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The Map of Observing the Mysteries of the Heaven and Earth (Liangyi xuanlan tu 兩儀玄覽圖),

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which we call here the Xuantu, is a worldmap in eight panels created in 1603

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by the Ming dynasty military official Li Yingshi李應試.

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There is strong reason to believe that the Manchus obtained this particular map before

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they conquered China, a surprising development that makes us reconsider the Manchus'

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relationship to Western cartography.

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Matteo Ricci and the scholar Li Zhizao 李之藻 created in 1602 a map named Complete

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Map of the Myriad Kingdoms of the World (Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 坤輿萬國全圖).

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It included geographical descriptions of the historical five continents, complete with

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place-names, a précis of Ptolemaic cosmology, and paper instruments for measuring polar

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altitude and latitude.

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The Xuantu is a large object, measuring 2 meters vertically and 4.42 meters

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horizontally. Maps of this size meant for a high-end audience of officials were rarely

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prints. Instead, just as for paintings, Chinese artisans normally used silk, which was

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favored for its superior durability.

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For Sino-Western world maps, the desire to quickly disseminate many copies trumped that

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of creating solid, durable objects. They were as large in size as silk maps made

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for important people, yet easily reproducible and affordable.

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This was at the root of their success in the late Ming.

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It is also the reason why so few copies survived:

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large prints were fragile.

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Indeed, Xuantu is important not so much for what it has in it but for

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what it has on it: the repairs, modifications, and annotations added to the original print.

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The Shenyang copy was originally uncolored.

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Yet during its life in the Shenyang palace, an artisan was tasked with embellishing the

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mountain ranges across all the continents in the style of Chinese painting.

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The color scheme of these decorations, blue, green, and gold, fits the one used

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throughout the Shenyang palace.

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Besides the repairs and added decorative elements, the Shenyang copy of the Map of

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Observing Mysteries displays a number of Manchu annotations.

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The theory of the map expounded in the preface by Matteo Ricci presented relationships

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between Earth's spherical shape, its position in the solar system, and the cycles of

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night and day. All of these features, represented by lines on the map, had Manchu

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translations attached.

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Taken together, they suggest that the Manchu translator had a grasp of and an interest

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in the “theory” of the map, having read and understood the prefaces and other accompanying texts.

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When it was used in the Shenyang palace, the Xuantu was damaged.

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Winters in Shenyang are bitterly cold, and rooms must be heated.

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For this reason, there was a temperature difference between the upper and lower parts of

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the room. This created condensation, and because the map was most likely displayed

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vertically, the dampness damaged the portions closer to the ground.

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An artisan had applied paper paste and, after it dried, redrew the meridians to give

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the impression of continuity. Further damage to the map reveals the discrepancy between

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the two layers.

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The amount of information included in the reconstruction on the top stratum differed

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from that of the layer below.

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This was due perhaps to the artisan's limited knowledge.

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But it might also be a reflection of the interests of the map owners.

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The Southern Hemisphere on the left side of the map (roll one), for instance,

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disappeared completely, being covered up in the restoration;

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only a circle and some of the radiating meridians were copied on top for consistency.

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On the other hand, the northern hemisphere was preserved, and annotations were added to

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it because it encompassed places the Manchus were interested in.

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Most translations of place-names are concentrated in East Asia, radiating toward Europe.

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The Manchus, it seems, were primarily preoccupied with locating themselves and their

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immediate surroundings; in terms of their outward interest, they focused on looking westward.

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The translation of Mount Changbai (Changbai Shan長白山) is more revealing of the Manchus'

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own emerging sense of identity in the sixteenth century.

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The mountain, appearing here in translation as Sanggiyan Alin, was part of an imperial

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cult throughout the Qing, revered as the birthplace of the mythical founder of the

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dynasty, Bukūri Yongšon. The addition of an inscription alongside the mountain is an

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indication that the place was meaningful for the Manchus as early as the Later Jin.

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Moving beyond this sphere, immediately neighboring countries such as Japan, Korea, and

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the Great Ming are labeled using names of Manchu origin:

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Ose, Sohlo, and Nikan. These names do not describe places or countries but, rather, ethnicities.

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The rest of the translations of place-names on the map are transliterations in Manchu of

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the pronunciation of Chinese characters. The selection of these places cannot be easily

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explained by what we readily know about the Manchus.

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The translations of places like the Fortunate Islands, the Cape of Good Hope,

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Madagascar, Java, and the Philippines resulted from an awareness of the centers of the

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European trade network around Eurasia. These were, after all, places from which ships

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dropping anchor at Macao would have been coming.

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According to the Manchu Veritable Records, the Manchu written language was a direct

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invention of bilingual scholars working for Nurhaci and was established in 1599.

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The script could not clearly distinguish a and e, o and u, or k, g, and h.

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A reform of the language that would address these issues was implemented during the time

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of the second Khan, Hong Taiji. The most important and visible aspect of this reform

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was the addition of dots and circles to solve the problem of distinction.

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Analysis of the form of the script on the map thus indicates that the Map

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of Observing Mysteries was translated between roughly 1625 and 1636, when the reformed

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version of the Old Manchu script was used.

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In any case, the map's annotations indicate an interest in, as well as an

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epistemological engagement with, a Sino-Western artifact in a crucial moment, as the

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Manchus were beginning to plan their conquest of China.

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This section of the map of the Great Ming depicts the western portion of Korea

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and displays the Manchu place-name transliterations on affixed labels.

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In some places, over time, the labels have detached, revealing the original Chinese text underneath.

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Repairs, modifications, as well as annotations therefore, all belonged to a broad

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strategy of translation of cartographic artifacts first practiced in the preconquest

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period on the map by Li Yingshi and Ricci, and ultimately, after the conquest, on

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Ming maps. This demonstrates the continuity in translation across the Ming-Qing divide.

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The presence of a map co-authored by Matteo Ricci in the Shenyang palace is ultimately

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a testament to the extent of knowledge networks in the early modern period.