BOOKS ABOUT THE GREAT WALL WRITTEN IN THE JIAJING AND LONGQING PERIOD IN THE MING DYNAST

In the Ming Dynasty there were four books about the Great Wall,the first of which was Jiubian Tuzhi by Zheng Xiao.It was finished in the fourth year of Jiajing Period with written script illustrated by maps of each fortification.Jiubian Tulun by Xu Lun paid attention to maps and written script alike,and the emphasis was primarily on comments.The map called Jiubian Tushuo comprehensively showed the features of the nine frontier fortifications system.For the first time in history,it made use of a whole map to show the situation of the nine frontier fortifications and it was the first map of the Great Wall which is preserved in Sanmenxia Museum.Jiubian Tulun was originative because it didn't adopt the content and writing pattern of Jiubian Tuzhi.Huangming Jiubian Kao by Wei Huan emphasized the writing and recording of historical events and studied the formation of the nine frontier fortifications system for the first time.Although the three made use of a lot of official material,they were individual actions.Jiubian Tushuo was written by the authorities,and it took maps as the major content.The four books basically started the writing pattern of books about the Great Wall in late Ming,took the lead in the common practice in the writing of books about the Great Wall,and standardized the style.The two nine-frontier theories that the latter three books brought up and developed have became the most popular legal languages until now.The maps of the three books were drawn by copying the kinds,and it showed that the maps in the Ming Dynasty were deeply affected by humanistic tradition,and scientific and mathematical thinking exerted little influence.