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Pei Xiu (224–271), courtesy name Jiyan, was a minister, geographer, and cartographer of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history, as well as the subsequent Jin Dynasty. Pei Xiu was very much trusted by Sima Zhao, and participated in the suppression of Zhuge Dan's coup. Following Sima Yan taking the throne of the newly established Jin Dynasty, he and Jia Chong had Cao Huang deprived of his position to accord to the will of heaven. In the year 267, Pei was appointed as the Minister of Works for the Jin Dynasty.〔Needham, Volume 3, 538.〕 Pei Xiu outlined and analyzed the advancements of cartography, surveying, and mathematics up until his time.〔 He criticized earlier Han Dynasty maps for their lack of precision and quality when representing scale and measured distances, although 20th century archeological excavations and findings of maps predating the 3rd century prove otherwise. There is also evidence that Zhang Heng (78–139 AD) was the first to establish the grid reference system in Chinese cartography. ==Pei Xiu the cartographer== Pei is best known for his work in cartography. Although professional map-making and use of the grid had existed in China before him,〔Needham, Volume 3, 106–107.〕 he was the first to mention a plotted geometrical grid reference and graduated scale displayed on the surface of maps to gain greater accuracy in the estimated distance between different locations.〔Needham, Volume 3, 538–540.〕 Historian Howard Nelson asserts that there is ample written evidence that Pei Xiu derived the idea of the grid reference from the map of Zhang Heng (78–139 AD), a polymath inventor and statesman of the Eastern Han period.〔Nelson, 359.〕 Robert Temple asserts that Zhang should also be credited as the first to establish the mathematical grid in cartography, as evidenced by his work in maps, the titles of his lost books, and the hint given in the ''Book of Later Han'' (i.e. Zhang "cast a network of coordinates about heaven and earth, and reckoned on the basis of it").〔Temple (1986) 30.〕 The preface to Pei Xiu's written work was preserved in the 35th chapter of the ''Book of Jin'',〔 which is the official history for the Jin Dynasty and one of the Twenty-four Histories. It was written in the ''Book of Jin'' that Pei made a critical study of ancient texts in order to update the naming conventions of geographic locations described in old texts.〔 His maps —drawn upon rolls of silk — were presented to the Jin emperor, who preserved them in the court's archives.〔〔Needham, Volume 3, 541.〕 Pei Xiu's maps have since been lost, decayed, or destroyed.〔Needham, Volume 3, 540.〕 Yet the oldest existing terrain maps from China date to the 4th century BC, found in a Qin State tomb of modern Gansu province in 1986.〔Hsu, 90.〕 Han Dynasty era maps from the 2nd century BC were found earlier in the 1973 excavation of Mawangdui.〔 In 1697, Qing Dynasty cartographer Hu Wei(胡渭) reconstructed Pei's maps in his ''Yugong Zhuizhui'' (禹貢錐指, ''A Few Points on the Vast Subject of the Yu Gong'').〔 Modern scholars have also used Pei's writing to reproduce his works, and historians such as Herrmann have compared Pei to other great ancient cartographers such as the Greek cartographer Ptolemy (83–161).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pei Xiu」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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