IAAS Lecture by Professor Kicengge

Date: 

Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 1:15pm to 2:30pm

Location: 

CGIS South Building, Room S153, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA 02138

Manchu Archives and the Cartographic Knowledge of the Northeast in the Huangyu Quanlan Tu

Kicengge (Chengzhi), Professor, Institute of Liberal Arts, Otemon Gakuin University, Japan, and Visiting Research Scholar at EALC, Harvard University (April 2019 - March 2020)

Abstract:

During the 47th year of the Kangxi reign (1708), the Kangxi emperor for the first time sent out three missionaries as part of a team of surveyors also including an escort, a carpenter, and others, in order to draw part of a map known as the ‘Huangyu quanlan tu’. They traveled through the Great Wall’s Shanhai Pass, along the seashore to the city of Fenghuang, and later west of the Changbai Mountains back to the city of Mukden. After that, they continued eastward, passing Ningguta, Hunchun, the Suifen River, and the Usury River, and on towards the lower reaches of the Amur River.

Two years later, the emperor again sent out a team, this time mainly consisting of Manchus. They reached areas that were not visited during the first expedition, such as the mouth of the Amur River and the island of Sakhalin, where they undertook surveying activities. When we look carefully at the people who conducted the surveying activities on both expeditions, we see that the literature has hitherto focused solely on the role of the missionaries, while neglecting the Manchu expedition leaders and representatives of the Bureau of Astronomy. In this presentation, I use Manchu and other language materials to revisit the surveying activities related to the Kangxi-era ‘Huangyu quanlan tu’ and undertaken in the Northeast.

Please note this lecture will be in CGIS South Room S153