The so-called "revealing map" refers to deliberate exaggeration of territory of certain dynasties when making historical maps to show China's strength since ancient times. China has thousands of years of history, and territory of each era changes. We should learn more about how territory is formed, it is not recommended to deliberately exaggerate territory. However, in modern times, due to many years of backwardness and beatings of China, people tend to seek solace in history, and there is a plot “opening borders with cards”.
When it comes to The Map Revealing Xinjiang, you might think of Tan Qixiang's Atlas of Chinese History. In fact, Tan Qixiang is not first person to map Xinjiang. His card is basically an exercise by Go Moruo. Manuscript Map of Chinese History", and Guo Moro's historical map was more or less influenced by Yang Dejun's historical map in Republic of China. How exaggerated is Yang Dejun's historical map? Let's look at a few cards.
The first map represents territory of Yellow Emperor period. The range of control of Yellow Emperor was drawn from Mount Yinshan in north to Jianghan in south, which is greater than that of later Western Zhou Dynasty. In fact, this is realm of Yellow Emperor as described in Historical Records: The Five Emperors. Porridge is suitable for Busan.” Sima Qian established scope of Yellow Emperor based on Yu Gong. And "Yu Gong" is a product of Warring States period, reflecting scale of main vassal states of Warring States period.
The second map is Yu Shun era map, which is more exaggerated than Yellow Emperor map. It reached Western Regions in west, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in southwest, Mongolian Plateau in north, Liaodong in northeast, and Ryukyu Islands in southeast. Ancient Chinese documents first recorded Ryukyu Islands during Sui Dynasty, and to attribute Ryukyu Islands to territory of Yao and Shun periods is somehow too absurd here.
The third map is territory of Xia Dynasty. The scale of Xia Dynasty map drawn in picture is basically same as for Yu Shun era, and scale of Kyushu is marked. Among them, capital of Xia Dynasty is noted in Anyi, Shanxi Province.
It's a pity that I couldn't find full version of map online, otherwise I could have shared it with everyone in every dynasty. After Xia Dynasty, I found images of Northern and Southern Dynasties and Yuan Dynasty.
Let's first take a look at map of Northern and Southern Dynasties. At first glance, this map is a map of Eurasian continent, but upon closer inspection, it turns out that this is a map of Northern and Southern dynasties. The northern dynasties on map already included entire Mongolian highlands, Western regions, Siberia and half of Central Asia, which is really amazing. The territory of Southern Dynasties included Taiwan, Ryukyu and other regions. Such a picture made later Guo Moro and Tan Qixiang feel inferior. However, Guo Moro and Tan Qixiang also learned from him to a certain extent later, as we can see by looking at territory of Yuan Dynasty.
This map of Yuan Dynasty extends to Baltic and Mediterranean Seas to west, Indian Ocean to south, and Arctic Ocean to north, including India and all of Eastern Europe and even Germany. The scale of this map far exceeds scale of Yuan Dynasty + four major khanates of Mongolia, because four khanates did not rule Turkey, India, Germany, Poland and other places.
This map marks Siberia for first time as "Xianbeilia", which is an incorrect result of "literary archeology" that arose during time of Republic of China. This Leah was originally a European word. Siberia is actually Siberian Khanate that broke away from Golden Horde, located in Ob River basin and has nothing to do with word "Xianbei". Later, Russia annexed Siberian Khanate and used Siberia to refer to entire North Asian region.
Under normal circumstances, no one would take Yang Dejun's card seriously. However, in special times, especially when Sino-Soviet relations were deteriorating, some people took this map and even imitated his drawing method, for example, Yuan Dynasty in Guo Moro's Map of Chinese Historical Drawings included all of Siberia. On map, Guo Moruo had already marked location of "Beihai Shadow Intelligence Institute" at mouth of Ob River, and this should be under jurisdiction of Golden Horde, not Yuan Dynasty. According to historical records, northernmost point of Beihai Shadow Survey Institute of Beihai is at 63 degrees north latitude, which is far from Arctic Ocean. Even if Beihai Institute of Shadow Filming Beihai went deep into Siberia, it cannot prove that Yuan Dynasty owned all of Siberia, but Guo Moruo painted all islands in Arctic Ocean in his territory, which shows that this is too exaggerated.
Map of Yuan Dynasty by Guo Moro
The border on Guo Moro's "Map of Chinese Historical Manuscripts" was almost copied by Tan Qixiang. After studying "Chinese Historical Manuscript Map" and "Chinese Historical Atlas", you know that boundary line of two maps has basically not changed. This shows that Tang Qixiang copied Guo Moro's map. Of course, we admit that Tan Qixiang's map depicts administrative divisions well, but we also have to admit that his method of drawing the border is completely plagiarized.
The territory of Yuan Dynasty, drawn by Tan Qixian
These maps are drawn on border in a very chaotic way, which not only does not correspond to main historical facts, but is also extremely exaggerated. Such a historical map cannot stand test of history. In a few more years, when we look back at these maps, we will find how naive and ridiculous they are, trying to find presence of a powerful country on map. Therefore, I believe that mapping should follow objective facts, not heart. If you're really painting way you like, why not include whole earth and moon?