This is an ongoing project at Dept. III -- Artefacts, Action and Knowledge -- of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG). We intend to collect all sorts of data about local monographs of historical China and put them on the map. The historical Chinese local monographs, ranging from 10th century to early 20th century, record detailed accounts for geographical, natural, and cultural aspects about local places like provinces, prefectures, counties, and town. It is estimated that there are 8,000 extent local monographs. Our first sources are the list of local monographs collected in the 愛如生中國方志庫 database, volume 1 and a list compiled by Academia Sinica for all the extant local monographs.

We hope to first map the locations of extent local monographs in order for scholars to understand the distribution of the monographs. Then, we will begin to map the rich information in various aspects recorded in local monographs. For example, plants and local products; buildings like temples, bridges, and city walls; disasters; local officials and celebrities; and more.