Every significant government appointee in the Chinese bureaucracy, for almost one thousand years, would start out their assignment with a packet that included a map of their jurisdiction. This map, one of many gazetters, included census data, trade and tax data, and local social behavior. An army of cartographers were employed to constantly update the gazettes. Not only did the gazetteers provide the government with reliable information on a sprawling empire; they also stirred local pride by highlighting each prefecture’s social and cultural achievements. This particular one is of Ning-hai County, circa 1200s
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário