Pei Xiu, courtesy name Jiyan, was a Chinese cartographer, geographer, politician, and writer of the state of Cao Wei during the late Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China.
18 Facts About Pei Xiu
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Pei Xiu was very much trusted by Sima Zhao, and participated in the suppression of Zhuge Dan's rebellion.
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Pei Xiu outlined and analysed the advancements of cartography, surveying and mathematics up until his time.
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Pei Xiu criticised earlier Han dynasty maps for their lack of precision and quality when representing scale and measured distances, although 20th century archaeological excavations and findings of maps predating the third century prove otherwise.
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Historian Howard Nelson asserts that there is ample written evidence that Pei Xiu derived the idea of the grid reference from the map of Zhang Heng, a polymath inventor and statesman of the Eastern Han period.
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Pei Xiu produced a set of principles that stressed the importance of consistent scaling, directional measurements, and adjustments in land measurements in the terrain that was being mapped.
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The preface to Pei Xiu's written work was preserved in the 35th volume of the Book of Jin, which is the official history for the Jin dynasty and one of the Twenty-four Histories.
8.
Pei Xiu's maps have since been lost, decayed or destroyed.
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Pei Xiu wrote a preface to his maps with essential background information regarding older maps in China.
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Pei Xiu provided a great deal of criticism about the existing maps from the Han dynasty in his time.
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Later Chinese ideas about the quality of maps made during the Han dynasty and before stem from the assessment given by Pei Xiu, which was not a positive one.
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Pei Xiu noted that the extant Han maps at his disposal were of little use since they featured too many inaccuracies and exaggerations in measured distance between locations.
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Pei Xiu's preface describes geographers in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, although the earliest known geographical work was the Yu Gong chapter of the Shu Ji or Book of Documents, compiled in the fifth century BCE during the mid Zhou period.
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Pei Xiu referred to Xiao He, who assembled the maps made during the fall of the Qin dynasty.
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Pei Xiu continues his preface with short background information on the conquests by the Jin dynasty and the impressive maps commissioned by Sima Zhao.
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Pei Xiu then described the methods he used to create new maps while examining the ancient text of the Yu Gong or Tribute of Yu to create historical maps:.
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Pei Xiu outlined six principles that should be observed when creating a map.
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Pei Xiu then defended his position and each of the six principles with a short explanation as to how they provide better accuracy in map-making and cartography.