The author Athanasius Kircher was a German Jesuit, and he earned his name in European academia in the 17th century. He spent most of his life teaching and doing research in Roman College, and taught Martino Martini about mathematics. His book China Illustrata was one of the most influential works to promote Sinology among European countries in the 17th century. Although Athanasius Kircher had never been to China, his book had wide reference to latest archives from Jesuits, as Martino Martini, Michael Boym and Johann Grueber all contributed to the book.

The map is selected from China Illustrata, depicting various routes from West Asia to China, later known as the Silk Roads and the One Belt One Road in history. Among those depictions, the farthest northern route is marked as 'Iter M. P. Veneti in Cataium' namely Marco Polo's route from Venice to China. Another route noted as 'Iter in Chinan' starts from Goa, through the Straits of Malacca and reaches across seas to Chinese territory, with its end on the Pearl River estuary 'Macao'. Moreover, more interesting routes are also depicted, such as the route Benedicti Goes traveled to China via Indian city Agra in the year of 1602 to 1605, and also that Johann Grueber and his peers started their journey from Beijing going back to Europe via Tibet in the year of 1661 to 1664.

The Silk Roads were known as various historical network of trade and culture exchanges routes among the countries in Europe and Asia, reaching further to those nations in North Africa, East Africa and as far as American continents. Since the Portuguese settled in Macao, it became the starting/end point of maritime Silk Roads from/to China, and also the joint point of continental Silk Roads through shipping watercourses in mainland China. Thus Macao played an unparalleled role in the early process of globalization.

Reference:

^[1]. Szcześniak, B. (1952). Athanasius Kircher's: China Illustrata. Osiris, 10, 385–411. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/301822

^[2]. 张西平. (2005). 遙望中國：簡介基歇爾的《中國圖說》. 传教士汉学研究. 郑州：大象出版社, 295-310.

^[3]. [美] 孟德卫. (2010). 早期漢學家基歇爾以及赫爾墨斯思想與歐洲理解中國的聯繫. 奇异的国度：耶稣会适应政策及汉学的起源. 郑州：大象出版社, 131-176.