Tracing ‘Yu’: Stone Maps and the Modern Re-Imagination of ‘Chinese’ Territory

On opposite sides of a twelfth-century stele in Xi’an appear two of the most famous maps in Chinese cartographic history, the Tracks of Yu and the Map of Chinese and Foreigners, best known through rubbings now found in collections around the world. This paper revisits these two maps, reflecting on the almost heroic status they have acquired in modern efforts to imagine the ‘China’ and the Chinese past through its technical accomplishments.

Stephen H. Whiteman is a Reader in the Art and Architecture of China at The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, where his research and teaching focus on the visual and spatial cultures of early modern and modern East and Southeast Asia.