Chapter 63 Section 14 Surveying and Mapping of National Maps

Completed in the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi (AD 1718), the "Huangyu Quanpan Map" is the first large-scale map drawn through actual measurement in the world, and it is an unprecedented pioneering work in the history of surveying and mapping in my country and the world. This important map surveying and mapping work was completed under the personal auspices of Emperor Kangxi.He said that he spent "more than 30 years of hard work on this work, and it has only been accomplished." Before drawing, it went through a long period of brewing and preparation.According to the records in Volume 126 of "Records of the Qing Dynasty Shengzu Shilu", in the 25th year of Kangxi (AD 1686), in the edict to Le Dehong, the president of "Yi Tong Zhi", he said: "But the territory is wrong. , a vast territory, tens of thousands of miles away, Nianqie hall steps...Specially appointed Qing and others as the chief executive officer, and his director led the compilation and revision officer, Kele is a matter, in order to collect Hongbo, precise and detailed style, Esai mountains and rivers, local characters, In the twenty-ninth year (AD 1690), after the signing of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk, Kangxi consulted a Western map in order to understand the route of the Russian mission to China. , found that the plotting of Asia and China in the map was crude and unclear, so he decided to conduct actual measurements of the Chinese territory and draw a new map.Later, he purchased instruments from Guangzhou, and when he visited Galdan three times and toured the northeast and south of the Yangtze River, he ordered the accompanying missionaries to measure the latitude and longitude of the places he visited.In order to unify the length unit of measurement, he personally stipulated that the Ministry of Industry should be used as the standard, 200 miles equals 1 degree of the earth's longitude, 1800 feet per mile, and each foot equals 1% of the longitude.This is the first method in the world to use the shape of the earth to determine the scale. At the end of the 18th century, France used the length of the equator to determine the length in meters.In the forty-first year (AD 1702), he ordered to measure the distance from Bazhou (now Ba County, Hebei Province) to Jiaohe through the middle meridian.In the forty-sixth year (AD 1707), he was ordered to conduct surveys near the capital and draw a map. He personally collated it and thought it was far better than the old map.At this time, Kangxi believed that the conditions were ripe, so he ordered large-scale surveying and mapping.

The official surveying and mapping work began in the forty-seventh year of Kangxi (AD 1708), under the responsibility of French missionaries Bai Jin, Lei Xiaosi, Du Demei and others.Starting from the Great Wall, they measured all the gates and forts on the Great Wall, nearby villages, river valleys, and water flows, and drew a "Great Wall Map".Afterwards, the northeast region was measured.During this period, the distance between 41° and 47° north latitude was measured, and it was found that the longitude increased with the increase of latitude. Although the reason was not understood at the time, it was the first demonstration that the earth is oblate.In the 50th year of Kangxi (AD 1711), in order to speed up the progress of the survey, Kangxi ordered additional personnel to be divided into two routes at the same time, and went to Shandong, Xinjiang, Khalkha Mongolia (in today's Mongolia), Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Jiangsu successively , Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan and other places for surveying and mapping.The nationwide actual measurement was completed in the fifty-sixth year (AD 1717), and 641 longitude and latitude points were measured.In addition, people were sent to Tibet for surveying. Although the surveyors only reached the source of the Ganges River for some reason, they discovered Mount Everest for the first time.

On the basis of actual measurement, the "Huangyu Panpan Map" and 32 provinces (districts) maps were drawn.This is the first map drawn by projection method in China, which has a great influence on the drawing of Chinese maps in later generations.Information about these maps was also brought to Europe by missionaries, and had a profound influence in Europe.