Evaluation of the National Physical Atlas of China

Summary

This review evaluates the National Physical Atlas of China (1999), a monumental cartographic work compiled by over 300 specialists from nearly 40 Chinese institutions under the leadership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and with Professor Liao Ke as editor‑in‑chief. The atlas comprises 540 maps on 225 pages, systematically structured into five sections: introductory maps, physical environment, natural resources, natural hazards, and nature utilization and conservation. The evaluation highlights the atlas’s interdisciplinary and encyclopedic character, designed to support environmental change studies, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development. By integrating extensive field data with satellite remote sensing, the atlas offers innovative thematic coverage, including maps of heavy metal bioaccumulation in fish, potential net primary productivity under hypothetical climate‑change scenarios (precipitation ±10%, temperature +4°C), temporal distribution of earthquakes, and human diseases caused by selenium, iodine and fluorine deficiencies. Cartographically, the work successfully merges traditional drafting with computer‑aided multimedia and GIS techniques, achieving high scientific accuracy and aesthetic quality at a primary scale of 1:10 000 000. The review concludes that the National Physical Atlas of China is an unparalleled scientific reference, providing critical support for national security, education, and global environmental cooperation, and it stands as one of the finest national atlases published in recent decades.