, also known as "The Map of Sailing from the Treasure Shipyard and Out of the Longjiang Pass to the Foreign Lands", is the attached map in the "Wu Bei Zhi" compiled by Mao Yuanyi in the 1620s ( Figure 17) uses a long scroll to record the voyage of Zheng He's fleet starting from the treasure shipyard in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and sailing along the Yangtze River to the "Western Ocean".There are more than 500 place names recorded on the map, indicating the "needle path" of the route, the "number of changes" for calculating the distance, and the star pulling (the astronomical phenomenon used for maritime navigation, which was called "crossing the ocean and staring" at the time), etc. .Since this map is based on the reality of many voyages by Zheng He's fleet, it is relatively accurate in comparison with modern maps despite poor drawing techniques.It is rare to see such a level of world map in the 15th century.However, if the original archives of Zheng He's voyages are preserved, the nautical charts compiled based on them will definitely be more accurate and detailed.Since there are needle paths drawn in Zheng He's Nautical Map, "Needle Road Map" has since become another name for sea charts.

After the mid-Ming Dynasty, because the Japanese pirates often harassed the coastal areas and became a great disaster in the southeast and even the whole country, maps for coastal defense also came into being.For example, the "Sea Road Guide Map" in the "Hai Dao Jing" in "Jin Sheng Yu Zhen Ji" is the earliest sea road map seen so far.In addition, "Coastal Mountain Sand Map", "Coastal Counties Map" and "Denglai Liaohai Map" in "Zheng Kaiyang Map", "Wanli Coastal Defense Map" and "Maritime Transportation Map" in "Zheng Kaiyang Miscellaneous Works" , Xu Bida contributed in the 23rd year of Wanli (1595 A.D.) "The Complete Map of the Unified Coastal Defense of the Universe", "The Map of Coastal Defense" in "Wu Bei Zhi", etc., and the "Zhehai Map" by Lu Tong, all have large influences.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the nautical charts drawn by traditional methods in the Qing Dynasty have improved in some parts, but there has been no significant progress. This is related to the fact that the officials did not pay much attention to navigation, and it also exposed the limitations of traditional nautical charts.The more important nautical charts of the Qing Dynasty include some coastal defense maps and coastal maps in the "Preliminary Compilation of Maps and Maps of the Qing Household Office Building Office" compiled and printed by the Archives of the National Palace Museum, and Chen Jionglun's "Sea Country Hearings and Experiences" published by Qianlong The "Comprehensive Map of the Coast" in Fujian Navy Admiral Shi Shibiao entered the "Oriental and Southern Seas Map" in the 51st to 60th year of Kangxi (AD 1712-1721), the fifty-sixth year of Kangxi (AD 1717) Copied and drawn "National Navigation Chart", "Direction Map of the Southwest Ocean", "National Map of Japan", etc.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, folks drew some nautical maps by themselves, mainly for coastal navigation. Since they were only used and circulated in a small area, very few of them can be preserved to this day. kind of.There are 69 maps in this manuscript, each 27 centimeters long and 28 centimeters wide.The scope of the map starts from Liaodong Bay in the north, passes through Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Fujian in the middle, and reaches beyond the Pearl River Estuary in the south, including the routes in the coastal waters of eastern my country.Each map uses thick lines to draw the topography of mountains and reefs, as well as related hydrology, pin positions, shipping routes, and place names.The notes are written in folk spoken language.There is no preface and postscript to the album, nor the name of the author. According to Mr. Zhang's production time, the upper limit is after 1645, and the lower limit is 1667 or 1734.