The Chinese Lyric Sequence by Joseph R. Allen (review)

Abstract

centerpiece of Akin’s sources, presented Buddhist maps in the beginning of his work, with other world maps, not in the latter section of historical maps. Akin’s argument in this chapter that “historical maps could also buttress, or undermine, administrative and Sinocentric perspectives” is supported by this choice to include Buddhist maps into his category of “historical cartography” (p. ). His etic categorization may still be a useful one, but it deserves greater transparency. Neither of these critiques undermine the significant contributions of this book. Akin has produced a richly sources and highly interesting contribution to our understanding of the diversity of early modern East Asian cartographic print culture. Besides being of interest to East Asianists, historians of European cartography should also take note. Akin is bringing the East Asian experience into dialogue with that of contemporaneous Europe. He is, in his own words, trying to make China not just as an “‘exception to the pattern’ or a special case [in cartographic history], but rather an integral part of the pattern itself” (p. ).