Maps as a Historical Source of the Southern Yunnan Borderland

Abstract

The study aims to analyze the representations of the borderland region in the southwestern and southern parts of Yunnan province reflected on the Chinese maps produced from early Ming (1368–1644) until late Qing (1644–1911) periods in order to trace the perception of this wide terrain inhabited by the non-Han ethnic groups by the Chinese state.

This territory nowadays divided between Yunnan, Myanmar and Vietnam has been perceived as China’s tributary starting from the Yuan dynasty. Established in 1296, the Cheli Pacification Committee (nowadays better known as ‘Xishuangbanna’) was ruled by the Tai royal family from the 12^th until the mid-20^th century and enjoyed a rather large degree of independence. The official demarcation of the border between China, Myanmar and Vietnam completed only by the end of the 19^th century was initiated by Britain and France as colonial powers. The study reveals the varying accuracy of the Ming-Qing Chinese maps towards the details within and outside the supposed border line; the maps display changes in the perception of the border regions and methods of their representation. No special terms and symbols point at the special status of the Cheli region which had been retaining rather a large degree of independence from Chinese authority.