Ink and color on silk
This map, rendered in traditional Chinese landscape painting style, depicts the Yellow River from its source at Xingsuhai to its estuary, the entire Grand Canal, the entire Huai River, and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The Yellow River is highlighted in bright yellow; the Huai River is painted in yellow-green; and other water systems are represented in blue, emphasizing the importance of the Yellow and Huai Rivers. Textual annotations on the map not only identify towns and administrative divisions but also detail river management projects along the Yellow River’s banks. Key flood-control sites are marked with large yellow labels and descriptive notes. For example, near Baima Lake, where the Yellow River, Huai River, and Grand Canal converge, one note explains: “A high embankment is constructed in the north at Wujiadun with a sluice gate to discharge Huai River water… staffed with officials and workers for defense.” The Yellow River and the Grand Canal run almost parallel, and the artistic technique used to enlarge and highlight the imperial capital Beijing (labeled as “Shenjing”) is one of the distinctive features of this map. Based on the yellow annotation on the map indicating the breach of the Yellow River at Fengqiu during in 1652, and the absence of details regarding the Yellow River’s breach at Guiren Dike in 1659, where the water was redirected into the Hongze Lake and flooded the Gaoyou and Baoying Lakes, it can be inferred that the map represents the period between 1652 and 1659. Furthermore, as the map’s drawing style closely resembles that of Ming dynasty maps, its creation date is likely not far removed from that period.