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Publication of the Illustrated Treatise

When: 3 January 1843
Where: Publication site
Part of: Wei Yuan's Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms published

The first edition of the Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, comprising 50 juan, was published on January 3, 1843.

Wei Yuan completed the work based on Lin Zexu's draft manuscript. The treatise included maps and geographical details, aiming to understand Western military advantages. It was regarded as the first significant Chinese work on the West, though it initially received scant attention in China.

Sources

Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-16

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.