Introduction to the National Economic Atlas of China

Summary

The National Economic Atlas of China is a comprehensive thematic atlas documenting China’s socioeconomic transformation since the reform and opening-up. This paper introduces its background, content, data sources, quality control, computer cartography, and supporting text design. Taking counties and cities as basic geographical units, the atlas employs more than 500 socioeconomic variables and draws on major datasets such as the Second Industrial Census (1985–1986) and the Third and Fourth Population Censuses. It systematically depicts economic growth, industrial structural change, and regional uneven development, with eastern and southern coastal provinces particularly outstanding. The author argues that the quality of census data is high enough to guarantee reliability. The atlas makes innovative use of computer-assisted mapping, large database management, and interactive editing, while the accompanying texts update and explain each map. As one of the most impressive national economic atlases ever published, it provides a unique scientific record of China’s development and symbolizes the nation’s opening-up achievements. The paper also briefly discusses imagery transformation models for formalizing traditional map compilation procedures.