Ancient maps drawn up by Europeans and Americans have been retrieved, marking the Diaoyu Islands in actual Chinese pinyin such as "Ha-oyusu," "Tiaoyousou" or "Tyaoyusu." [photo / China.org.cn]

A number of ancient maps drawn up by Europeans and Americans have been retrieved, marking the Diaoyu Islands in actual Chinese pinyin such as "Ha-oyusu," "Tiaoyousou" or "Tyaoyusu," at an auction held last Saturday.

These maps, auctioned off for 368,000 yuan (US$58,833) by China's acclaimed Xiling Seal Art Society in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, were once drawn up by the British, French, Germans and Americans around the mid-18th century to 19th century. The isles they pointed out are located northeast of Taiwan Island.

The oldest map among those auctioned off, had been redrawn in 1752 in France, in line with the version created by the country's then renowned geographer and geologist D' Anville. On that particular map, the Diaoyu Islands are marked as "Haoyusu," the pronunciation of which coincides with "the Great Universal Geographic Map" ("Kun Yu Quan Tu") drawn up in China in 1767.