Inheriting and Developing, Innovating by Weeding through the Old: Celebrating the Publication of the National General Atlas of the People's Republic of China

Summary

This paper commemorates the official publication of the *National General Atlas of the People's Republic of China* in 1995, a landmark achievement in Chinese cartography representing the culmination of decades of collective effort. Compiled under the guidance of senior experts including Zeng Shiying and editor-in-chief Yu Cang, and involving over one hundred cartographers from institutions like the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, the atlas serves as a comprehensive, authoritative geographic reference. The purpose of the atlas is to systematically display China's geographical features—including topography, hydrography, settlements, transportation, administrative divisions, and land cover—to support national development, territorial planning, and geoscientific research. Methodologically, the compilation leveraged the latest 1:1,000,000 topographic maps, satellite imagery, and verified geographical name databases to ensure reliability, precision, and updated content extending to 1991. The atlas is praised for its systematic structure, integrating national thematic maps, regional overviews, provincial maps, typical area enlargements, and urban land-use maps, including innovative sea-area charts that break the traditional land-centric focus. Key innovations in cartographic design include the use of combined hypsometric tinting principles across China's three topographic tiers, the application of colored hill shading for regional maps, and a unique violet hue scheme for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, enhancing the representation of complex terrain. The conclusion affirms that this rigorously compiled, scientifically innovative atlas achieves international advanced standards, expertly balancing scientific accuracy, practical utility, and artistic quality. It is positioned as an indispensable tool for spatial cognition, economic construction, national defense, and international academic exchange, elevating China's cartographic discipline to a new level of excellence.