A Historic Contribution to Cartography: Congratulations on the Publication of the National General Atlas

Summary

This paper celebrates the publication of the *National General Atlas of the People's Republic of China* (1995) as a landmark in Chinese cartography and a centennial cultural achievement. Adopting a theoretical perspective grounded in spatial cognition, it systematically examines the enduring and irreplaceable role of maps and atlases. The study articulates how maps facilitate spatial cognition by enabling the construction of holistic mental images, supporting visual estimation and comparability of distributions, revealing spatial correlations among phenomena, integrating statistical data with geographic space to form multi-dimensional concepts, and correcting erroneous environmental perceptions. Building upon these general functions, the atlas is shown to possess unique cognitive strengths: it provides a multidimensional worldview linking quantity and quality, space and time; its structured series of scales and thematic layers offers a “zoom” capability for exploring areas from global to local; and it serves as an essential textbook-like tool for raising spatial literacy. Addressing the challenge of the information age, the paper argues that the national atlas is not rendered obsolete by geographic information systems or electronic maps. Instead, it retains irreplaceable value as a solidified scientific synthesis and cultural sediment, as the most robust and device-independent means for spatial data visualization, and as a foundation for cultivating creative expertise in the digital cartographic industry. Tracing the atlas’s conception back to 1958 and its realization over three decades later, the paper concludes that this work, integrating scientific rigor, ideology, practicality, and artistry at an internationally advanced level, represents a historic contribution. It will profoundly serve national economic construction, national defense, scientific research, education, and international scholarly exchange.