The Citizen’s Great Road
In ancient maps of transportation routes, those showing the routes between cities within provinces, prefectures, states, and counties are undoubtedly the most common. These routes are displayed differently in different eras. For example, maps from the Ming dynasty often use solid lines in various colors to denote roads, whereas those from the Qing dynasty, especially those after the mid-Qing dynasty, typically use dotted lines colored in yellow or red later. The exhibition items presented in this unit are divided into three sections: the first period the gazetteer and maps of Luancheng and Wangdu county, the “Road Map of the Kaifeng Prefecture in Henan”, and the “Map of Seawall in Jejiang Province”; the second period the gazetteer and maps of Dongguang and Liaocheng county, the “Complete Map of Zhili Province,” and two maps of Chizhou Prefecture and Guangde State from the “Prefecture Maps of Jiangnan.” These maps, spanning from the early 14th century to the early 20th century, not only show variations in road depictions but also allow for observations of changes in traditional ancient map styles.
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Gazetteer and Map of the Liaocheng County
Liaocheng County, formerly an auxiliary county of Dongchang Prefecture during the Qing dynasty, was reorganized in 1913 in which its status as a prefecture was changed to a county. Today, it is known as Liaocheng in Shandong. This map has a square symbol adorned with battlements, representing the county seat with gates and towers on each side of the city gates. Red dashed lines radiate from the four city gates, indicating roads that connect the county to neighboring areas. Moving counterclockwise, these nine routes are Pingyin, Renping, Boping, Linqing, Tangyi, Xinxian, Yanggu, Qiji, and Lian’a.
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Gazetteer and Map of the Dongguang CountyDongguang County, a county within Hejian Prefecture during the late Qing dynasty, is now part of Hebei Province. This map centers on a solid red-bordered square marked with the character “城” (city). Aside from the Tianjin–Pukou Railway segment running north-south through Dongguang County and labeled with “railway connects northward to Nanpi” at the bottom edge, the map includes black dashed lines radiating from the “city” as the center. These lines represent seven major roads connecting to destinations including “north-south regions,” “south to Jiaohe,” “to Fucheng,” “to Jingzhou,” “to Ningjin,” “to Nanpi,” and, at the southern border of the county, the road “to Wuqiao,” which was not directly connected to the county seat.
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Complete Map of the Zhili Province
This map depicts the entire Zhili Province, including its mountains, rivers, cities, towns, roads, mountain passes, and the Great Wall. Red single lines mark the roads, with Zhengding and Shuntian Prefectures being the focal points. The roads form a web-like network extending in multiple directions: northward to the Chengde Temporary Imperial Palace, eastward to the Shanhai Pass, and westward through Guguan (south), Longquanguan (north), and the Great Wall Ridge (north) to Shanxi. The name “Wangdu County,” the annotation “Rehe Tongzhi” (Rehe Prefectural Office) without its upgrade to Chengde Prefecture, and the absence of Pingquanzhou and Luanping County suggest that this map was drawn between 1747 and 1777.
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Maps and Tables of Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces: Chizhou and Guangde Prefectures
In this map, the name of the prefecture is found in the upper right corner of the frame, with directional indicators “north,” “south,” “west,” and “east” labeled on each side of the frame. Along the borders, the map includes distance markers in the four directions relative to points in corresponding tables. For instance, on the Chizhou Prefecture map, annotations such as “North to the great river of the prefecture” and “160 li northwest to Anqing Prefecture Relay Station, 480 li west to Jiujiang Prefecture” denote distances. Solid yellow lines indicate roads connecting within the prefectural cities, between the prefectural and county seats, and among the county seats.
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