Chronicle of Foreign Lands The Zhifang waiji (Chronicle of
foreign lands) is a concise geography of the world, the first of
its kind written in Chinese. The Italian Jesuit missionary
Matteo Ricci produced a map of the world in Chinese in 1584. The
map, which followed Western principles of cartography then
unknown in China, underwent several revisions between 1584 and
1602. Ricci’s fellow priests Diego de Pantoja and Sabatino de
Ursis were instructed by imperial order to compose a book
explaining the map. Pantoja died in 1618 and the work eventually
was completed ...