Cao Junyi: A Complete Map of All Under Heaven
An essay by Man Zheng
Introduction
This map, a woodblock print composed of two sheets joined horizontally along the central fold, and measuring 1,295 by 1,277 mm, is titled Tianxia Jiubian Wanguo Renji Lucheng Quantu 天下九邊分野人跡路程全圖 [Complete Map of All Under Heaven, the Nine Frontiers, Astral Allocations, Human Traces, and Route Itineraries].
It was created by Cao Junyi 曹君義 using wood-block printing. This copy holds exceptional significance—not only for scholars of Chinese cartographic history but also for map collectors.
Before the discovery of this particular example, the only two known extant copies were housed in the National Library of China and the British Library. Access to the former has been almost entirely restricted, while the latter’s online resources do not include this map.
Following its identification as the third known copy and its inclusion in Oculi Mundi, this map is now the only known example held in a private collection—and the only one publicly available in high-resolution digital format.
Click on the image below to enjoy the features of this map.
The exact printing timeframe of Cao's map was the summer of 1644—a year that anyone familiar with Chinese history would recognize as when history was being written in blood and ashes. In March, during the third lunar month of this year, the Chongzhen Emperor and 16th ruler of the Ming dynasty hanged himself on a desolate hill outside the Forbidden City, marking the collapse of the Ming court in Beijing under the weight of rebellion.
By May, his cousin Zhu Yousong was crowned as the Hongguang Emperor in Nanjing, making the city long a symbolic capital since the third Ming emperor moved the court to Beijing in 1421, the last stronghold of a dying dynasty. Thus, the Southern Ming was born—not from triumph, but from the desperate hope of prolonging imperial rule.
Yet for the common people of Nanjing, the summer of 1644 may have been just another season—filled with bustling markets, boat traffic along the Yangtze River, and the familiar rhythms of daily life. Far from the imperial court and its high-stakes power struggles, Cao Junyi, a local bookseller and printer quietly went about his trade.
He held no official title and seemed distant from the scholar-official elite preoccupied with court politics and dynastic survival. And in the summer of that fateful year, Cao published this large-format, woodblock-printed, single-sheet map, dating it confidently of the “Chongzhen Jiashen Summer Month” (崇禎甲申夏月), holding onto the reign title of the fallen emperor.
Cartographic Traditions in the late Ming Dynasty
Neither Cao nor his contemporaries could have known that this year would be remembered as the final chapter of the Zhu family’s rule over Tianxia 天下 [All Under Heaven]—a concept in Chinese political thought that traditionally encompassed not just the geographical boundaries of imperial territory but also an ideological order centred on Chinese civilization, symbolizing a hierarchical world with the emperor at its moral and cultural centre. Yet the phrase appeared prominently in the title of this map, which was inscribed with a reign date from the Chongzhen era—even as its depiction of Tianxia diverged from centuries of Chinese cartographic tradition.
Blending familiar Ming-era geography with Western-inspired cartographic features like latitudes and longitudes, Cao secured his place in history through this remarkable work.
As a bookseller outside the scholarly elite, Cao Junyi’s identity stood in stark contrast to that of traditional Chinese cartographers. In the traditional Chinese knowledge system, geography was considered a branch of historical studies, and map reading was viewed as a culturally significant practice. Beyond state-sponsored cartographic projects initiated by the central government, most mapping practices were carried out by well-educated scholar-officials driven by personal interest and intellectual curiosity.
In this context, Cao’s involvement in map production was an unusual departure from established norms. So why did he decide to print such a richly detailed, content-packed, and large-format map? And more importantly, how was he able to accomplish it? This decision and capability were deeply influenced by the era in which he lived.
Influences and Geographical Sources
This period was marked by intensive mapping activities primarily spearheaded by Jesuit (Catholic) missionaries in late Ming China, who collaborated closely with local scholars. This intercultural endeavour produced significant works such as the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu 坤輿萬國全圖 [Map of the Myriad Countries of the World], involving Matteo Ricci, and the Wanguo Quantu萬國全圖 [Complete Map of All Countries], with Giulio Aleni’s participation.
Over time, these mapping practices permeated various social strata, influencing artisans, merchants, and other non-elite groups involved in commercial and cultural activities.
One notable commercial map product that blended Jesuit contributions with traditional mapping elements was the 1643 Huangming Fenye Yutu Gujin Renwu Shiji 皇明分野舆图古今人物事迹 [Map of the Astral Allocations of the Imperial Ming with Records of People and Events from Ancient and Modern Times] printed by Ji Mingtai 季明臺. It shared many similarities with Liang Zhou 梁輈’s 1603 Qiankun Wanguo Quantu Gujin Renwu Shiji 乾坤万国全图古今人物事迹 [Complete Map of All Countries in the Cosmos with Records of People and Events from Ancient and Modern Times], itself influenced by the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu. The 1643 map was also printed in Nanjing. Along with the Wanguo Quantu, it directly impacted Cao’s work.
The influence of the 1643 map on Cao’s own endeavour is most evident in the depiction of the Ming imperial territory.
Cao nearly copied Ji’s representation of the Ming administrative domain outright, including the rendering of the Great Wall marking the northern boundary, the administrative borders and waterways within the territory, and even the annotated historical figures and events listed alongside place names. Although both maps clearly incorporate foreign knowledge elements, their similar depictions of Ming’s domain share the same local intellectual origin: the Daming Yitong Tu 大明一統圖 [Unified Map of the Great Ming] in Gui E 桂萼’s compiled atlas Guangyutu Xu 廣輿圖敘 [Introduction to the Enlarged Geographical Atlas] during the mid-Ming period.
Of course, this does not suggest that either Ji or Cao directly referenced Gui’s map.
Based on surviving examples, the earliest known map to transform Gui’s elite scholarly depiction of the Ming domain from book-bound geographical works into a single-sheet, large-format map designed for public consumption, was Gan Jin 甘今’s Gujin Xingsheng Zhi Tu 古今形勝之圖 [Map of Historical and Cultural Sites from Ancient to Modern Times], published in 1555.
This map catered to the new market demand by adding extensive textual content about historical figures and notable sites, setting a precedent for later maps like those of Ji and Cao. It directly influenced the cartographic depictions of the imperial territory created by various late Ming woodblock printers of large-scale commercial maps featuring historical figures, notable sites, and varying degrees of geographic knowledge or textual annotations introduced by Jesuit missionaries, including Ji and Cao.
At this time, the frequent printing of such works reflected the popularity of large, content-rich maps in the commercial printing market, which explains why Cao published his map just one year after a similar one had been printed in the same city.
Features on Cao Junyi's Map
Beyond the depiction of the Ming imperial domain, some of the textual annotations around the edges of Cao’s map were clearly influenced by Ji’s work. The lower edge of Cao’s map features a section titled “Tianxia Liangjing Shisan Sheng Fuzhou Xian Lucheng 天下兩京十三省府州縣路程 [Routes and Distances Within All Under Heaven: The Two Capitals, the Thirteen Provinces, and Their Prefectures, Sub-prefectures, and Counties].” The upper row of this section includes astral allocations, administrative units such as prefectures, sub-prefectures, counties, and garrisons, as well as population numbers and tax data—with all information except for the astral allocations mostly directly sourced from the “Liangjing Shisan Sheng Tukao 兩京十三省圖考 [Illustrated Examination of the Two Capitals and the Thirteen Provinces]” on Ji’s map. The lower row, however, highlights a distinctive feature of traditional Chinese cartography.
In Chinese mapping practices, whether maps lacked a scale entirely or used a grid-based method like “Jili Huafang 計里畫方 [Measured Grid Mapping],” spatial relationships between locations were primarily conveyed through textual records known as “Sizhi Badao 四至八到 [Extents in Four Directions and Arrivals by Eight Routes],” which described the distances from a given place to neighbouring cities or provinces.
Although Cao did not provide the full Sizhi Badao information in this section, he adapted the tradition of using textual and numerical annotations to convey distances by listing the prefectures within each province and providing the distances between provinces in the lower row of the section. The textual information in the map’s left and right margins, however, is entirely newly added by Cao.
The right margin of Cao’s map details 29 major Ming border fortresses, while the left margin lists 32 foreign countries as understood within the traditional Chinese worldview. These countries are accompanied by extremely concise notes on their historical significance, notable products, or distances from Beijing or Nanjing.
At the very top of the map, the margin unfolds with a map preface flanking the title, partially derived from Ji’s map preface at the top and partially original, with new content primarily consisting of a list of foreign names. This preface, though it has a title, is not called “Explanation of the Tianxia Jiubian Wanguo Renji Lucheng Quantu,” but rather “Wanguo Daquan Tu Shuo 《萬國大全圖》說 [Explanation of the Comprehensive Map of Myriad Nations]”.
The opening sentence also identifies the map as the Wanguo Daquan Tu 萬國大全圖 [Comprehensive Map of Myriad Nations]. The term “Myriad Nations” is not native to Chinese cartography but was derived from the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, and subsequently adopted by Liang in his map’s title. Neither Ji nor Cao originally used this concept in naming their maps; however, Cao incorporated it into the map preface, thereby further enriching the geographic knowledge elements included in his map.
All of the above elements—whether the graphical depiction of the Ming domain, the descriptions above the map, and the textual information below—are not unique to Cao’s map; parts of these features also appeared in other large-scale commercial maps produced before his. Even the textual innovations on the left and right margins, though new in content, remain visually consistent with traditional Chinese cartographic practices and reading conventions that emphasize the essentially supplementary role of text in conveying information on maps.
What truly sets Cao’s map apart from many similar maps produced during the late Ming period is its distinctive cartographic treatment of regions beyond the Ming domain, visually differentiating it from others. Unlike the other maps - which predominantly feature Jesuit contributions through textual descriptions of geographical knowledge elements - Cao’s work enhances the visual representation of foreign geographic insights, making it immediately distinguishable at a glance without the need to read any of its content.
Thus, unlike Ji’s map, where the land is bordered by sea on only two sides, and Liang’s map, where the land is surrounded by sea on three sides but the visual depiction of foreign geography remains fragmented into small islands scattered across the ocean (in line with traditional Chinese cartographic conventions), Cao’s map features landmass surrounded by sea on all four sides. This layout ensured sufficient space to emulate the Wanguo Quantu in depicting the coastlines and place names of North and South America.
Although the two continents occupy only very small areas in the upper-right and lower-right corners of Cao’s map, and their outlines are compressed and altered disproportionately compared to their depiction in the Wanguo Quantu, they stand in stark contrast to the discursive representations typical of traditional Chinese cartography, which often framed foreign territories as abstract, diminutive, and marginal units in both spatial and cultural terms. Instead, Cao’s rendering of the Americas incorporates discernible coastlines and identifiable features, reflecting a more intentional effort to engage with geographic representations of these distant lands.
In addition to the Americas, Cao’s portrayal of Europe and Africa, both visually and in the corresponding annotations of place names and bodies of water, also closely aligns with the visual representations found in Jesuit-produced maps. However, once again, the spatial proportions of these continents relative to the Ming domain on the map are significantly disproportionate. This ensures that the Ming domain occupies the majority of the map’s space and its central position, allowing this map, which integrates numerous foreign elements, to maintain a diverse appeal while still aligning with the traditional Chinese map-reading experience rooted in the Tianxia worldview.
While maintaining this traditional, China-centric spatial presentation, Cao’s map also incorporates a global perspective in the sense of modern cartography.
The inclusion of the North Pole at the top centre and the South Pole at the bottom centre represents Jesuit-introduced global geographical knowledge. Furthermore, unlike other similar maps with straight edges, this map features curved bar scales on the right and left margins, imitating the decimal degree markings of latitude commonly seen in maps produced by Jesuits and their scholarly collaborators.
Additionally, the map includes curved vertical lines that noticeably flatten toward the centre, echoing the visual style—though not the practical purpose—of longitude lines found in Jesuit-inspired maps. Interestingly, these vertical lines “avoid” entering the Ming territories, seemingly revealing a cartographic approach and philosophy that allows traditional Chinese cartography and foreign mapping practices to coexist without directly interfering with each other.
Lasting Impressions
In the year following the creation of Cao’s map, on the 15th day of the fifth lunar month in 1645, Nanjing fell to the Qing forces. We do not know how his bookstore, located near Fangkou Lane in the heart of Nanjing, fared during Zhu Yousong’s short rule. Nor can we say how many people, amidst the chaos of those turbulent days, were interested in world geography or drawn to the diverse blend of local and foreign geographic concepts—Tianxia, the Nine Frontiers, Astral Allocations, Human Traces, and Myriad Nations—that Cao combined into a single map.
After this turning point, Nanjing, which had nurtured the creation of the large-scale commercial maps by Liang, Ji, and Cao, ceased to be a hub for such publications. Cao’s name, too, vanished from history. His map’s next faint appearance in cartographic history came 18 years later: in 1663, Wang Junfu 王君甫, a Suzhou native, published a map strikingly similar to Cao’s.
Apart from removing the vertical lines and curved bar scales from Cao’s map, Wang’s version was almost identical. However, by then the Southern Ming regime had already met its demise the previous year, marking the end of Zhu’s family’s tenuous grasp even on a fragment of Tianxia. Interestingly, in publishing his version of Cao's map, Wang deliberately altered the title by replacing the word Tianxia with Daming 大明 [Great Ming], the official name of the Ming dynasty.
About Man Zheng
Man Zheng (Emma Zheng) is a historian of Ming–Qing China, specializing in the history of mapping and the history of knowledge from a global perspective.
She recently completed her Ph.D. at Freie Universität Berlin with a dissertation titled “Ricci Maps” Unfolded: Knowledge and Mapping Practices in Late Ming China. Her research brings a local perspective to global history and cross-cultural exchange, highlighting how Chinese actors actively participated in the localization and reinterpretation of knowledge, space, and culture.
Visit the Cao map in The Sunderland Collection here, and take a tour of the Cao map to learn more