Hukoen. Of ou Hukeu.

Title

Hukoen. Of ou Hukeu.

Decorative totla view of Hukou County.It is a county under the administration of Jiujiang City, in the north of Jiangxi Province, China, bordering Anhui province to the north.Nieuhof: L'ambassade de la Compagnie Orientale des Provinces Unies vers l'Empereur de la Chine, 1665.

ca. 1693

Artist

Meurs, van (1619/20-1680)

Jacob van Meurs (1619–1680) was a prominent Dutch bookseller, engraver, and publisher active mainly between 1650 and 1680. Early in his career, he published works on the history of Amsterdam and the Dutch Republic, later specializing successfully in books about China, Japan, Africa, and America. He collaborated with contemporaries such as Johan Nieuhof, Olfert Dapper, and Arnoldus Montanus, becoming a leading publisher of works on the non-European world from 1660 to 1680. His books were known for their elaborate illustrations of exotic peoples and places. Key publications include Het Gezantschap der Neêrlandtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie (1665) by Nieuhof, China monumentis (1667) by Athanasius Kircher, Olfert Dapper’s description of Africa (1668), works on Japan (1669), and further descriptions of China (1670). Van Meurs responded to the strong demand for comprehensive accounts of distant colonies and lands.

Historical Description

By the 15th century, Beijing had essentially taken its current shape. The Ming city wall continued to serve until modern times, when it was pulled down and the 2nd Ring Road was built in its place. It is generally believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world for most of the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.The first known church was constructed by Catholics in 1652 at the former site of Matteo Ricci's chapel; the modern Nantang Cathedral was later built upon the same site. The capture of Beijing by Li Zicheng's peasant army in 1644 ended the dynasty, but he and his Shun court abandoned the city without a fight when the Manchu army of Prince Dorgon arrived 40 days later. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty( the years 1420 to 1912). It is located in the center of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. When Hongwu Emperor's son Zhu Di became the Yongle Emperor, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, and construction began in 1406 on what would become the Forbidden City. Construction lasted 14 years and required more than a million workers. It served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. Since 1925 the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties.