<Introduction> New atlas of the Republic of China and new provincial maps of China, published by Shenbao

Summary

This review evaluates two atlases published by the Shenbao Press, the New Map of the Republic of China and the New Provincial Atlas of China, emphasizing their significance for research on Chinese geography. Compiled largely by Chinese specialists from diverse recent survey materials, the works employ standardized scales and, in the former, the Lambert projection, contour lines, and hypsometric coloring. They provide comparatively clear representations of terrain while documenting cities, place names, roads, railways, distances, and national transportation networks. The provincial atlas further supplies romanized place names and tools for identifying their pronunciation. Compared with earlier maps, both atlases substantially improve accuracy, readability, and the coverage of human-geographical information. The article regards them as major achievements in modern Chinese cartography, valuable for both practical reference and scholarly investigation.