Chinese Maps and Gazetteers

=Chinese Maps & Gazetteers=

China Maps
Maps are an important source in locating where your ancestors lived because they help you see the neighboring towns and geographic features of an area.

Maps identify places, parishes, districts, churches, geographical features, and transportation routes, and their proximity to other towns. Historical maps are especially useful for understanding boundary changes.

Maps are published individually or in atlases, which are bound collections of maps. Maps may also be included in gazetteers, guidebooks, local histories, and history texts.

Different types of maps can help you in different ways. Historical atlases describe the growth and development of countries. They show boundaries, migration routes, settlement patterns, military campaigns, and other historical information. Road atlases are useful because they provide detail of the countryside. City and street maps are extremely helpful when researching large cities such as Hong Kong; they provide locations of churches, cemeteries, businesses, government offices, and monuments. Other types of maps include county atlases and topographical maps.

The Family History Library has a small collection of China maps and atlases. These sources are listed in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under: CHINA - MAPS

China Online Maps

 * China in the early 21st century
 * China in 1967
 * China in 1922
 * China in 1865
 * China in 1815
 * China in 1742
 * China in 1650
 * China in 1584 (note that the orientation has West at the top and North to the right)
 * China in the early 1400's
 * China as it probably was in 1142

China Gazetteers and Local Histories (fangzhi)
Research Use: Supplement genealogies and official records (virtually nonexistent today for historical periods). Contain unique information on widows and wives not found elsewhere. Excellent as geographic and historical outlines of a particular area, but still have some gaps in this regard.

Record Type: These are historical, geographic studies of specific villages and towns that include some biographical and genealogical information.

Time Period: 1368 to present.

Contents: Each local history covers a specific administrative unit (county, town, city or prefecture). These records are divided into sections covering a wide range of topics and categories, including geography, historical events, taxes, population, products and trade, education, transportation, local literary contributions, and local legends and folklore. The fangzhi may include a chapter devoted to recording the famous or influential families or clans. They often include biographies of prominent individuals, and mention of local officials, persons who lived long lives (over 90 years), and chaste widows. In current publications biographies spotlight local martyrs of the revolution.

Location: Found scattered in libraries and archives throughout China and in Chinese collections of university libraries in the U.S. and other countries.

Percentage in Family History Library Collection: We have already acquired about 50% of the pre-1949 editions. There are approximately 5,100 titles in our collection. These represent most of the available gazetteers outside the People's Republic of China.

Population Coverage: Include mainly important personalities and categories of individuals in a specific area; cover less than 5% of the population.

Reliability: Generally very reliable.

Hong Kong - Links to Web Resources

 * Hong Kong City Maps
 * Hong Kong Map - Satellite Image
 * Index of Places in Hong Kong
 * Old Hong Kong Newspaper Collection