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坤輿圖說

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Text ID
KR2k0150
Date
1672–1672
Dynasty
清

Kūnyú túshuō 坤輿圖說

Illustrated Explanation of the Earth by 南懷仁 (Nán Huáirén / Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J., 1623–1688) — zhuàn 撰

About the work

A 2-juan early-Qīng treatise on world geography in Chinese, by the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest 南懷仁 (1623–1688), composed at Bĕi-jīng during his service as Qīntiānjiān jiànzhèng (Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau) and presented in Kāngxī 11 (1672) as the textual companion to his great two-hemisphere world map Kūnyú quántú 坤輿全圖. The map and treatise were imperial-commission productions intended to update and supersede Aleni’s Zhífāng wàijì KR2k0146 (1623) of the previous generation. Juan 1, Kūnyú (the Earth), divided into 15 entries, treats: the spherical earth; latitude-and-longitude; antipodes; the fúdǎo (Canary Islands prime meridian); winds; rivers; oceans; tides; mountains; minerals; flora and fauna; the rénwù of distant lands. Juan 2, Hǎiwài zhūguó (the foreign countries), surveys the world by Verbiest’s standard five continents (Asia, Europe, Lìwèiyà / Africa, the Americas, Mòwǎlàníjiā / Magellanica), with notes on each major polity’s distance, mountains, rivers, customs, and products. The work concludes with the Xīyáng qīqí — illustrations and descriptions of the Seven Wonders of the (Hellenistic) World.

The Sìkù tíyào notes that some of Verbiest’s content seems to derive from Chinese tradition rather than independent European sources — e.g. the giant tóngrén (bronze man) astride the sea, with great ships passing under his crotch, seems to derive from Dōngfāng Shuò’s Shényì jīng tradition; the xīshǔ (rat in the ice) of the far North also matches the Shényì jīng; the jīnyúgǔ sea-crossing-bridge in the Western Regions matches Zhōu Mì’s Guǐxīn záshí. The Sìkù compilers conclude that Verbiest, having access to Chinese books after his arrival, has synthesised European cartographic content with Chinese-classical elaborations — but that the work nevertheless preserves substantive maritime testimony and is worth retaining for guǎng yìwén (broadening exotic reports).

Tiyao

We respectfully note: the Kūnyú túshuō in 2 juan is by Nán Huáirén of our state. Huáirén was a Westerner; in Kāngxī he held office as Qīntiānjiān jiànzhèng (Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau). The work’s upper juan, from kūnyú down to rénwù — divided into 15 entries — all speak of what the earth produces. The lower juan records the various foreign countries’ distances, mountains-rivers, popular-customs, and products, divided into 5 great continents, ending with the Xīyáng qīqí túshuō. Generally agreeing with Aleni’s Zhífāng wàijì KR2k0146 in mutual exchange, but also frequently with detailed-and-abridged differences and similarities.

Examining: Dōngfāng Shuò’s Shényì jīng says: “in the great wilderness of the Southeast there is Pǔfù — husband and wife both 1000 lǐ tall, belly-circumference (here should be the lǐ-number for belly-circumference; original text omitted; we follow it for now); from the Fǔtiān (assistant-heaven) initial establishment, sent the husband and wife to lead-and-open the hundred rivers; lazily not setting their minds, was punished and made to stand together in the southeast, neither drinking nor eating, neither fearing cold nor heat; must wait until the Yellow River clears, then we will again use his husband-and-wife to lead-and-protect the hundred rivers” — what this work records of the tóngrén striding across the sea and standing, great ships coming-and-going passing out from under his crotch, seems to attach as a shadow to this saying.

Further examining the Shényì jīng: “the North has layered ice 10,000 lǐ thick, 100 zhàng; below the ice in the earth there is the xīshǔ (cleft-rat); shape like a rat, flesh weighing 1000 jīn, can be made into dried meat for eating; cures fever” — this work’s record of this animal is fully congruent.

Further Zhōu Mì’s Guǐxīn záshí says: in the Western Regions there is the Shāhǎi; precisely on the strategic crossing; the water hot like soup, cannot be approached. This is heaven’s way of bounding Huáxià; from antiquity it has not been in connection with China. Suddenly one evening a giant beast floated dead in the water; its bone several tens of lǐ long, lying horizontally between the two banks like a ferry-bridge; in the bone-marrow there is a hollow that can take horses side-by-side. From this the Western Regions began to connect with China. Those of that country who plan to come-and-go always grease the bone with oil, fearing it will dry-and-rot — once it breaks, no further connection is possible.

What this work records of this matter is also fully congruent. We suspect that Huáirén, after coming east, having access to Chinese ancient books, accordingly imitated and varied his words — not all need have actual traces. But examining what other works record of jiǎbó (merchant ships)’ transmitted reports — there are also entries clearly not absurd. Although there is some ornamentation, it is not entirely empty fabrication; preserving for broadening yìwén is also not impossible. Respectfully proof-read in Qiánlóng 4…

Abstract

The Kūnyú túshuō is the principal early-Qīng Chinese-language treatise on world geography by a European scholar, by the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest 南懷仁 (1623–1688) — Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau under Kāngxī from 1669, the most influential Jesuit at the Qīng court after Adam Schall, and the principal European mathematical-astronomical collaborator of the Kāngxī emperor. It was composed in Kāngxī 11 (1672) as the textual commentary on Verbiest’s two-hemisphere world map Kūnyú quántú (1674), and represents an updated successor to Aleni’s Zhífāng wàijì KR2k0146 (1623) of the previous generation, incorporating substantial new material from European sources of the intervening half-century — including post-1640s European exploration of the Pacific.

The work treats: in juan 1, the physical geography of the earth (15 entries on the spherical earth, prime meridian, latitude, antipodes, oceans, winds, rivers, tides, mountains, minerals, flora, fauna, and the rénwù of distant lands); in juan 2, the political-geographical surveys of the five continents and concluding with the Hellenistic Seven Wonders. The Sìkù tíyào is uniquely interesting in observing that Verbiest’s accounts of certain juéyù (extreme-territory) marvels seem to draw on Chinese classical traditions (the Shényì jīng and Zhōu Mì’s Guǐxīn záshí) — suggesting Verbiest’s bicultural assimilation of Chinese geographical legend into the European cosmographical framework.

The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 594.12).

Translations and research

  • Noël Golvers, Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J. (1623–1688) and the Chinese Heaven (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2003). The standard modern monograph on Verbiest, including extensive treatment of the Kūn-yú tú-shuō.
  • John Witek, ed., Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–1688): Jesuit Missionary, Scientist, Engineer, and Diplomat (Sankt Augustin: Steyler-Verlag, 1994). The principal symposium volume on Verbiest, with multiple papers on his geographical works.
  • Catherine Jami, The Emperor’s New Mathematics: Western Learning and Imperial Authority during the Kangxi Reign (1662–1722) (Oxford, 2012).
  • ECCP s.v. Verbiest.
  • Standard Chinese editions: Kūn-yú tú-shuō, included in Sì-kù quán-shū and the Cóng-shū jí-chéng series.
  • Wilkinson §73.5.

Other points of interest

The accompanying Kūnyú quántú of 1674 — a two-hemisphere world map made for Kāngxī, executed in 8 panels and over 4 metres wide — is one of the most important pre-modern Chinese-language world maps; surviving copies are in the British Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the National Palace Museum (Taipei), and elsewhere. The work and map together are the principal vector through which post-Aleni European geographical knowledge entered the Qīng intellectual tradition.

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