《雪尔登中国地图》的发现与研究

The Selden Map of China:A Critical Review of the Academic Views

2008年,在英国牛津大学鲍德林图书馆发现了一幅明代绘制的中国航海地图,国外学者称其为《雪尔登中国地图》(THe Selden Map of China)。至今为止,中外学者从不同的角度对这幅地图进行了热烈的讨论,并且取得了不少进展,但依然有许多问题尚未解决。这幅地图还表明,虽然明朝政府对海外贸易反应迟钝,但中国沿海民众对于对外交往的反应却是非常敏锐的。这就迫使我们要重视研究中国沿海民众对海外贸易的反应问题,进而重新审视中国在世界贸易体系形成初期所起的作用。

In 2008,a Chinese nautical map of the Ming Dynasty was discovered in the Bodleian Library,Oxford.It was named as the Selden Map of China.So far,Scholars from home and abroad have studied it eagerly from different angles.Although some problems have been solved,there are still many problems needing solutions.This paper outlines the academic discussions about the Selden Map of China,and gives a critical review.It also points out that while the Ming government lagged in response to the first wave of globalization,the Chinese people living in the coastal cities reacted positively to it.Thus,we should pay more attention to the problem of the reaction of the people living in the coastal cities to the globalization,and re-examine the role of China in its early course.