NEIL BURTON MEMORIAL LECTURE
Mapping from the Water: The Chinese Enlargement of the World in the 17th Century
February 23, 2015, 7pm
University of Victoria, Harry Hickman Building, Room 105
Dr. Timothy Brook, Republic of China Chair in the Department of History and at the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia will present the annual Neil Burton Lecture.
In 2008, a Chinese map emerged from the basement of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, four centuries after it was drawn. Ingenious in its method, what is now known as the Selden map defies the myth that China in the past was closed off to the outside world. It reveals a far more complicated history of Ming China’s engagement with global maritime trade.
Dr. Brook’s most recent book Mr. Selden’s Map of China: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer is a fascinating work of history, biography, cartography and literary mystery that unlocks the secrets of the Selden map.
Neil Burton (1941-2010) A long-time advocate for closer Asia-Canada relations, Neil went to China as part of the first Canada-China student exchange in 1973. He lived in China for eight years and then in Japan for eighteen years before returning to Canada in 1990. Neil taught at Sophia University, the University of Toronto and at UVic. A commemorative fund has been established in honour of Neil’s many contributions. This is the fifth Neil Burton Memorial lecture held at the University of Victoria.