Chapter 29 The sixth section is the masterpiece of Chinese historical atlas—Yang Shoujing's "Yu Map of Past Dynasties"

Yang Shoujing (AD 1839-1915), courtesy name Xingwu, was born in Yidu, Hubei Province in his later years.He studied business in his childhood, and engaged in business as an adult. In the first year of Tongzhi (1862 A.D.), he won the imperial examinations at the age of 24, but his name has been lost since then.During the sixth to tenth years of Guangxu (AD 1880-1884), when he served as the attache of the Japanese Minister Li Shuchang, he devoted himself to collecting ancient books that had been lost in China. Yang Shoujing became interested in geography when he was 20 years old. Later, he and Deng Chengxiu compiled the "Historical History Map of Past Dynasties", which was later revised with Rao Dunzhi and published in the fifth year of Guangxu (AD 1879).In the last years of Guangxu, Yang Shoujing, with the assistance of his disciple Xiong Huizhen, revised and supplemented the "Historical Maps of Historical History" and compiled a complete set of Chinese historical atlases, which have been published successively since the 30th year of Guangxu (AD 1904). :

Thirty Years of Guangxu (AD 1904): Maps of the Former Han Dynasty Thirty-two Years of Guangxu: Spring and Autumn Maps, "Preface to the Preface to the Dangerous Maps of Historical Evolution" Thirty-three years of Guangxu: Map of the Three Kingdoms The First Year of Xuantong (AD 1909): Maps of Warring States, Qin, Continued Han, Western Jin, Eastern Jin, Liu Song, Xiao Qi, Sui The Second Year of Xuantong: Maps of Ming Dynasty, Maps of Northern Wei Dynasty and Two Wei Dynasty Xuantong Three Years: Sixteen Kingdoms, Liang, Chen, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan Maps

This set of maps is called "Yu Maps of Past Dynasties" for short. There are 34 volumes in total, from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Ming Dynasty. Most of the place names have basically been compiled into the map, which is more detailed and rich than any previous historical atlas.In addition, because the map uses Hu Linyi's "Unified Map of the Qing Dynasty" as the base map, it is also more accurate than previous historical maps.Yang Shoujing's "Yu Map of Past Dynasties" is indeed a masterpiece and milestone in the history of Chinese historical maps. Until the 1950s, there was no historical atlas that could replace it. In the winter of 1954, the “Committee for Reediting and Redrawing Yang Shoujing’s Maps of Past Dynasties” headed by famous historians Fan Wenlan and Wu Han was established in Beijing. .Later, when Professor Tan Qixiang [Xiang Xiang] presided over the compilation and mapping process, he found that the re-editing and re-mapping did not meet the needs of the times, so he decided to abandon the original plan and re-compile a set of Chinese historical atlases.

In addition, Yang Shoujing and Xiong Huizhen also compiled and drawn "Shui Jing Zhu Tu".This is drawn on the basis of their long-term research on Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu" and the completion of "Shui Jing Zhu Shu". "Shui Jing Zhu Tu" was completed in the 30th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1904), and was published in the 31st year of Guangxu, with a total of eight volumes. and an important reference book on Chinese historical geography.