Interview with Min-min Chang, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Recently Stephen Pugh, YBP's Senior Vice President of International Sales, had the opportunity to interview renowned librarian Min-min Chang (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) regarding her new book "China in European Maps", a stunningly crafted catalogue of the Special Collection of cartography at the HKUST library. The volume is as beautiful as it is fascinating, and details the development of European geographic knowledge of China through the centuries. The richly drawn maps are wonderfully reproduced and truly represent the treasure of the Special Collection.
Stephen Pugh: China in European Maps is a fitting capstone to your very interesting and accomplished career. Can you tell us something about your background, education and history as a librarian?
Min-min Chang: I grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. Received a B.A. from National Taiwan University; and a M.L.S. from UC - Berkeley. My career as a librarian began in 1965, and I have since worked in quite a few university libraries in North America including Northwestern, SUNY - Buffalo, McGill and Caltech. In 1990, I left my position as Associate Director of Libraries at Caltch, and moved to Hong Kong to help building a new university, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I served as its founding Director of Library until June 2003.
Stephen Pugh: Please tell us a little about the founding and early years of HKUST. How did the Special Collections get established? What prompted the collection Antique Maps of China? How has that collection developed over the years?
Min-min Chang: The history and development of this collection are told in the second, third, and fourth paragraph of the Preface.
Stephen Pugh: To what audience is the book addressed/who should purchase this book?
Min-min Chang: In addition to the support for research in the Division of Humanities at HKUST, the title has obvious appeal for map lovers/librarians, is an excellent compendium of fine topographical/geographical art, and provides a precise historical context.
Stephen Pugh: The book is gorgeously printed and presented, and is far more than a simple catalog of the special collection. What can you tell us about its design, production, materials and binding?
Min-min Chang: During my tenure at HKUST, I have curated more than 20 art exhibitions in the library gallery and have worked with an excellent team of graphic designers and printers who shared my design philosophy and requirements in production. It is the same team that assisted me in producing this volume. To achieve the "look" I had in mind, we imported a high quality paper and a specific fabric for the cover. We have gone through a great deal of trouble in finding the right shade of red ink which could be used in printing on fabrics. Another anecdote
about its design was to locate all four Chinese characters of the title for the cover, in a style by one calligrapher, which I considered "fit" for the content. After weeks of searching, it was on the last day that the cover had to be printed that I found the four Chinese character in "Zhuan" style from the collected works of the renowned calligrapher and engraver of Qin Dynasty, DENG Shiru,. I noted this on the verso of the title page, but regrettably, in Chinese only.
What may not be obvious to readers was the tremendous efforts spent in researching the edition dates and details of each map. In hindsight, I should have placed the catalog of the collection as the second part, and the plates of maps the last part of the volume. After all, it is the catalog which is the main body of the book and has consumed most of my compiling and editing efforts.
Stephen Pugh: Please expand a bit on the scholarly gap you mention in the preface that this book addresses. What makes it unique?
Min-min Chang: The "gap" that I mentioned in the Preface was to illustrate a point about availability of maps at a given time, but the "gap" is not significant in the sense that the First Part of Asia does not deal with China. In fact, this special map collection contains almost all examples of European maps made on Chine between 16th and 19th centuries, though there are other variations and derivations of similar maps.
The uniqueness of this volume can be summed up by the two experts who wrote the two introductions, one in Chinese and the other in English:
Prof. Zhou of Fudan University wrote: "This Special Collection is the only one of its kind in university libraries in China. It is not only precious in its value, more importantly, it reflects the course of development of the European's knowledge of Chinese geography since the 15th century. The Collection contains examples of maps for every period during the entire history of cartography, therefore, it also reflects the exchanges of knowledge of geography and map-making between China and the West.
Mr. Barron simply said: "...one of the finest cartographic collections in Asia -- a unique and invaluable resource that scholar and map-lover, not only in Hong Kong but in every corner of the world, will now be able to access, use and enjoy long into the future."
Stephen Pugh: Please tell us a little more about the scholarly articles and their authors in the first part of the book.
Min-min Chang: I talked about these articles in the fifth paragraph of the Preface. The author's brief bios is attached below - have only a Chinese bio for Prof. Ke of Tsinghua University. Suffice to say, he is a scholar very well known for his research in cultural history.
Author Bios/Links to information:
Zhou Zhenhe
Zhou Zhenhe, male, born in 1941. Obtained MA in History in 1981 and Ph.D. in 1983 from Fudan University.
Professor, Ph.D., Supervisor,
Member of Executive Board of Chinese Administrative Regionalization Society,
Member of Executive Board of Overseas Communication History
Society of China,
Member of Historical Geography Committee under Geography Society of China.
Major research fields:
historical political geography, historical cultural geography, history of administrative
regionalization of China, and history of social culture. Major
publications: Political Geography of the Western Han Dynasty, Dialects
and Chinese Culture (co-author), History of Administrative
Regionalization of China Seen in A New Light, Study on Chinese
Historical Cultural Areas (chief author), Three Geographical Books by
Wang Shixing (compiler), An Endless Journey (a selection of essays).
