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<p>This study examines the toponymic ordering and spatial logic in a connoisseurship manual, <i>Xinzeng Gegu yaolun</i> (<i>Expanded Essential Criteria of Antiquities</i>) by Wang Zuo, a mid-Ming scholar-official. Through comparative textual analysis of Wang’s work and Cao Zhao’s original <i>Gegu yaolun</i>, the study reconstructs the distribution of place names. It further demonstrates how Wang’s entries radiate outward from the twin capitals of Nanjing and Beijing towards the rest of the empire. Even frontier regions such as Yunnan and Guizhou were incorporated into this spatial order, reflecting the ideological discourse of imperial unification. Moreover, official conventions influenced the way place names are recorded in <i>Xinzeng Gegu yaolun</i>. In this way, Wang’s work illustrates how a mid-Ming official articulated the imperial order through the language of connoisseurship.</p>

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Mapping the empire through objects: toponymic ordering in Wang Zuo’s Xinzeng Gegu yaolun

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月7日

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  • Ziming Chen,
  • Hanwei Wang

摘要

This study examines the toponymic ordering and spatial logic in a connoisseurship manual, Xinzeng Gegu yaolun (Expanded Essential Criteria of Antiquities) by Wang Zuo, a mid-Ming scholar-official. Through comparative textual analysis of Wang’s work and Cao Zhao’s original Gegu yaolun, the study reconstructs the distribution of place names. It further demonstrates how Wang’s entries radiate outward from the twin capitals of Nanjing and Beijing towards the rest of the empire. Even frontier regions such as Yunnan and Guizhou were incorporated into this spatial order, reflecting the ideological discourse of imperial unification. Moreover, official conventions influenced the way place names are recorded in Xinzeng Gegu yaolun. In this way, Wang’s work illustrates how a mid-Ming official articulated the imperial order through the language of connoisseurship.