Mapping the Ambiguous—Intercultural Encounters in Matteo Ricci’s World Map Kunyu Wanguo Quantu

Abstract

This article highlights the complex nature of intercultural cooperation in the early Jesuit Mission in China through the example of the world map Kunyu wanguo quantu—Complete Geographical Map of Ten Thousand Countries (1603), a work most commonly attributed to Matteo Ricci S.J. Based on current research in the fields of the history of cartography as well as translation studies, I argue that the map itself is reflective of a collaborative construction process and can thus be interpreted as a space of encounter. In this space, literal and cultural translation processes between the actors took place and shaped the map as a whole. By zooming in and out of the map and playing with different levels of focus, said translation processes, and the resulting ambiguities, can be detected and analyzed, revealing the collaboration between Ricci and Chinese literati such as Li Zhizao, two authors who held various coinciding and contradicting views and whose power relationship to each other was ambiguous.