The DH mapping project I chose for the blogpost this week is based on the Digital Gazetteer of Song Dynasty China (DGSD) dataset compiled by a Hope Wright, a prominent Sinologist. The dataset contains every jurisdiction in the Song (960-1276) spatial administrative hierarchy. The maps visualizes the population, ratios of cantons to counties, jurisdictions and other spatial changes/trends during the Song Dynasty of pre-modern China.
The maps produced by the project can be viewed here. A total of eight maps are produced;
- Ratio of cantons to counties based on the data in the Song history.
- Size of the kou(individual) population in each prefecture.
- Spatial change in South China prior to 1040.
- Spatial change on the Song-Tangut frontier during the generations of Song state formation.
- Change in the distribution of counties during the Song dynasty.
- Ratio of cantons to counties based on Treatise on the Nine Territories in the Yuanfeng Era.
- Abolishment of counties between 1068-1073.
- Counties and prefectures established or abolished in North China in 1040.
This project on Song Dynasty tries to explain and analyze trends in the past, which is not an easy task. There’s a limitation to which we, as humans in the 21st century, can comprehend the contextual complexity in the world, regardless of the amount of historical knowledge we possess. In this project, the project team uses modern terms such as counties, establishment, jurisdiction as the basis to analyze the spatial changes that took place in the Song Dynasty. This makes it easier for us to understand, in modern term, of what happened in the Song Dynasty. However, this comes at the expense of possibly ignoring/erasing the language/context/culture of the humans at that period of time.
Several maps in the project visualizes the change of jurisdiction or establishment in different geographical locations. The project team explains these changes against the backdrop of political turbulent, wars and territorial struggles. While this is an interesting and valuable perspective, the project team obscure the facts that migration and establishment of a new territory are results of many factors other than politics. Weather, climate, disease, access to food, crops and agricultural potential – all can potentially affect the pattern of migration and territorial establishment.
A possible alternative is to map out the natural resources in accordance to spatial changes (population, migration and others). With this, we can potentially explain the pattern of migration based on geography. Another way to improve the map is to map out the location/spread of the 1040 war, since it was mentioned frequently.
I appreciated both the listing of the maps provided and the mention of other factors affecting spatial and organizational change. I found that to be a compelling argument which made me more wary of the conclusions hinted at with the GIS data provided on the songgis merced site.