Maps and supporting materials from the Hanzhong Fu Gazetteer of 1813

 

Map of Hanzhong Fu
Hanzhong Prefecture in 1813

 

Yan Ruyi and the Hanzhong Gazetteer maps of 1813:

 

In the 13th Jiaqing year (1808) of the Qing period, the scholar official Yan Ruyi (严如熤, 1759~1826) was appointed as Hanzhong Zhifu (Prefect). While he was in Hanzhong, Yan Ruyi made many contributions to the development of local educational institutions and cultural activities. He also managed the production of the “Hanzhong Gazetteer” (Yan and Zheng, 1813; 严如熤,《漢中續修府志》) and was engaged, also with the help and support of Zheng Bingran, in a much more extensive mapping activity of the Qinling and other regions of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei and Gansu that reached its conclusions at the beginning of the reign period of the Daoguang Emperor in 1822. These efforts were all responses to the desire of the Qing government to gather information to help provide greater security throughout the wild border region of the four Provinces. The first known outcomes of this extended period of mapping were the maps and Gazetteer information in the Hanzhong Fu Zhi (Hanzhong 1813 Gazetteer) in 1813. From the later time period until 1822 at the beginning of the Daoguang Emperor's time we only know of a few maps. One was called “Map of the four provinces in the north bank of the Han River” and it is known by a copy being included in the US Library of Congress Chinese Map collection. Two more official, better drawn and updated copies of this map and a companion map of the area of the Han catchment South of the Han River are in the collection of the Taipei Palace Museum in Taiwan. The “Complete overview of defence conditions in three provinces” (Yan Ruyi, 1822) contains maps of the whole area, is most up to date and is treated separately in the Qinling Roads to Shu web site (see HERE). The web page has references to translated papers and books describing the Library of Congress Collection. The maps produced by Yan Ruyi for the “Hanzhong 1813 Gazetteer” are the subject of this page and maps and materials can be found below.

 

Yan, Ruyi and Zheng Bingran (1813). “Hanzhong Fu Gazetteer”, in 32 Chapters (In Chinese)
漢中續修府志: [32卷] 嚴如熤修; 鄭炳然等 纂
Hanzhong xu xiu fu zhi: [32 juan] Yan Ruyi xiu Zheng Bingran deng zuan
Yan, Ruyi (1822). Complete overview of defence conditions in three provinces, 14 Chapters. (In Chinese).
三省边防备览,严如熤,张鹏翂编者,1822,十四卷.
Sansheng bianfang beilan, Yan Ruyi, Zhang Pengfeng (Ed), 1822 14 Juan

 

In 2012, Guo Peng published a version of the Republic printed Hanzhong 1813 Gazetteer in large format and revised to use Simplified characters and modern left to right conventions with punctuation. This makes it easier to read but does prevent some study of the original characters. The re-drawn maps are to scale and very clear and well drawn. They are therefore used here to develop a set for the Northern Plank Road map and also other maps. In some cases the originals will be provided as well when sufficiently clear scans of reprinted woodblock versions are available. The reference for Guo Peng's book is:

 

Guo Peng (2012). “Jiaqing Hanzhong Fu Gazetteer”, Sanqin Press, Sept. 2012.
郭鹏:《嘉庆汉中府志校勘》,三秦出版社,2012年9月。

 

Maps of the Hanzhong 1813 Gazetteer

 

Maps in the Hanzhong 1813 Gazetteer are:
1. “General map of the Districts of Hanzhong Fu”;
2. Maps of the territories of Liuba Ting, Dingyuan Ting, Nanzheng Xian, Baocheng Xian, Yangxian, Xixiang Xian, Fengxian, Ningqiang Zhou, Mianxian and Lueyang Xian;
3. “Map of the north-south Plank Road”;
4. “Black River Map” and
5. “Huayang Map”.

 

Table of Sections from the Landscape View "Northern Plank Road Map" (use "back" to return to Table)

 

The Map of the Northern Plank Road is a landscape "birdseye" view map that follows the main northern Postal Road from the border between Hanzhong Fu and Baoji Fu near Huangniu Station through to the border with Sichuan Province Guangyuan Fu at Qipan Pass. This map makes very interesting comparisons with an earlier Qing Period map that is part of the US Library of Congress collection. It is described in this web site HERE and the page includes images as well as a number of translated papers and discussions about the map by various Chinese historians.

 

Map Section

End Points

Comments

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Qipan Pass (七盘关) to (near) Wuding Pass (五丁关)

Qipan Pass is the border with Sichuan. Sheet contains walled District city of Ningqiang Zhou (宁羌州).

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Wuding Pass (五丁关) to Mian District near Mianxian (沔县城).

Contains a garrison at Da'an Station (大安驿) and boundary between Ningqiang and Mianxian Districts (沔宁交界).

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Mianxian (沔县城) to Jitou (Chickenhead) Pass (鸡头关)

Contains walled District centres of Mianxian (沔县城) and Baocheng (褒城县城) and walled garrisons at Jiuzhou Pu (旧州铺) and Huangsha Station (黄沙驿).

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Jitou (Chickenhead) Pass (鸡头关) to Wuguan Station (武关驿)

Contains walled garrison fort of Madao Station (马道驿).

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Wuguan Station (武关驿) to Nanxing (南星)

Contains District centre of Liuba Ting (留坝厅) and Liuba Feng boundary (凤留交界).

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Feiqiu Pass (废邱关) to Huangniu Fort (黄牛堡).

Contains major District centre of Fengxian (凤县城) as well as the Fengling (凤岭) Pass to ends close to the Baoji District boundary (宝凤交界).

 

A (large) 45 MB zip file containing the Jpeg images of the pictures in the Table can be downloaded HERE.

 

If you have sufficient bandwidth, a VERY LARGE 160 MB zip file containing the Jpeg images of the Map Sections at highest resolution can also be downloaded HERE.
(Do not try to open this file - select download to your computer).

 

Table of other Maps from the Hanzhong Gazetteer (use "back" to return to Table)

 

 

Map Reference

Comments

Hanzhong_Fu_Mosaic_Pic_small.jpg

The Hanzhong Gazetteer contains a map of Hanzhong Fu indicating the contents thought important at the time.

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The Black River map was an early example of the method of squares and the result of significant field inspection. It is included with almost no change in the later "Three Province Defense" maps.

Huayang_Map_Mosaic_trim_Pic_small.jpg

The Huayang Map was also an example of detailed survey carried out by Yan Ruyi and Zheng Bingran. The map and its annotations have been already presented based on a print of the original Gazetteer and can be found as a chapter in the PDF that can be found HERE.

 

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