The Hutong & BJ Postcards: Story Time with Maps
Posted: September 2nd, 2012 | | Food For Thought, Upcoming Events | BJ Postcards, Chinese history, Mapping the Middle Kingdom, maps, Middle Kingdom, The Hutong | No Comments »
Learn about the Middle Kingdom Through Maps
China's history is as long as it is intricately complex and through the years, researchers have found many unique means of understanding its history and culture, including through the use of maps. Serving a much greater purpose of exploring a region's geography, maps serve as a way for us to also understand the level of intelligence and how a culture understood its place in the world at that particular point in history.
We all know that once upon a time, China or "中国Zhongguo" called itself "Middle Kingdom" because it believed it was located in the center of the world map. Well, I bet you didn't know a few more facts you can learn about China through studying its maps.
"Did you know that even though maps have been used in China for over 2000 years, and even though the Chinese had invented woodblock printing during the Tang dynasty, until the twentieth century the majority of Chinese maps were still produced with a brush?
Or that in 1688 the Chinese Emperor Kangxi hired a group of French Jesuit priests who started a 30-year project to map all of the Middle Kingdom – the maps from which were still being used by foreign explorers in the 1920s and 30s to navigate around China?
Or, indeed, that the famous anti-opium commissioner Lin Zexu risked his life by collecting and translating Western geographical works on China and published his own book revolutionizing the way the Chinese viewed themselves and their place in the world?"
Sparked your interest?
Come to The Hutong next Sunday, September 9th and hear BJ Postcards share fascinating stories told through antique maps of China and Beijing.
"Mapping the Middle Kingdom" recounts tales of how both Chinese and foreign maps of China developed over time, how the Chinese viewed the world and vice versa, where the Land of People with Three Heads was located, and why the British Empire was nearly always painted in pink!"
For RMB 100 (or RMB 50 for Hutong Members), you will be to some traditional Beijing snacks and either soft drinks or local beer.
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Date: Sunday, September 9, 2012
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Time: 4-6PM
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Price: RMB 100 (or RMB 50 for members)
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Location: The Hutong
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Address: #1 Jiu Dao Wan Zhong Xiang Hutong 东城区九道弯中巷1号. Click here for map and directions.
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Website to RSVP: Click here.
About Beijing Postcards
Beijing Postcards is a company that is dedicated to modern Chinese history, with an emphasis on Beijing. It can be difficult to understand the complex nature of Chinese society today. To help, Beijing Postcards offers a large variety of talks presenting interesting subjects on Beijing and China's history and culture in an easily accessible way, also offering tailor-made talks for corporate events, clubs, private gatherings, and more. Beijing Postcards owns a large collection of old photographs from China which has been collected from all over the world. These are actively used in their presentations. The name, Beijing Postcards, symbolises the passing on of Chinese history and culture on a level where everybody can understand and appreciate it.
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