Abstract:

European geography and astronomy had been introduced into China by the Jesuits in the 17th century. The terms “jingxian”,“ziwuxian”(meridian),“weixian”(parallel),“jingdu”(longitude),“weidu”(latitude)were coined in Chinese by Matteo Ricci's Kunyu Wanguo Quantu(World Map, 1602)and Hungai Tongxian Tushuo(Astronomy, 1607),and afterward the terms became the Chinese and Japanese standard terms of the geography and astronomy.

Key words: meridian, parallel, longitude, latitude