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SCMP Open Questions | What an ancient Chinese map reveals about global history and modern power: Sheng-Wei Wang

8 May 2026 We have presented many of Dr Sheng-Wei Wang’s academic presentations and showcased her published works. While these are important to furthering scholarship, Dr Wang also understands that knowledge is something to be… 

Highlights From the 2025 Commonwealth of World Chinatowns Conference (Ancient Maritime Silk Road to the Cosmos)

The 2025 Commonwealth of World Chinatowns Conference (Ancient Maritime Silk Road to the Cosmos) in Penang, Malaysia has successfully concluded with Dr Wang’s appearance on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of September 2025. During this… 

New Asia Currents: NAC Focus adds Dr. Wang’s work

We are pleased to announce the New Asia Currents: NAC Focus has added four new webpages featuring Dr Sheng-Wei Wang’s work on pre-Columbian Chinese voyages.

NAC Focus archives editorial projects on specific subjects to supplement the 2025 release of New Asia Currents. New Asia Currents outlines their editorial purposes, audience and objectives here. These include publising projects for people interested in “Frontiers of Art, Science & Human Civilisations”.

An Ancient World Map Depicts West and Central Asia in 1433

As fall approaches and the leaves change, most of us look forward to the start of the holiday season. Meanwhile, Dr Wang has been busy studying the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 《坤輿萬國全圖/坤舆万国全图》once more to demonstrate that… 

Talk The Walk Interview: Impact of Zheng He’s Voyages and Chinese Global Exploration in the Pre-Columbian Era: Evidence from an Ancient World Map:  China-US Relations

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.

Did Zheng He mariners explore the Americas before Columbus? A Chinese-based map reveals the truth

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.