中國地圖之研究

Abstract

In establishing the China Mission, the Jesuit Fathers also acted as conveyors of western science, notably geography and astronomy to China. The remarkable maps and atlases of China which Father Matteo-Ricci and his successors made and sent back to Europe are available in some libraries. The Austrian National Library has some Chinese Maps and Atlases, especially well known were those of Ricci, Sanbiasi, Schall, Verbiest and others. Ricci was encouraged to produce an even larger map designed for a twelve-panel screen, measuring three by two metres and which was printed from carved wood blocks, and published in Peking on August 17, 1602. Ricci’s work in the propagation of geographical knowledge was carried on by his successors in China. Ricci’s map of 1602 may be regarded as the most important relic of early European cartography in China. Ricci’s influence continued well into the 17th century. Father Francesco Sanbiasi (1582-1649) followed Ricci to China and his maps are similar to Ricci in various features. In 1648 in the city of Canton, he produced his oval world map in Chinese. Chinese interest in western science was inspired not only by intellectual curiosity but also by something more practical: the urgent need to reform the calendar which governed all the affairs of official life. Father Johann Adam Schall von Bell arrived in China in 1622, bringing with him the first telescope ever in China. He compiled a calendar for the emperor and in the same year Schall drew up a great map of the heavens. After Schall, the Jesuit Father Ferdinand Verbiest in 1659 came to China. He was appointed “Summus Praefectus Academiae" in 1667. In 1669 he refitted the Peking Observatory with modern astronomical instruments. He made a great map of the world in two hemispheres, each 1.75 metres in diameter, which was published in 1674. This material constitutes the field of my research and it is my desire the others may benefit from it and continue to make