Making Place 20090705 Leu Ntu

Cartography as the mediator of making place: the emergence of Matsu Islands on the Chinese Maps.            

呂嘉耘 Chia-Yung Leu Department of Anthropology National Taiwan University

Introduction •This was most apparent in the coastal regions, where the ancient Chinese official map often had vague and inexact details about the distance between islands and sea routes.

•On the contrary, the knowledge of the local people about their environment and landscape was preserved as a secret knowledge which is passed orally.

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However, the situation changed after the introduction of modern cartography in the 19th century.

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The spatial representation of the modern map, which indicating the exact distance and geographical distribution, had greatly facilitated the late imperial governance in the control of coastal regions.

Matsu Islands

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We can only correlate the limited number of place names (about 14 to 20, often port names) in the texts based on homophonic to the present day map.

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The name and boundary of Matsu Islands cluster was not exist until late 19th century, and since then the Matsu was gradually fixed through the years of political changes in China.

Literature review & Research question •In Chinese historical research, the Map Issues are never neutral. The map represented the Imperial cosmology and the ideal geographic order. (Yee, 1994)

•When analyzing what the map and local record represented, we can study not only the idealized order of the picture & official records, but also the govern scheme & measures the Government planned to do. (Hostetler, 2001)

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The images of the locals was often scattered and vague in the official records, for the administrative power never really know the locals.

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In the marginal area of China, such as the southeast coast, the technology of knowing and representing the local is almost the key factor of governmental efficiency.

Concern & Argument •My research question is: as a key factor of knowing and controlling a certain geographical space, how do local and scientific knowledge operate and serve function?

•And by what mean the scientific knowledge is “better” or “powerful” than the local knowledge?

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The local knowledge of sea must work with the intimate environmental experience of local sailors, while the scientific knowledge could be adapted by ANY ONE who can read.

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In the ancient China, the function of map was to arrange its territory in Imperial cosmological order.

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After the introduction of modern cartography, the intimate, local knowledge that used to be a powerful weapon for the marginal people to hide against the government remains “local”, and the technology of “universal” bring the Imperial power into local life which no longer protected by the locals' intimacy.

Local knowledge & Maps in Ancient China

•Sailors who lacked a textual record had their unique map-less practical mastery to rely on. Their local knowledge made their own “places” of their own usages.

•The "practical mastery" of the environment consists of owning full knowledge of what the environment feels like from all available points of view. (Gell,1985)

• Views throughout the journey from A to B. (in Gell's words)

The contemporary local place names

The local coastal sailing route --a narrow channel leads to a local port

Route that Compass Needled (Zhen lu tu, 針路圖 ) in Sending to Zhong-Shan (Zhong shan chuan xin lu, 中山傳信錄 ), 1719.

Map of naval defenses across miles (wan li hai fang tu 萬里海防圖 ), 1552-1561. The red circled ones are the place names in contemporary Matsu Islands.

They are part of “Matsu Islands”. From “the recent translated maps of dangers and importances on the river and sea of China” (shin yi zhong guo jiang hai xian yao tu zhi 新譯中國江海險要圖誌 )(1899), Which book translated from “The China Sea Directory” (1873) @ England

Current conclusion

•As an example, by showing the contrast between local knowledge and modern cartography, I want to talk not only the limitations of Imperial control, but also the role cartographic technology played in determining the local-Imperial relative political autonomy.

• On the controlling of marine issues in the 19th century, the decisive difference between the sovereign power of Qing dynasty and the local society comes from the different technologocal tools/aspects they had at that time.

• Furthermore, by introducing "making place" to historical studies, we can learn more about that the "places" made by different technology actually involve the elicitation of different thinkings/feelings and social practices,  which lead to various social decisions in historical events.

• And it is only after "piercing through" the exclusive position of local knowledge(having the ability to access the detailed, relative positioned geographical information), that the Qing dynasty can finally gain their substantial sovereign power back, and that the southeast-coast islands,including Matsu islands, finally clearly appears on the territorial map of China, and become the crucial geographic units that tangled with military and political powers through the history of modern China.

 Thank you for your attention.

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