“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognised need of the human soul." Simone Weil
"A map is a partisan assertion about the nature of space concealed beneath a veneer of representational veracity, an assertion often deployed to subject space to particular social and commercial interests. Whilst a territory may be authoritatively mapped it can never be truthfully mapped.” J.B. Harvey
"Abstraction today is no longer the map, the double, the mirror or the con- cept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a sub- stance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal. The territory no longer precedes the map. Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory ... it is the map that engenders the territory," Baudrillard (1983a: 2)
Thanks to MT for the heads up. Here's some stills taken from a visit to Map World - the new Chinese language map service that is supposed to rival googlemaps. I think careful reading of the images, names, fonts and typefaces gives a clear indication of how China perceives its territory and regional position. BTW. Interesting how google maps opens on a map of the US and Map World opens with China at the center. That alone is a huge red flag signalling the nation-specific centric world view of the authoring companies and their governments. Then again, not so long ago, maps posited Jerusalem at centre for very different, but still vested, reasons and interests.
