snowhole

1. The map of the Qing Empire in its last years. Basically it's the measuring standard of the contemporary maps of China (excluding Outer Mongolia).

2. The map issued by ROC Beiyang Government (1912-1928). The issuing year is unknown though. Notice the slight difference on western Xinjiang and western Yunnan borders.

3. The map issued by ROC Nanjing Government in the 1930s. Also notice Western Xinjiang and western Yunnan.

4. The map issued by Nanjing Government (Japanese controlled I suppose) in the early 1940s. The 2 aforementioned borders had begun to expand further on the map, but it was still subtle. Also it is the first map to mention the isles in South China Sea, although measuring hadn't been done until mid-1940s.

5. The map issued by ROC government (Nanjing and later Taipei) between 1945 and 1953. It had agreed with Outer Mongolia's independence. Western Xinjiang and western Yunnan expanded further on this map. And the claim of most of South China Sea appeared for the first time.

(Continued)

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“....独立自由是我们的理想....”——《歌唱祖国》

astralis

very interesting stuff, snowhole, thanks.

taiwan's got a lack of color...

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The human mind cannot grasp the causes of phenomena in the aggregate. But the need to find these causes is inherent in man’s soul. And the human intellect, without investigating the multiplicity and complexity of the conditions of phenomena, any one of which taken separately may seem to be the cause, snatches at the first, the most intelligible approximation to a cause, and says: “This is the cause!"

-Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace

snowhole

6. Another map issued by ROC before 1953. Basically the same with #5. Notice the stamp on Outer Mongolia. It says '经蒙古人民公投，我政府已通知库伦政府同意其独立 (Due to votings of Mongolian citizens, we have notified the Küriye* government that the ROC government agrees its independence)'.

*The name of the Mongolian Capital was later changed to Ulaanbaatar (乌兰巴托).

7. In 1953, Taipei anounced that, due to USSR's betrayal of its commitment that it would not support the Chinese communist government, the ROC government thereby considered the independence of Mongolia 'illegal', and thus took it back on the map (although they did 'accidentally' allow Mongolia into the United Nations in 1961). Meanwhile, notice the western Xinjiang and western Yunnan borders. They had expanded to their maximum areas on the map.

8. A comparison of maps issued by ROC and PRC in 1980s. The image was adopted from then Taiwanese school textbooks.

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snowhole

Taiwan was given to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895). It was returned after the defeat of Japan in World War Two. But official agreements was made in San Francisco in 1951 (IIRC). Thus in early years of ROC maps Taiwan was not part of Chinese territory.

Edit: misremembered the year, it was 1952. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Treaty

astralis

i know that for the other maps, but i was surprised by the first one with the qing. i guess that must have been after 1895. interesting thing is that taiwan really was only noted between 1885-1895 as competition between japan and qing heated up.