The map is four, and the astronomical load is five. --"Wing Shui, Titled Capital"
Maps play a very important role in our lives, and what a huge project it is to depict on a simple drawing the direction of a country and even the whole world' mountains and rivers. Our current map is based on satellite positioning, from the location of a country to a house number on a street, it can be very clear. But in ancient times, when there was no satellite positioning, how was the map drawn?
Ancient cartography was thanks to a man named Pei Xiu, whose standards of cartography had a long-term impact on Chinese history. Before the ancient Greek geographer Eratosenes proposed the map projection mapping method, China has been adopting Pei Xiu's drawing method, according to the topographic map drawn by his method, the concept of scale was first adopted, and in his map, one inch is about equal to one hundred miles in reality, and we still use this principle until modern times.
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, there was a geographical genius named Pei Xiu, who was born into a family of official eunuchs and was gifted and very intelligent from an early age. The various scriptures and traditional classics were very easy for her, and at a very young age, he was already familiar with all kinds of historical classics. He was also very diligent and studious when he was a young man, and when he became an adult, he followed General Cao Shuang and, after winning one war after another, was constantly knighted and won the position of Marquis of Jichuan.
Not only that, but his career was not suspended because he was given such an important position, and he was later promoted to the position of Yellow Door Waiter for his outstanding performance. After being transferred to the emperor's side to work, Pei Xiu often helped the emperor deal with affairs, and his outstanding ability was often praised by the emperor.
But his career was not smooth sailing, once Sima Yi launched a coup d'état in which he killed Cao Shuang, whom Pei Xiu followed, and because Cao Shuang's affair was a temporary end to Pei Xiu's political career, Pei Xiu was dismissed. However, Emperor Wei at that time was a good talent, and often discussed learning with some knowledgeable people, and Pei Xiu was one of them.
Pei Xiu also made a great contribution to the establishment of Sima Yan's shizi, and in Sima Zhao's mind at that time, there was no suitable candidate for shizi. However, at that time, there were also some rumors that Sima Zhao wanted to make Sima You the son of the world, and Sima Yan, who heard these rumors, was a little anxious in his heart, so he found Pei Xiu and wanted Pei Xiu to say a few more beautiful words for himself in front of Sima Zhao, so that he could smoothly inherit the position of the son of the world.
Pei Xiu said to Sima Zhao that Sima Yan was a very virtuous person in the crowd, not a human subject. This was the foundation for Sima Yan's position as the son of the world, and since then, Sima Yan has always been grateful to Pei Xiu.
Pei Xiu has held many important positions in this life, but what is most valuable about him is not because these positions have achieved much for him, what good reputation he has won, no matter how high his determination to contribute to future generations is very rare, and the broad mind of the future generations has left him with six basic principles of map drawing for future generations.
In addition to his political achievements, Pei Xiu's most important achievement is his great contribution to map drawing, and the mapping theory he proposed has a huge impact on cartography and the final map drawing. In his theory, he explained in detail the relationship between scale orientation and distance. In his theory, there are 6 most basic principles: rate, quasi-expectation, taoli, high and low, square evil, and straight.
The fractional rate is the proportion that reflects the area, length and width, that is, the scale of the present; the quasi-expectation is to determine the mutual orientation relationship between the landform and the features; the Daoli is used to determine the distance between the roads between the two places; the height is the relative high level; the square evil is the undulation of the slope of the ground; the roundabout is the conversion of the distance between the high and low of the ground and the distance on the map. He also believes that these principles affect and restrict each other, but these theories are not conceived out of thin air.
When Pei Xiu reached his peak position in political power, he thought he should make some achievements in some other aspects and leave some wealth for future generations. In his long-term accumulation of knowledge, he knew that there was a book called "Yugong" that had recorded some mountain and river names and specific walking paths, but he thought that it was too one-sided to record it only through words, and with the change of time, the specific mountain and river routes would change.
So he took the book "Yugong" as a reference and the actual survey as the benchmark, and drew a new map of the "Yugong Area Map", in which all the mountains, rivers, lakes, swamps, plains and plateaus were made even after field surveys. This map is the culmination of his cartography theory, and it covers almost all the basic theories of cartography. This detailed and sophisticated map provided great convenience for people's travel and the behavior between armies in the later period.
It is precisely because of Pei Xiu that China's mapping technology has not lagged behind the West in history. Pei Xiu's cartography theory influenced later generations, and the later Mapgraphers of the Tang Yuanqing Era were based on Pei Xiu's cartographic rules. Now named after Pei Xiu, the Pei Xiu Award, also known as the Outstanding Map Works Award, is the highest award in Chinese cartography.
With the development history of thousands of years, the measurement of maps has gradually evolved from the simplest method to the now more scientific and rigorous method - satellite mapping. In addition, the five-color theorem lays an important foundation for the production of more colored graphs. With the continuous improvement of the level of science and technology, electronic computer technology and automation technology have also been introduced into the map mapping. This makes mapping easier and easier, which also gives maps some new content.
In today's era full of technology, the three most commonly used methods of map mapping are GPS positioning method, aerial photogrammetry method and remote sensing technology. One of the most commonly used GPS positioning methods is now based on the 24 satellites that have been launched so far. But gps positioning is not for the Chinese after all, with the birth of the Beidou satellite, Chinese also has its own satellite positioning party system.
With the progress of science and technology in contemporary society, our lives are more convenient, and now electric lights, computers, cars, and airplanes are the products of scientific and technological progress, and people in ancient times could not enjoy the convenience brought by these modern technologies. For contemporary people, especially most of the contemporary young people, the drawbacks brought by science and technology make it difficult for them to identify the direction when traveling, and positioning and navigating mobile phone maps has become an indispensable part of their daily lives.
The ancients traveled mostly on foot, and while most of their areas were wilderness, they still needed maps to navigate in some of the more complex terrain. Pei Xiu's cartography theory facilitates the drawing of maps, but also facilitates people's lives. In addition, Pei Xiu's cartography theory is also the most perfect theory in the world, and the title of the father of Chinese mapping is well-deserved.
Reference: "Wing Shui , Labeling the Name of The Shangshan" Zhang Wenqun