Geography

Visual Cultures in East Asia is the new generic platform of
the Institute of Asian Studies (IrAsia) for the development
and display of research projects and collections that
involve the use of visual and cartographic materials. It
will actually serve as a portal for the individual as well
as collective projects of the LEAS scholars and graduate
students, as well as their partners.

The webpage features Selden Map of China at the Bodleian
Libray of Oxford. Dating from the late Ming period, it
shows China, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Southeast Asia and part of India. The map shows shipping
routes with compass bearings from the port of Quanzhou
across the entire region. This is the earliest Chinese map
not only to show shipping routes, but also to depict China
as part of a greater East and Southeast Asia, and not the
centre of the known world.

The China Historical Geographic Information System, CHGIS,
project was launched in January 2001 to establish a
database
of populated places and historical administrative units
for
the period of Chinese history between 221 BCE and 1911 CE.
CHGIS provides a base GIS platform for researchers to use
in
spatial analysis, temporal statistical modeling, and
representation of selected historical units as digital
maps.

The AGSL collection Includes thousands of photos and maps on
China, Japan, and Korea.