论传统中国地图学的特征

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF TRADITIONALCHINESE CARTOGRAPHY

传统中国地图学是中国式的，具有若干特征，展现中国风格。传统中国地图学至少具有１０个特征：第１个特征是（天圆）地方是其基础，即把地表视为平坦的；第２个特征是计里画方的应用；第３个特征是详于画水、略于画山；第４个特征在地图上表示绘图者的思想概念，许多地图以变形表示特别的观点；第５个特征是以使用者为中心的地图定位，即多方向定位；第６个特征是行政区划变迁地图的绘制是历史地图的主流；第７个特征是地图的绘制主要是政府的事，不是私人企业；第８个特征是地图上有许多文字注记；第９个特征是手稿地图占极重要的地位；第１０个特征是用高度象形图画式符号表示山和建筑物。

Traditional Chinese cartography is indigenous to China. Such Chinese maps display a personality of Chineseness with a number of distinctive features. The first feature is the concept of a flat earth which was as much at the basis of traditional Chinese cartography as the spherical earth was at the basis of Greek cartography. The second is the use of the Ji - li hua - fang or square grid system. The third is that , on traditional Chinese maps , rivers and inland water bodies were portrayed in much greater detail than landforms and relief. The fourth is that ideological points of view were expressed on maps . Many early Chinese maps were distorted so that they could properly depict a particular viewpoint. The fifth is the user- centered map orientation. The top of a map does not necessarily point to the north. Chinese maps are multi-directionally oriented. The sixth is the mapping of national territorial and ad- ministrative division changes as the mainstream of historical mapping. The seventh is that mapping activities were predominately governmental affairs rather than private and commer- cial business affairs as they were in Europe. The eighth is the prevalence of notes on maps. The ninth is the dominance of manuscript maps . Finally , and not the least , the tenth feature is that mountains and hills were portrayed in side view or stylized forms like those found in Chinese landscape paintings , rather than by layer-tinting , shading or contours.