1418 map – Background briefing
MEMO – Zheng He’s “Integrated Map of the World”, 1418 (Qing Dynasty copy)
Background
On 14th October 2005 Mr Liu Gang emailed to say he had acquired an old world map of Admiral Zheng He which may be of interest. I replied by return enclosing a copy of our memo of 25th September 2005 containing a list of Zheng He and Kublai Khan’s world maps and records known to us. In reply Mr Liu Gang sent a copy of the 1418 map together with a partial translation. Mr Liu also kindly invited me to inspect the map which Frank Lee and I did at Mr. Liu’s home in Beijing on 21st and 22nd November.
Provenance
Mr. Liu Gang
Mr. Liu is a 48 year old Chinese National. After qualifying as a lawyer in China, he spent time with Lovell White Durrant in the City of London, specialising in Commercial Law. On return to China he set up a legal partnership specialising in Commercial Law. This firm has for the past 3 years acted for the Chinese Government in the international flotation of the Construction Bank of China. Mr Liu’s firm provided 30 lawyers for 3 years (2002 – 2005) on this project which is China’s largest I.P.O. and the largest I.P.O. in Asia outside Japan. It goes without saying that the integrity of Mr. Liu’s firm is of overriding importance and Mr. Liu’s business would be very seriously affected if he was in any way associated with a fake map. Mr. Liu’s standing in China can be seen on the Legal 500 – he is rated the second most influential commercial lawyer in China.
Mr. Liu as a collector of maps and art
Mr. Liu has built up a very valuable collection of Ming and Qing dynasty works of art. In doing so Mr. Liu has obtained the trust and confidence of map and art dealers throughout China. Again, if Mr Liu were in any way associated with a fake map, it would seriously affect his reputation and capacity to maintain his relationship with dealers and also seriously diminish the value of his art collection of which the 1418 map (even if valued equivalent to the Waldseemueller) forms only a small part.
Resale of the 1418 map
Mr. Liu has no intention of ever selling the 1418 map and could not do so even if he wanted to. Chinese law prohibits resale of National Treasures.
Purchase of the 1418 map
Mr. Liu purchased the map from a well known Shanghai map dealer in 2001. The dealer’s stamp is upon the map and the dealer trades today from the same premises as he did in 2001, from where the map was purchased.
Mr. Liu realises the map could be genuine
2005 marked the 600th Anniversary of Zheng He’s first voyage. Numerous television and radio broadcasts, exhibitions and symposia celebrated the event throughout China. The simplified Mandarin version of ‘1421’ was published in May 2005 in China and was distributed to some airport book stores by September 2005. Mr. Liu bought a copy in Beijing airport in October 2005 and read it en route to Hong Kong. He then contacted my website www.gavinmenzies.net as earlier described.
Summary
The provenance of acquiring the map is impeccable. It could not be better.
Description of the map
Mr. Liu has provided this. Essentially the map shows every continent in the world in its correct position with correct shape and size. It appears astonishingly similar to a map published today save that the projection appears to be a type of “Mollweide” rather than “Mercator” and the two hemispheres overlap in the middle by 20 percent. The Chinese characters are in Mr. Liu’s opinion those of a reasonably well educated official (a local government officer?) rather than of a top Mandarin. The map is painted in beautiful, soft colours. The bamboo paper has been seriously attacked by worms, flies or beetles and it is punctuated by holes. To me it seems as if the back of the map may have been partially stiffened by paste (in the same way that antique English canvas portraits sometimes are,) to compensate for the holes. Mr. Liu has shaved 0.7 grams off the back of the map and sent this to Cambridge and Beijing Universities for AMS dating, the results expected by the end of the year. Christie’s initial impression (not to be quoted until Christie’s give written approval) “… [It] is definitely not a contemporary fake…” In my view, the map is definitely genuine for the following principle reasons.
1) Provenance – as already described
2) di Virga’s map is a copy of the 1418 map
3) The Doge’s Palace maps are also copies
4) Everything which appears on the 1418 map appears on other maps and records of Kublai Khan and Zheng He (memo of 25th September 2005)
5) Every place which appears on the 1418 map was visited by Zheng He’s fleets as listed in the Evidence section of www.gavinmenzies.net
Di Virga’s map (1410 – 1419) is a copy of the 1418 map
Di Virga’s map appeared from nowhere and showed the eastern hemisphere of the world from Portugal to Australia, Siberia to S. Africa, West Africa to Japan before European voyages of exploration started. So how on earth did di Virga get his information? He must have copied it. From whom? I suggest the natural explanation is indicated by the Doge’s Palace, Venice and the Abbot of the Island of San Michele, Venice. He copied it from Zheng He’s 1418 map. The similarities are striking.
The implications are that for the cynics to claim Zheng He’s map is a forgery, they must also maintain di Virga’s is a forgery. But how do you forge a European map of the world which Europeans have yet to discover? You would need to be a seer into the future, rather than a forger.
In my submission, the overwhelming response to the publication of the 1418 map will be that di Virga copied it in 1419.
What would be the motives of a forger? A Qing dynasty forger would face the death penalty (Mr. Liu’s explanation.) A forger in 2001 would be forging something no one was interested in (Zheng He’s world voyages were at that stage unknown.) The only person who would have motive to forge the map would be myself – and I did not see it until October 2005.
The Doge’s Palace maps
The Portuguese claim that in 1428 Dom Pedro visited Venice and brought back world maps to Lisbon – maps which showed “the Straits of Magellan” and the way round India to China. These descriptions of Dom Pedro’s visit are corroborated by numerous Venetian records. The Doge’s Palace map room shows world maps created – according to the Doge’s Palace – from information and maps brought to Venice from China by Marco Polo and from the Indies by Niccolo da Conti. Niccolo da Conti was in Calicut in 1419, as was Zheng He’s fleet. In short, both Venetians and Portuguese claim in 1428 they possessed world maps which were created from Chinese information – and this before European voyages of exploration had started. All of this is consistent with Zheng He’ having world maps – if Zheng He’s fleet did not provide the information to Niccolo da Conti then who did?
Everything which appears on the 1418 map also appears in other records of Zheng He or Kublai Khan’s era (Memo 25rh September 2005)
The 1418 map provides no new information about Zheng He’s voyages. Its great importance is that it shows on one easily understood map, all the information about Zheng He’s voyages contained on other maps and records as summarised in the memo of 25th September (attached for easy reference.)
Corroborative evidence of Zheng He’s voyages on website www.gavinmenzies.net
There are 2000 pages of evidence on this website, compiled from more that 100, 000 letter and emails by researchers from more than 120 countries around the world. In summary, for every continent, ocean, sea, river, island and written description on the 1418 map there is overwhelming evidence that Zheng H’s fleets reached there. A separate bundle will be provided before Christmas 2005.
Gavin Menzies
Beijing
23rd November 2005
