The work showcased in this
section features the traditional Chinese landscape
approach to map drawing. The full length of the scroll
is used to show the prefects of Heng-ch'ün, P'ing-tung,
Feng-shan, and Tainan, as well as the county towns
of Chu-luo and Chang-hua, the cities of Chu-ch'ien,
Ha-tsai-lan, and Ta-chi-lung, and so on. Not only
does it present the lie of Taiwan's land in its entirety,
road distances, cities and aquatic sites, garrisons
and forts, but also the distribution of the aborigines
on the island in the 18th century, as can be seen
in the Yellow-thatched cottages and the list of tribal
names.
With the scroll unfolded, we
find 117 tribes distributed in Heng-ch'ün and P'ing-tung
(such as Paiwan), 6 communities in Koahsiung and P'ing-tung
(such as Siraya, Paiwan, and Rukai), 36 aboriginal
groups in the east of the Shuang-tung-shan Mountain
of present-day Nan-t'ou (such as Thao, Atayal and
Bunung). We also see 12 Amis communities and 36 Kavalan
villages.
In total, the map lists 331
aboriginal communities, represented by the yellow
thatched cottages. It is a representation of what
the Ch'ing court knew about Taiwan's aborigines and
their distribution in the 18th century.
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Taiwan
map
Chien-lung reign (1736
to 1795), Color drawing on paper
46cm × 667cm |
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