A Study On Michael Boym’s Atlas Imperii Sinarum

Atlas Imperii Sinarum, drawn by Michael Boym, a Polish Jesuit in c.1652, is Chinese--Latin atlas, the original manuscript of which has been stored in Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Based on the data collected in China, Michael Boym drew this atlas with the attempt to spread the geographical knowledge of China to Europe. Although the influence of Atlas Imperii Sinarum is not as influential as Martino Martini’s Novus Atlas Sinensis, it can reflect the cognitive level of the westerners to understand China. With the perspective of western sinology, this paper tries to do the research about the origin of Atlas Imperii Sinarum by placing it under the western cognitive tradition towards Chinese geography.About the western cognitive tradition towards Chinese geography, this paper, based on the previous research, points out that the two main ways for westerns to know China were by land and by sea. Before the Age of Discovery, the geographic knowledge obtained by westerns was mainly from the system of Seres-Sinae during the period of ancient Greece and Rome, to Taugast-TzLnitza/TzLnista in the period of the Byzantine Empire, then to Cathay-Mangi in the period of Mongolian-Yuan Dynasty. During the Age of Discovery, because of the different ways to know China, and also because of limitations of ways coming to China and the limitations of activities in China, till 17th century, there had existed such the mistake as so called "two Seres" among the westerners for a long time. Since the historians’knowledge about China in the period of the Byzantine Empire, to a great degree, followed the classical times, the whole period of understanding Chinese geography can be divided, on the whole, into three phases, that is, classical times, the period of Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and the Age of Discovery. After the Age of Discovery, for a quite long time, the westerners’knowledge about China appeared to be intricate by the three different phases, as the result of intervening time and space.As to the Chinese original manuscript, the scholars have not reached agreement. The author of this paper agrees with Li Xiaocong’s opinion that,on the whole, Atlas Imperii Sinarum was mapped based on the map of《备志皇明一统形势 分野人物出处全览》, but the author also points out that some place names of Korea and Taiwan may come from the works of Matteo Ricci and Jules Aleni. Besides, the author has found that Boym adopted the popular western way in map drawing to Atlas Imperii Sinarum. Most importantly, based on many historical documents, the author proves that the original manuscript of Liaodong Peninsula in Atlas Imperii Sinarum was 《大明文武诸司衙门官制》,published by BaoshanTang in 1586.Giving a systematic combing of cognitive tradition to Chinese geography by westerners, the author of this paper has done a careful research about how Michal Boym completed the records about Chinese silks given by the previous historians such as Gaius Plinius Secundus in classical times, especially on his quotations from the works of Marco Polo about the description of names of the Chinese places and other matters, and the quotations from the works of Jesuits, such as Matteo Ricci, Nicolas Trigault, Alvaro Semedo. All of these are the western sources of Atlas Imperii Sinarum. Then the author investigates on all kinds of influences of the Atlas Imperii Sinarum in the West.The Mid-17th century was in the transitional process, in which the westerners changed their way to perceive China from the traditional aspects to the modern scientific ones with the knowledge of latitude and longitude. Boym was active in keeping the tradition, at the same time, he tried to accept and spread the new knowledge. With rich cultural connotations, Atlas Imperii Sinarum can be regarded as the valuable research sample to understand the details of how Chinese culture was transferred to western world and what aspects of culture was varied during the process of such cultural transmission.