The Dunn Map: An American and a Long-Forgotten Curio from Nineteenth-Century China

Abstract

Rediscovered in 2011 within the collection of the Library of Congress, the Fusheng quantu 福省全圖 (Complete Map of Fuzhou), a delicate nineteenth-century Chinese map, had lain unnoticed for over a century. Its anonymous creator and lack of dating impede a direct tracing of its origins, and it is only known to have arrived through a donation of manuscripts by the American businessman and diplomat Thomas Dunn. The map, with its artistic qualities, provides a window into the seascape of Fuzhou and the Qing dynasty’s coastal defences and maritime strategies. This study transcends the map’s physicality, delving into its associated life histories, including Dunn’s, and the broader context of China’s coerced entry into global trade and diplomacy during the age of high imperialism (c.1850–1900). More than a long-forgotten illustrative account, the map is a piece of evidence that reveals much about the times and places in which it was drawn and viewed.