MOCA TALKS with Dr. Richard A. Pegg – Unpacking the Chinese Blue Maps: Heaven and Earth in the Early 19th Century
March 21, 2026, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
$15 General Admission (museum admission included) | $10 Student & Senior | $5 MOCA Members
Presented during Asia Week New York, the Museum of Chinese in America invites you to an insightful presentation by Dr. Richard A. Pegg, Director and Curator of Asian Art at the MacLean Collection and curator of MOCA’s special exhibition Heaven & Earth: The Blue Maps of China (on view through March 29, 2026). The presentation will be followed by a guided Q&A in the gallery.
In the early decades of the nineteenth century, China stood at a moment of profound transition, negotiating its geopolitical position as both an ancient civilization and an emerging modern nation-state. It was during this period that two remarkable series of large-format maps—one terrestrial and one celestial—were printed in the city of Suzhou. These maps articulate Chinese conceptions of the relationship between earthly and cosmic space and offer rare insight into how scholars and artists understood and represented the world around them.
Serving as the closing program of Heaven & Earth, this talk explores the artistic, historical, and cultural significance of the blue maps, situating them within the broader global history of mapmaking. Don’t miss this final opportunity to experience this special exhibition before it closes on Sunday, March 29!
About Richard A. Pegg
Richard A. Pegg is currently Director and Curator of Asian Art for the MacLean Collection, an Asian art museum and separate map library located north of Chicago Illinois. He has written and lectured widely on the visual, literary, cartographic and martial arts traditions of East Asia. He is the author and co-author of The Maclean Collection: Chinese Ritual Bronzes (2010), Cartographic Traditions in East Asian Maps (2014), Highlights of Asian Art: The Maclean Collection (E-book, 2015), Chinese Swords: An Ancient Tradition and Modern Training (2015), The Chinese Jar (a novel, 2015), The MacLean Collection: Early to Medieval Chinese Pottery (2023), The Blue Maps of China: Heaven and Earth in the Early Nineteenth Century, (forthcoming).