Map of Yu’s Traces (Yuji Tu): The World’s Earliest Cartograph of Watercourses
The most valuable principle the ancient Chinese learned from their work with flood control was that dredging or diverting water to flow naturally downward is superior to diking or other attempts to obstruct the water's passage. Particular attention was therefore paid to the distribution of watercourses and the valleys in which they were located. The Classic of Watercourses (Shuijng), the world'soldest monograph on watercourses compiled by Shang Qin (c. 1st century AD), discusses 137 watercourses in detail. The most famous commentary on this work, The Annotated Classic of Watercourses (Shuijing Zhu), written by Li Daoyuan (466-527 AD) during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD), records a total of 1250 watercourses. As noted by British China scholar Dr. Joseph Needham, "There seems to be no class of geographical literature in Europe quite corresponding to this" (Joseph Needham. Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959, 22:516).
In 1136 AD, a geographic map titled Yu Ji Tu (Map of Yu’s Traces) was engraved on the stone. The stone map specifically shows the watercourses in ancient China. It is titled in the name of Great Yu because of his deeds for flood control in the history of China. The map is considered as of the most prominent cartograph at that time all over the world. Of the most outstanding character is that it is divided into 5,110 equal sub-squares, each side of the sub-square is approximately 1.1 to 1.2 cm and was said to be proportional to 100 li (the scale is therefore approximately 1:4,500,000). The drawing of the coastline and main watercourses is quite exact even to compare with modern geographic map drawn with global positioning system (GPS).
Rubbing of Map of Yu’s Traces (Yuji Tu)
