NLB exhibition of old maps showcases Asian worldview

On a 19th century Korean "map of the world", the land of women, the land of immortals, the land of those with no intestines and the land of those with one eye are marked.

Unsurprisingly for its time, China, once known as the Middle Kingdom, is fixed at the centre of a cosmic circle. And there is familiarity in the inclusion of the myriad tributary states of Annam, Siam, Burma and Korea.

This mix of the imaginary with the real is a world of difference from the scientific, modern maps people are used to today. The cosmographies that old maps represent were widely held by people centuries ago, and more than 60 of these works of art and history are at the National Library's latest exhibition, Mapping The World: Perspectives From Asian Cartography, being held from today until May 8 next year.

"Our modern understanding of maps is influenced by Western objectivity and the representation of physical space," said Mr Chung Sang Hong, senior head of exhibitions of the National Library Board (NLB). "But other interests in map making were perhaps of greater importance. These interests were political, religious and aesthetic. When Asians were confronted by Western knowledge in the 17th to 19th centuries, these maps also helped make a complex world less intimidating."

The maps in all shapes, sizes and colours have come together in Singapore from collections around the world for the first time.

One 17th century Japanese map is shaped like Mount Meru, the sacred five-peaked mountain of the Hindu, Jain and Buddhist universe.

Another in the form of a folded pamphlet, coming up to 608cm when fully unfurled, must be read temporally, with each page tracing 18th century Chinese emperor Qianlong's journey across the country to solidify his kingdom.

Europe, Africa and the Americas are often crammed into a small corner, while the traditional orientation of north at the top of maps is shown to be mere convention, with Islamic maps drawn with south as the reference point.

Mr Pierre Singaravelou, one of two French curators who worked with the NLB on the project, noted how Asian maps are also works of art. Aesthetic priorities often meant intricate drawings of pilgrims en route to worship or illustrations of nature that intersperse vague land formations with roiling water bodies or a solace-giving Bo tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment.

"This aesthetic dimension differed from the European tradition. Asian maps are drawn on very different materials. European maps are on parchments or paper, but Asian maps are on silk, wood, stone, screens and porcelain," Mr Singaravelou said. "They are works of art like paintings."

Curators also highlighted the cross-cultural fertilisation in map creation. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Jesuits in China worked with Chinese cartographers to create maps of the world, integrating their knowledge of new lands that Europe was discovering with the Chinese understanding of the world.

One such collaboration between Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci and Chinese cartographer Li Zhi Zhao in 1602 led to a map that was also adapted in Japan and Korea, giving rise to the exhibition's star artefact - the Japanese Map Of The Myriad Countries Of The World (Konyo Bankoku Zensu).

The Edo period map is richly drawn, with descriptions of phenomena such as people being able to stay afloat in the Dead Sea, while retaining mythological references to the land of dwarves along the Finnish-Russian border and a curious beast that could be the possum.

Mr Singaravelou said all this did not mean that Asian maps were always imprecise. The 12th-century Chinese Yu map, for instance, is famous for its uncanny accuracy, with 37 coordinates mapping exactly onto Google maps a whole millennium later.

Co-curator Fabrice Argounes said: "Even if a map is not the most accurate representation, it can be more interesting for, say, a pilgrim to India to show the Land of the Buddha, rather than European maps that just show a few Indian towns. Ultimately, it's about what we want to show."

The exhibition is being held at the Level 10 Gallery of the National Library Building in Victoria Street every day from 10am to 9pm. Entry is free.