On Lv Dafang's Map Of Chang'an City In The Song Dynasty And The Restored Map

In the North Song Dynasty, science and technology were developed greatlybecause of the prosperous handicraft industry and commerce and developed towneconomy. On the other hand, during this period of time, both the government and thepeople attached much attention to the local records, maps and knowledge about theneighboring countries in order to meet the need of government administration andforeign affairs exchanges. Consequently, different types of maps appeared as a symbolof the advanced civilization of that time. As a result, the Northern Soon Dynasty hasbeen regarded as the golden age of the development of cartology in China.The city map is a very important kind of map in the Song Dynasty. As one of themost famous city maps, and even in the whole history of China, the Map of Chang'anCity, mainly drawn by Lv Dafang, is a model to study the city map and making.of mapsin ancient China.. It is also the outstanding representative of maps and their making inthe Song Dynasty. The information displayed by the Map of Chang'an City—Chang'an City in the Han Dynasty, Daxing City in the Sui Dynasty and Chang'an Cityin the Tang Dynasty—has profound significance to study of Chang'an City in the TangDynasty, the ancient town planning and study of the ancient architecture. The originalstele of the Map of Chang'an City was destroyed in warfare during the Song and Yuandynasties. There have been little researches on it because people could find only someincomplete steles and some books of rubbings of them. Therefore, there are greatacademic values to the study of the Map of Chang'an City.Based on people's efforts to the partly restored stele map, this paper examined thebackground and the concrete content of the Map of Chang'an City, and made a testdiscussion and restore of the lost part of the map. In this paper, great efforts were givento the study of skill and level of the making of the Map in order to discover its makingcharacteristics and great academic values.The whole paper was divided into five parts:The first part is the introduction, in which some topics were discussed, such astheme of the paper; conditions and tendency of studying the subject at home and abroad;the aim, content, methods and the theoretical basis of research on this paper. This partalso pointed out questions existing and the stresses and difficulties of the research. The second part discussed the background of drawing the Map of Chang'an City.Itis one of the main points of the paper and also the basis for further study. Analyzing therelationship between the restored map and the original one is the key of the study.As one of the main parts of the whole paper, the third part analyzed the content ofthe Map of Chang'an City. Analysis about the notes following the title of the Map, the~ guiding ideas shown by the notes on making the Map, the geographical informationlisted in the Map, and the estimation about the lost part of the Map all laid animportant basis to analyzing the design technology and level of making the Map.Part four shown the study on the design technology of the Map. It is one of thekey parts and difficulties of the whole paper. The author made efforts on this part andobtained a certain achievement. By analyzing and exactly judging the orientation, scale,legends and the notes of the Map, this paper reached a conclusion that the making levelof the Map is a little higher than medium among all maps drawn during the Song andYuan Dynasties which we can find today, while the highest among the city maps drawnduring the Song and Yuan Dynasties which we can find today.In part five, through overall study on the Map of Chang'an City and its restoredmap, the Map's characteristics and values are reached as follows:There are 3 characteristics of the Map: first, it leaped over space and time, wasall inclusive with large length and width; secondly, it inherited and developed thetraditional drawing of the Chinese city maps; thirdly, it put forward the historicalcivilization.The historical values of the Map shown as follows: 1. It is a valuable data forstudying the historical development of the Chang'an City during the Han, Sui and TangDynasties; 2. It is a key model to study of the ancient Chinese city planning andconstruction; 3. It is an important reference source to study of the ancient Chinesearchitectures, especially that of the Tang Dynasty; 4. It is much helpful to the researchof the classic books about the ancient Chang'an City.The Map's values in cartology history are: 1. It is a good model to study of themaking of ancient maps, especially city maps in Chinese history; 2. It was the earliestcity map we can find today, and also the earliest map of the ancient Chang'an Citymaps existing today; 3. It also has great aesthetic value.To sum up, the first two parts of this paper is the basis on which the whole paperdevelops. This last three parts analyzed the designing technology and level of themaking of the Map of Chang'an City, and concluded the characteristics and values ofthe Map as well. Just like the planning and construction of the ancient Chang'an City, the designing and the drawing of the Map of Chang'an City is the crystallization of thewisdom of Chinese people. Although we cannot appreciate the whole scene of theregional map drawn by Lv Dafang, the restored Map can also show us its great values asa treasure in the history of cartology in the world.