A closer look
Trusting foreign priests with vital state secrets seems like a terrible idea, but the Kangxi Emperor valued geographic accuracy over xenophobia. In the early 18th century, he commissioned European Jesuit missionaries equipped with advanced surveying instruments to create the massive Kangxi Atlas. This monumental cartographic project seamlessly blended Western mathematical geometry with traditional Chinese mapping styles, allowing the Qing dynasty to establish firm bureaucratic and military control over its newly conquered borderlands.
