Journal of Maritime Literature and Culture
JMLC, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.139-147.
Print ISSN: 3107-1821; Online ISSN: 3107-183X
Journal homepage: https://www.mlcjournal.com
DOI： https://doi.org/10.64058/JMLC.26.1.12
蒋秀云（Jiang Xiuyun）
摘要：山形水势是我国古代航海图的意象性符号。与西方航海图注重几何投影技术不同，我国古代山形水势图具有鲜明的视觉艺术特征。它忽略西方航海图要求比例尺一致的原则，采用散点透视中移步换景的原则，描绘出船员航行时在移动的甲板上所观察到的地文剪影。与西方航海图努力用数学知识把地理位置投影到二维地图上不同，中国山形水势图采用意象性思维方式，把航行中观察到的实景用符号绘制在海图上。航行时，舟师透过捕捉岛礁、山峰等地理信息，对比海图中的剪影轮廓，直观地判断海船所处的位置，选择航向，从而摆脱西方导航系统中执着于确定自己在地球坐标系中绝对位置的单一导航模式，构建出一种以人为中心的动态制图观。
关键词：山形水势；航海图；古代航海图；意象性
作者简介：蒋秀云，海南师范大学文学院教授，海南省典籍整理与研究基地研究员，主要从事中外航海图研究。电子邮箱：xiuyun0614@163.com。
Title: Shan-xing Shui-shi: The Imagistic Symbols in Ancient Chinese Nautical Charts
Abstract: Shan-xing Shui-shi, literally “the flow of water and shape of mountains”, functions as imagistic symbols in ancient Chinese nautical charts. Compared with Western nautical charts showing a favour for geometric projection and consistent scale techniques, Chinese nautical charts, especially the Shan-xing Shui-shi maps, possess distinctive visual and artistic characteristics. In contrast to the consistent scale used in the Western cartography, Chinese Shan-xing Shui-shi maps features a multi-scale approach through a logic of “moving perspective”, which are based on floating vantage point. This approach depicts the terrestrial silhouettes observed by Chinese sailors from a moving deck during their navigation. During voyages, Chinese sailors captured geographical information—such as islands, reefs, and mountain peaks—and compared these features with the shapes depicted on nautical charts. Rather than projecting geographical locations onto a two-dimensional surface according to geometric laws, Shan-xing Shui-shi maps represented the imagistic symbols onto the nautical charts, which is guided by an imagery-based mode of thinking in China. Thus Chinese nautical cartography refused the western navigation system which obsessed with fixing the observer’s position within a rigid geometric grid, and articulates a human-centered and dynamic understanding of space.
Keywords: the flow of water and shape of mountains; nautical charts; imagistic
Author Biography: Jiang Xiuyun, Professor at the School of Literature, Hainan Normal University, researcher at Hainan Provincial Institute for Classics Collation and Studies, mainly engaged in the study of Chinese and foreign nautical chart studies. E-mail: xiuyun0614@163.com.
Received: 27 Feb 2026 / Revised: 20 Mar 2026 / Accepted: 27 Mar 2026 / Published online: 30 Apr 2026 / Print published: 30 May 2026.
