Zheng He’s integrated map of the world, 1418 – PRESS RELEASE
Press Conference – Bookworm club, Beijing, 18:00 March 23 2006
EXCLUSIVE – AMS DATING RESULTS OF LIU GANG’s 1418 / 1763 MAP REVEALED
LIU GANG – OWNER OF THE MAP – RESPONDS TO HIS CRITICS
18:00 – Introduction and welcome by Frank Lee
18:01 – Liu Gang, owner of the 1418 map, releases AMS dating results and will highlight his responses to the critics of the 1418 map.
18:10 – The rivers shown on the 1418 map discharging into the Atlantic are the Roanoke and New Rivers – Gavin Menzies, author of 1421 -The Year China Discovered the World.
18:20 –Dr. Gunnar Thompson, Ph.D., Director of the New World Discovery Institution in Washington and specialist in the study of ancient maps, gives highlights of his opinion of the 1418 map, and will address the following questions:
Did Prince Henry of Portugal steal the Ming geography?
Did Zheng He’s 1418 Ming Map lead the Europeans to the New World?
18:35-50 – Questions
18:50 – Conclusion of press conference.
For those who wish to remain, Dr. Gunnar Thompson will talk on the chronology of Chinese world maps of the Americas, culminating in the 1418 map. A CD of Dr. Thompson’s talk will be available. Gavin Menzies will issue a press release on Paul Chiasson’s book ‘The Island of Seven Cities’ which describes pre 1492 Chinese bases on the Atlantic seaboard of North America – to be published by Random House Canada and St. Martin’s Press in USA on May 2nd next. Gavin Menzies will then talk on Australia and New Zealand, as shown on the 1418 Map.
19:30 – 20:45 – Detailed discussion
19:30-19:45 – Liu Gang, owner of the 1418 map, will make his detailed responses to the critics.
19:45-20:15 – Dr. Gunnar Thompson, Ph.D will deliver further details on his technical review of the 1418 map.
20:15-20:35 Gavin Menzies will talk on Australia and New Zealand as shown on the 1418 Map and issue a press release on Paul Chiasson’s book ‘The Island of Seven Cities’ describing pre-1492 Chinese bases on the Atlantic seaboard of N. America – to be published by Random House Canada and St Martins Press in USA on May 2nd 2006.
20:35-45 Questions
Contact details
Midas Public Relations (Sophie Ransom) – Sophie@midaspr.co.uk
Beijing Bookworm Club (Alex Pearson)
Gavin Menzies – menzies@clara.net
Liu Gang – map1418@hotmail.com
Dr Gunnar Thompson –
Frank Lee – leefrank1421@gmail.com
Original press release of 17th January 2006
One of the first known world maps has recently been discovered in Beijing
Zheng He’s integrated map of the world 1418 – “The 1418 map”.
Summary
On 16th January 2006 there will be an international press conference in Beijing where the 1418 map will be released to the world and on 17th January Gavin Menzies, author of ‘1421: The Year China Discovered the World’ will be speaking at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich.
Significance
The 1418 map, published decades before Columbus, da Gama and Magellan set sail, shows the whole world with remarkable accuracy. Each continent of the world has correct shape, mass, latitude and longitude and position. All oceans of the world are displayed, many major rivers (the Potomac leading to Washington DC) and innumerable islands.
If the map is considered genuine, history will have to be rewritten. Columbus did not ‘discover’ America; da Gama was not the first to round the cape; Magellan was not the first to circumnavigate the world; Cook did not ‘discover’ Australia; New Zealand was not first settled by Maoris but by Chinese; the Portuguese were not the first foreigners to settle Brazil, Mozambique and Angola, nor the Spanish Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela. The Chinese had accurately surveyed and settled the world before European voyages of exploration started.
Provenance of the 1418 map
The map was purchased by Mr. Liu Gang, a distinguished Chinese lawyer and art collector in 2001. He acquired it from a Shanghai map dealer. He acquired it from an old map/book dealer in Shanghai. After the purchase of the map, Mr. Liu Gang started to search for the source of the map, as well as the depictions and descriptions showed on the map. The research led Mr. Liu to build up his confidence on the genuineness of the map and make question of the common knowledge about Zheng He’s seven voyages. In May 2005, Mr. Liu bought the book of “1421 – the year China discovered America”. After reading the book, he became fully confident on the genuineness of the map and realised that he was not the only person to question the common understanding about New World discovery.
Mr. Liu is a founding partner of “Commerce and Finance Law Office”, a very well known Chinese law firm (see ‘legal 500’) who handle many large IPOs in China. It follows Mr. Liu is acutely aware of the responsibility in releasing this map to the world.
Details of the 1418 map.
The map is finely illustrated on bamboo paper with ink and soft colours. It immediately impresses the viewer with its simplicity, elegance and clarity. It measures 59.6 cm x 41.7 cm but is not a precise rectangle (i.e. it is not A2 size). In the top right hand corner are six Chinese characters which mean “general chart of the integrated world”. The map maker has written “(this chart is) drawn by Mo Yi Tong, a subject (of Qing dynasty) in the year of 1763 by imitating a world chart made in 1418 showing the Barbarians paying tribute” (to the Ming dynasty).
Links with other Chinese maps published by 1418 map
At the launch in Beijing and at the National Maritime Museum a schedule with photographs will be available of Chinese maps of the world published by Zheng He’s era. There is nothing which appears on the 1418 map which does not appear on other Chinese charts of the same era – the 1418 map for the first time collates everything together.
Expert evidence
To date all experts who have given their opinion on the 1418 map consider it to be genuine. These opinions will be available for viewing.
Corroborative evidence
Gavin Menzies, author of ‘1421’ considers that there is evidence that for every continent, ocean, island and river shown on the 1418 map, there is corroborative evidence that Zheng He’s fleets visited there. This evidence can be seen on www.gavinmenzies.net . In addition hard copies of this evidence will be available in Beijing and at Greenwich on 16th and 17th January.
Gavin Menzies is available for interview – for further details please contact Sophie Ransom or Steven Williams at Midas Public Relations on 020 7 584 7474 or email sophie@midaspr.co.uk or steven@midaspr.co.uk
