Reimagining Qing Space: Yongzheng’s Eurasian Atlas (1727–29)

Abstract

Abstract:This study discusses the production context, supporting networks, and circulation of a large multi-sheet map produced at the Yongzheng court in 1727–8. The 98-sheet map added the entire Russian empire to its Kangxi-era predecessor, which has featured prominently in the literature. By zooming in on this hitherto unexplored Yongzheng edition, new light is shed on the entire series of eighteenth-century Qing-era court maps, which emerge as snapshots of a rapidly evolving, specifically Manchu spatial imaginary rooted entirely in the geo-administrative make-up of the Qing polity.