Dr Hwa-Wei Lee, Dr John A. Ruskamp, Jr. and Dr Lynne Chow share their valuable insights on Dr Wang’s new publication, Chinese Global Exploration in Pre-Columbian Era: Evidence from an Ancient World Map.
As Autumn (or Spring for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere) approaches and school begins for many, Dr Wang has found new information to learn in the coming year. In history classes, Dr Wang’s new discovery shows that the map, Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 《坤輿萬國全 圖/坤舆万国全图》, by Matteo Ricci continues to derive from Chinese sources – this time in regards to the Korean peninsula. As with her previous findings, the information is not of Europeans sources as the Eurocentric history once led us to believe. Below is a sneak-peek at her up-coming work on the Korean peninsula!
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Dr Wang has found more exciting new information that demonstrates Kunyu Wanguo Quantu《坤輿萬國全圖/ 坤舆万国全图》or Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World published by Matteo Ricci in 1602 in China ‒ depicts Japan in 897 A.D. via Chinese sources.
Although, Dr Wang is an academic with writings and speech aimed at the academia, she understands that those mediums might be less approachable to the general public. As such, she engages in more casual formats with the aims of making her findings reachable and enjoyable to all.
In this interview, Dr Wang discusses how many of her arguments, including the importance of the Ming figure, Zheng He (鄭和), influenced or proceeded the European Age of Discovery and what it means to us in this age of rising Sino-Western tensions.
As children, we all learn about who discovered America. However, all those figures are Europeans. In this paper, Dr Wang analysis the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu《坤輿萬國全圖》or Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World published by Matteo Ricci in 1602. What she found is that contrary to popular belief, the Americas shown are not the result of European information, but Chinese sourced from Pre-Columbian times. Moreover, it shows the political landscape of the Americas in the 1420s and evidence for much earlier Chinese voyages.
Africa is one of those places that those, in the Global North, either do not think about or only have a superficial knowledge about. However, like any other human-inhabited continent on earth, Africa is made up of many countries and has a very long history. In today’s paper, Dr Wang takes us on a journey to the early days of Sino-African exchanges. The Chinese-based world map Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 《坤輿萬國全圖》or Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World is long thought to be a copy of European maps. However, Dr Wang argues the map is derived from Chinese sources that originated in the year 1433, during the last of the seven Ming voyages.
When we think of Sino-European relations, we think of the Silk Road or today’s heated politics in Europe. But as today’s world has shown us, reality is much more complicated. In today’s paper, once more Dr Wang has a unique view on the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu《坤舆 万国全图》or Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World published by Matteo Ricci in 1602 in China. Here, she argues that this map shows a glimpse of the complicated European political landscape between 1157 and1166 which overlaps with the Southern Song Dynasty. Furthermore, she argues that a Sino-European relationship goes back long before the Common Era.
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it is now summertime, but if you live in the Southern hemisphere, it is now winter. Today, this is common knowledge, but what about in antiquity? In this paper, by studying the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 《坤舆万国全图》or Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World, Dr Wang makes the startling discovery that contrary to popular belief, Matteo Ricci and his Chinese collaborators did not base the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu solely on European Maps and instead shows proof the Ancient Chinese explored Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica, long before the Europeans.
Most people would assume Matteo Ricci’s 1602 world map ‒ Kunyu Wanguo Quantu《坤舆万国全图》 is strictly of European origin and from European knowledge. However, by comparing four other European maps (four maps are: 1) the 1562 Map of America by Diego Guttierez; 2) the 1569 World Map by Gerardus Mercator; 3) the 1570 World Map by Abraham Ortelius; and 4) the 1594 World Map by Petrus Plancius) of the same era, Dr Wang makes the startling argument that Kunyu Wanguo Quantu is of Chinese origin. The implications of this are profound as this implies the Chinese were in the Americas in the Pre-Columbian era.