About Maps

"The steps in making a map—selection, omission, simplification, classification, and hierarchy—are all inherently rhetorical" (Harley, 1989).

The four maps included in this project represent four distinct historical moments in the development of Changzhou. While they document geographical locations and appear to present "accuracy" or "truthfulness", maps are never neutral or purely factual. Instead, they function as cultural texts, embedding political intentions and power relations within cartographic practices. Questions such as who made the map, for whom it was produced, and for what purpose are central to understanding these representations. Moreover, choices in projection, scale, symbolism, and visual emphasis often reflect underlying power structures. By closely examining each of the four maps, this project aims to uncover the hidden politics embedded in their cartographic design.

1909 City Map

the Era of Late Qing Dynasty

Scale: 1/20000

Source: National Central Library, Taipei, China

Producer: Nanyang Land Survey Department(NLSD)

About Nanyang Land Survey Department (南洋陸地測量司; 1906 - 1928)

It was a military survey and mapping office and school created in Nanjing, China, in 1906. The school's aim was to modernize Qing mapping technology, incorporating western printing and surveying technology. The Qing administrators invited Japanese printers and mapmakers to Nanjing, where they taught triangulation, topographic mapping, and cartographic printing.

the Cartography and technologies

Before the 1900s, traditional Chinese maps largely followed the shan shui (landscape painting) style. Their representations were more aesthetic and abstract, rather than focused on geometric precision. Below is the Wujin County Map (武进县舆图) produced in 1895, where you can observe a clear stylistic difference.

While for the 1909 Map, it starts to feel more "scientific" in terms of the general relativity between locations, referencability, and mapping conventions(e.g. symbology,projection system,scale, and topographic surveys). The Self-Strengthening Movement and China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War made the Qing government realize that traditional maps were too simplistic and unsuitable for modern warfare. The need to train new-style armies further highlighted the importance of an accurate military mapping system. In response, the government sent students abroad and established surveying schools across the country to learn and help build the modern surveying and cartography in China(Zhang and Wang).

Since the maps are constructured mostly for military purposes, it was kept confidential and restrcted for public use. Maps create a relationship between their readers and the territory they represent. This connection is not only logical but also emotional(Edney). It can bring positive emotions like pride, satisfaction, belonging, and affection, but it can also cause fear or anxiety. If we stand closer to this map, we can start to feel an anxiety about the nation’s spatial vulnerability, a strong desire to catch up with Western technology, and, in the aftermath of military defeat, a lingering fear of further invasion and a heightened sense of vigilance.

1947 City Map

the Era of Civil War

Scale: 1/10000

Source: Academia Sinica, Taipei, China

Producer: Surveying Team of the Jiangsu Provincial Land Administration

The Perspective

When situated within the historical context of the Chinese Civil War, this 1:10,000 map of Wujin County can be read as reflecting a distinctly Nationalist (KMT) spatial perspective. The presence of the Youth Army garrison marked on the map, together with its current preservation in the Academia Sinica collection, suggests its production and circulation within Nationalist administrative and military networks. Compared to the 1:20,000 scale of the 1909 map, the larger scale of this survey indicates both technological advancement and a heightened demand for spatial precision, driven by military and land-administrative needs. From a Nationalist viewpoint, the design of the map reveals clear strategic intentions. Beyond residential zones, public infrastructures such as schools, temples, hospitals, and factories are prominently symbolized. According to the Changzhou Gazetteer, these sites were frequently repurposed as military stations, underscoring their logistical value.

Temples and hospitals

Factory sites

Schools

Changzhou railway station

The railway is particularly emphasized, reflecting the strategic significance of transport corridors for troop movement and supply—especially given Changzhou’s position between Shanghai and Nanjing. In this light, the railway station emerges not merely as an economic node but as a critical military asset. Taken together, these features suggest that the map functioned not only as a technical representation of space but also as an instrument embedded within the tensions of partisan conflict, encoding the Nationalist state’s efforts to secure territorial control through spatial knowledge and infrastructural oversight.

1987 City Map

the Era of Economic Construction

Scale: N/A

Source: Jiangsu People Press, Jiangsu, China

Producer: Changzhou Planning Bureau of Land Resources

the Tourism and Transportation map

For the 1987 map, the audience and fundamental purpose diverge significantly from those of its predecessors. It is important to note that it was created by the Changzhou Planning Bureau of Land Resources for the city's own identity. As a tourism and transportation map, more mundane and practical details of daily life begin to appear compared to maps made for military use. For example, entertainment venues such as restaurants, bookstores, hotels, and cinemas are marked using special line-drawn symbologies. It helps us understand how Changzhou’s most recognizable and widely frequented landmarks were experienced and presented to the public in the 1980s.

Palace of Culture Activity Center

Hongmei Park and Wenbi Pagoda

Lanling Restaurant

Changzhou Railway Station

The map becomes an instrument of self-representation and serves the public, including both residents and tourists. It is as if Changzhou is looking at itself in a mirror and considering how to present its reflection to the world. The dominant use of warm tones further reinforces this shift, resonating with the industrial prosperity and population growth of the 1980s. This reflects how Changzhou, as a city, is engaging with its own identity and shaping how it wishes to be seen. The new perspective demonstrates an attempt at civic self-examination and an urge to open the city to the outside world.

2025 City Map

the Era of Satellite Map

Scale: Adjustable

Data Source: Satellite Base Map from OpenStreetMap, GIS community

Power of Digital map

In the digital era, satellite mapping appears to democratize geographic knowledge by allowing users to freely zoom, drag, and extract spatial information. The representation of Changzhou 2025 relies on publicly available OpenStreetMap data layered with satellite basemaps, suggesting an open and participatory mapping environment distinct from earlier state-produced paper maps. However, this apparent accessibility does not eliminate underlying power asymmetries. Instead, it reconfigures them. While users can navigate and interpret space interactively, the production, updating, and visibility of spatial information remain shaped by platform infrastructures and technological mediation. In this sense, Edney’s concept of imperial mapping continues to resonate: the population within mapped territories may consume spatial representations without understanding how they are constructed, while another group—developers, data contributors, and platform operators—is empowered to produce and control geographic knowledge. Digital maps thus make everyday life more convenient and seemingly more “scientific,” yet they are embedded within invisible systems of platform governance that determine what becomes visible, legible, or prioritized. In the case of Changzhou, the contemporary map reflects not only urban reality but also the layered authority of data platforms that curate and standardize spatial knowledge. Rather than dissolving cartographic power, digital mapping relocates it—from the territorial state to distributed technological infrastructures—while continuing to structure how space is known and navigated.