View of the Western Regions in the Maps of Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties

The ancient maps are not only reflections of the ancient geographical situation, but also expression of political power and geographical concept. Since Zhangqian was accredited to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, the political concern of the dynasties and knowledge concern of the Chinese historiography for the Western Regions have never been interrupted. The maps of the Western Regions drew from Han to Tang Dynasties have not been passed down to the present. During the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the central government and the Western Regions’ political powers had compiled maps of the Western Regions, showing different landscapes and concepts on the Western Regions. The Song and Ming Dynasties, which did not actually control the Western Regions, often represented the historical mirrors of the Western Regions in the Han and Tang Dynasties in their territorial maps for highlighting the martial control and political governance of the central dynasties on the Western Regions and pinning the special political ideal for restoring sovereignty of the Western Regions. The maps on the Western Regions of Yuan Dynasty, influenced by both Chinese and Islamic cartography, depicted the geographical reality of the Turkilization and Mongolianization of the Western Regions. The traffic maps of the Western Regions in the Ming Dynasty focused on the current situation of transportation, township, property and ethnic geography in the broad western regions, and reflected realities of Turkilization and Islamization in the Western Regions during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. The knowledge concern of scholars in Song and Ming Dynasties and the political governance of Yuan and Ming Dynasties were the main driving force for the inheritance and development of the maps of the Western Regions. The Western Regions presented intertwined geographical landscapes between history and reality, homeland and exotic regions in the maps of different dynasties, different types and different knowledge systems.