top of page
Hand-drawn Map of Tanshui Ting around Early 18th Century
About 18th century
Display size：45.5 X 52.5 cm
Collection Number：2022-1481
The establishment of Tanshui Ting was in 1723, but the adminitrative offices were not completed until 1756. A depiction of Tanshui was already included in the Revised Gazetteer of Fujian and Taiwan Prefecture.
The title of this map is "Tanshui Ting", and its exact creation date is unknown. Its resemblance to the supplementary illustrations in the Gazetteer of Taiwan Prefecture is apparent. The city walls in the map are composed of thorny bamboo, and within the city, only a single yamen labeled "garrison" is depicted. This suggests that the map may represent the scene prior to the establishment of the Ting's office to Tek-chhàm before 1756.
The Manuscript of Tanshui Ting depicts the Tek-chhàm city and the territory of Tanshui Ting
The contract with the seal of the Manchu and Han texts
City map
Tanshui Ting map
When the Tanshui Ting（淡水廳）was initially established in 1723, it was called Tanshui Coastal Defense Ting, abbreviated as Tanshui Defense Ting. It was responsible for handling judicial and financial affairs in the area north of Changhua. The image on the right shows the contract with the seal of the Manchu and Han texts, which reads "Seal of North Road Tanshui Anti-Theft and Defense " in Chinese characters.
In the early years of the Daoguang reign (1821~1850), due to a classification dispute in Changhua, the literati and gentry of Tek-chhàm jointly requested the construction of a brick fortress. The construction of the brick fortress laid the foundation for the urban layout of the fortified city. The Manuscript of Gazetteer of Tanshui Ting was compiled by Zheng Yongxi after the completion of the brick fortress and served as the basis for the "Gazetteer of Tanshui Ting（淡水廳志）." The scale of the brick fortress depicted in it reflects the actual scene at the time. The north-south locations in the illustration show a convergence towards Tek-chhàm, highlighting the image of Tek-chhàm as the center of northern Taiwan intentionally emphasized by the illustrator.
bottom of page