Made around 1389 AD. The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu 1389 (Chinese: 大明混一圖; pinyin: dàmíng hùnyī tú, Manchu: dai ming gurun-i uherilehe nirugan) or Amalgamated Map of the Great Ming Empire is a world map created in China. It was painted in colour on stiff silk and 386 x 456cm in size.[1] The original text was written in Classical Chinese, but Manchu labels were later superimposed on them. It is one of the oldest surviving world maps from East Asia although the exact date of creation remains unknown. It depicts the general form of the Old World, placing China in the center and stretching northward to Mongolia, southward to Java, eastward to central Japan, and westward to Africa and Europe. Little is known about this world map. Its author is unknown and the date of creation is unclear. The map was created in China sometime during the Ming Dynasty and handed over to the new rulers of China, the Manchus. It has been kept on the Imperial Palace and was called Qingzi Qian Yitong Tu (清字簽一統圖) in some catalogs.[2] It is currently kept in protective storage at the First Historical Archive of China, in Beijing. A full-sized digital replica was made for the South African government in 2002.[3] The place names of China on the map reflect the political situation in 1389, or the 22nd year of the reign of the Hongwu Emperor. Thus some Chinese scholars concluded that it was indeed created in 1389 or little later.[1] Others maintain a cautious attitude, suggesting that what was revised in 1389 is probably a source map of the Da Ming Hun Yi Tu and that the Da Ming Hun Yi Tu itself was created much later.