1825 Map of Ningguo County, Anhui, China

This is a very rare c. 1825 manuscript map of Ningguo, Anhui, China. Ningguo in this period was an archetypal Chinese walled city, situated near a river amidst mountains and forests, and home to a variety of government offices, temples, and pavilions.

A Closer Look at the Map

Ningguo and the surrounding area have a very long recorded history stretching back to the pre-imperial Spring and Autumn Period. Ningguo itself was established in the latter days of the Eastern Han Dynasty in the early 3rd century CE. Ningguo is located in southeastern Anhui Province, not far from the famous Yellow Mountain (Huangshan), object of innumerable Chinese landscape paintings. The river that snakes around the city is the Dongjin (東津河), connected to several canals.

The map indicates various institutions that were requisite for a Chinese walled city, such as a county or prefectural capital, in late imperial times, including the county government seat (寧國縣), a Confucian academy (儒學), a temple dedicated to Confucius (文庙), a temple to the city god (城隍廟), and a temple to Guanyin (觀音殿).

The city has changed significantly since late imperial times and none of these structures still exist, though a number of ancient structures exist in the prefectural seat, Xuancheng, and some of the outlying villages under the jurisdiction of today's Ningguo Municipality.

Publication History and Census

This map may have been part of the 1825 (Daoguang 5) edition of the Ningguo County Gazetteer (寧國縣志) or perhaps an earlier Qianlong and Jiaqing era edition of the Ningguo County Gazetteer or Ningguo Prefecture Gazetteer (寧國府志). As a manuscript this map is unique.