Complete Map of the Unified All Under Heaven Qing Empire

In 1818, Zhu Xiling 朱錫齡 printed at least three editions of this map, all as multicolored woodblock prints. Like the blue terrestrial map, this map is based on Huang Qianren’s 黃千人 (1694–1771) map of 1767, crediting Huang Zongxi 黃宗羲 (1610–1695), Qianren’s grandfather, as his ultimate source. This map, like the blue terrestrial map, emphasized the administration of the Qing empire. There is a key in the bottom right corner, similar to the key found on the blue maps, that defines the meaning of the encoded toponyms.

In comparison to the blue terrestrial map, Zhu’s map differs in several interesting points. The most obvious is the scale. The map vertically compresses the same geographical area into a tall thin format about a third the width of the blue map. The next obvious difference is in coloration. All extant prints of Zhu’s map use multiple colors, both to define the 18 provinces of “China proper” as well as to shade natural elements like the oceans, deserts, and mountains. Below the title are lists of distances from each province to the capital (not found on the blue map). This map also presents Beijing differently, as much larger and more detailed, including a depiction of the Forbidden City, with its gates labeled on the city’s inner and outer sections.

Zhu Xiling (act. early 19th c.) printed at least three editions of his All under heaven complete map of the unified Great Qing (Da Qing yitong tianxia quantu).¹ They are all multi-colored woodblock printed maps dated to 1818. Like the blue terrestrial map, this map is based Huang Qianren’s All under heaven complete map of the everlasting unified Great Qing (Daqing wannian yitong tianxia quantu) of 1767 crediting Huang Zongxi, Qianren’s grandfather, as his ultimate source.

In comparison to the blue terrestrial map Zhu’s map differs in several interesting points. The most obvious is the scale. Zhu Xiling compresses vertically the same “space” into a tall thin map while the blue maps expand the width to almost three times that of the 1818 map. The next obvious difference is in coloration. All extent prints of Zhu’s map use multiple colors, primarily in the 18 provinces of “China proper” and the region surrounded by the Willow Palisade. Natural elements like the oceans, deserts, and mountains are colored as well. The use of multiple colors, like printing a map all in blue, makes for a striking presentation visually enhancing each map.

Below the title, are lists of distances from each province to the capital (absent on the blue terrestrial maps). Furthermore, the 1818 map presents the capital, Beijing as much larger and more detailed, including a depiction of the forbidden city, with all gates labeled on the inner and outer sections of the capital (fig. ).

This map, like the blue terrestrial map, emphasized the administration of the Qing empire. There is a key, as also found on the blue terrestrial maps, in the bottom right corner, that provided the shapes associated with each administrative unit (encoded toponyms). This map demonstrates that during the early nineteenth century the contents as shown on the blue terrestrial maps were not unusual but part of a popular view of the Qing empire. However, although conceptually and visually similar to the blue maps, none of the 1818 maps survives in as great numbers as the blue maps. The impressive presentation of the blue maps likely made them the most popular of this type at the time.