Quote:
Originally Posted by Parihaka
I always smile at the maps emanating from China through that period.
While the Europeans did a little bit the same sort of thing with the mercator projection, the Chinese maps were literally 90% China and 10% 'barbarian lands' around the outside, despite Zheng He.
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Ancient China was surrounded by Qinghai-Tibet plateau, deserts, cold Siberia, and Sea. So it was really hard for ancient Chinese to go out of the region, and also hard for outsiders to come into this region. The only way to penetrate those barriers was the "Silk Road" which was constantly disturbed by war. So it's not surprise China knew the world so late.