Why didn’t Tan Qixiang, who drew maps, draw Vietnam on the maps of Qin and Ming Dynasties?

The historical maps of China drawn by Tan Qixiang have become the authority on Chinese historical maps and are used in major middle school textbooks. However, his map can only be regarded as a political map and cannot be regarded as a true historical map. Because Tan's historical maps have always been famous for "opening up frontiers on maps", for example, he drew the map of the Yuan Dynasty to the Arctic Ocean coast, and the map of the Tang Dynasty to the Aral Sea area. It is said that he drew it this way because of the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations at that time. of.

Tan Qixiang’s version of the Qin Dynasty map

However, many people may not know that Tan Qixiang’s map not only has “the map opens the territory”, but also “the map shrinks the territory”. Some of his maps will exclude some areas from the map to show so-called "international friendship", of which Vietnam is a clear example. In Tan Qixiang's maps of the Qin Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, Vietnam was not included in the map. This is a very clever thing.

A map of the counties and counties of the Qin Dynasty adapted from the Tan version (the southwest region is objective, Xiangjun has not changed)

First of all, let’s talk about the territory of the Qin Dynasty. In the pre-Qin period, northern Vietnam was Luo Yue, one of the Hundred Yues. After the Qin Dynasty destroyed Baiyue, Xiang County was established here. Where is Xiangjun located? Zhou Qufei of the Song Dynasty recorded in "Lingwai Dai Da Reply? Hometown of Hundreds of Guangdong": "Jiaozhi is also Xiangjun. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty... was three years away from Xiangjun, namely Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Rinan." The first place in the history of Vietnam The historical book "Historical Records of Dayue" records: "The territory of Yue was divided into nine counties during the Han Dynasty... Hepu, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, and Rinan were all under Xiang County in the Qin Dynasty." That is to say, after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty destroyed Nanyue, he transferred the territory of the Qin Dynasty to Xiang County was split into three counties: Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Rinan. This point is unanimously recognized by Chinese ancient books and Vietnamese ancient books.

Distribution map of nine counties in South Vietnam

Among them, Jiaozhi County is Hanoi, Vietnam today. This fact is not controversial in history. Jiuzhen County is located in central Vietnam, while Ninan County's location is the most ambiguous. Sima Qian said in "Historical Records" that the southernmost end of the Qin Dynasty's territory was "Northward House", the so-called "Northward House", "Hanshu Geography Notes" "It is said to be south of the sun, so it is said to open a northern household to face the sun." That is to say, the local sunlight can shine into the house from the north, also known as "Sunan", which is the area south of the Tropic of Cancer today. So what is the specific latitude? "Shui Jing Zhu" provides information: "Disu built an eight-foot table, and the sun's shadow was eight inches south. Since then, the shadow is south of the sun, so it is named the county." According to astronomical calculations, it is about 16 degrees north latitude. , located in Hue, Vietnam. Because of this, after the Han Dynasty destroyed South Vietnam, it established Rinan County in central Vietnam. "Hanshu Geography" records: "Rinan County, formerly Qinxiang County, was renamed after Emperor Wu opened it in the sixth year of Yuanding." It can be seen that the southernmost territory of the Qin Dynasty could reach Hue.

However, Tan Qixiang drew the location of Xiangjun to Pingxiang, Guangxi, which was actually a show of goodwill to Vietnam. After Vietnam gained independence from French colonial rule, its nationalism surged. Vietnamese historians are unwilling to admit that they were once part of China. Vietnamese historian Tao Weiying absurdly declared: "Xiangjun is now the western part of Guangxi Province and possibly part of southern Guizhou." Tan Qixiang actually fully accepted this statement . Of course, there are other people's maps in China that are more objective. Many Qin Dynasty maps from Japan and the West also include northern Vietnam on the map.

1955 Historical Atlas of China (Ancient History Section)

Let’s talk about the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The time Tan Qixiang chose for the Ming Dynasty's territory was 1433, which was a very strange time. Because in this year, the Nurgandu Division in Northeast China still existed, but the Cochin Chief Envoy Division in Vietnam had been revoked, so Vietnam could not be drawn directly. In fact, the Chief Secretary of Jiaozhi (1407-1428) and the Chief Secretary of Nurgandu (1411-1434) basically overlapped in time. They were both in the Yongle period, representing the peak of the Ming Dynasty's territory.

Tan's version of the Ming Dynasty's territory

Generally, the Ming Dynasty's territory is drawn. If there is a Nuergandusi, there must be a Jiaozhi Chief Envoy. The same is true for the Ming Dynasty maps in Japan and the West. painted.

However, this map painted by Tan Qixiang painstakingly chose a most special year. In this year, Emperor Yongle had passed away and Jiaozhi was lost. It was not even at its peak. In the second year of this map, Nuergandusi was also cancelled.

The revised Ming Dynasty territory

It can be seen from Tan Qixiang's Qin Dynasty territory and Ming Dynasty territory that his territory was not used. Because there are many places in his map that do not respect history and are very unobjective. They are either rich or lacking. As a historical researcher, I try to respect history as much as possible rather than tampering with history.