A Spatial Study of the Relics of Chinese Tomb Murals

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1.Limited References.

2. The paper is lack of proper deduction when talking about the link between Chinese tomb mural and religious phenomenon.

3. The paper collects data from a single information source. Other available information sources need to be inquired into.

4."The density values of Henan and Shanxi are very high, which is associated with their roles as a political center"

The analysis is inadequate. As we know, there are other political centers, such as Beijing and Nanjing.

4.Affording an authorization to declare the legitimacy of the Map.

5. It is important to explain the causes of the Distributions.

Author Response

Response1：

Thank you for your suggestion. We added two additional reference papers in the revised manuscript. Also, since this is the first paper to discuss the overall relics of Chinese tomb murals using the GIS method, our options for reference papers are limited.

Response2 ：

A tomb mural is religious because it is an artistic phenomenon that describes how the tomb owner and relevant individuals imagined the other side. In the revised manuscript, we added a section to the introduction to discuss this phenomenon.

Response3

Thank you for your suggestion. Our paper discusses the space existence of Chinese tomb murals, but our information sources involve almost all relevant information. For example, time, place, material, and other indicators are comprehensively collected and sorted from diachronic and synchronic perspectives. Of course, seeing as this is the first time information statistics have been collected, we would be more inclusive in our future indicator design.

Response4

This is a good question. On Page 7 (Line 196 of the original text), we emphasized the leading positions of these two regions in the data statistics of the top 10 ancient capitals. Regarding this phenomenon, we currently believe that: This is a significant phenomenon that we first discovered through statistics. In the past, it was generally believed that there were many relics of tomb murals in Shaanxi Province. Relics in Henan Province are often influenced by the civilization center of Central Plains, while relics in Shanxi Province are often influenced by the civilization center of ethnic minorities. However, due to length constraints, they are not discussed in this paper, but we will be discussing this aspect in the future.

Response5 ：

Thank you for pointing this out. In the revised manuscript, we remarked that all maps in this paper were based on the standard map GS(2016)1595 downloaded from the standard map service website of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geographic Information without any alteration.

Response6：

Thank you for your suggestion. In the conclusion, we added that the many types and widely distributed Chinese tomb murals with a long history of development, in conjunction with the complex situation of distribution, affect the academic community’s understanding of its distribution. Therefore, we summarized the information of relics using the GIS method in the hope of obtaining a reasonable result of distribution in spatial research.

Reviewer 2 Report

1 Use GIS tools to visualize  tomb murals relics and analyze their density values is not an innovation, and this is only a visual representation of the data. 

2 Whether the material distribution index, regional distribution index and time distribution index of cultural relics are original, if not please introduce the innovation.

3 The expression of China's maps does not conform to the publishing standards of the Surveying and Mapping Law of the People's Republic of China and Regulation on Map Management. For example, the whole map of China must show the South China Sea Islands, Diaoyu Islands, Chiwei Island and other important islands.

Author Response

Response1：

Thank you for your suggestion, and we fully agree with you upon reflection. In the revised manuscript, we replaced the term “innovation” with “an attempt”.

Response2：

Thank you for your suggestion. We designed these indicators, and were the first to use them in the academic community.

Response3：

Thank you for your suggestion. We remarked under the maps that they are based on the standard map GS(2016)1595 downloaded from the standard map service website of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geographic Information without any alteration. We also added important islands including the South China Sea Islands, Diaoyu Islands, and Chiwei Island onto the lower right corner of each map.

Reviewer 3 Report

This paper applies the GIS tools to produce indexes and distribution maps for visualizing and analyzing the density values of Chinese tomb murals excavated on near 1500 sites. The strengths of the paper are innovative approach and sophisticated analysis, and its weak point is the absence of solid religious studies. I suggest the author to add a discussion on how these indexes and maps will facilitate further research on the religious themes embodied in Chinese tomb murals.

Two errors in the dates of Chinese dynasties: Han dynasty should be 206 BCE–220 CE, and Qing dynasty should be 1644–1911.

Author Response

Response1：

Thank you for your suggestion. In this paper, we used the GIS tool for the first time to make visual images in the hope of presenting a new distribution result. The religious themes in Chinese tomb murals will be examined in greater depth in our future research. However, as suggested, we dedicated a portion of the introduction in the revised manuscript to discuss the religious properties of Chinese tomb murals. At the same time, the design ideas of this paper are described in the conclusion. We hope that these indicators and maps will provide an alternative foundation for discussing the religious theme shown in Chinese tomb murals. In other words, we can investigate the location of the study object in a specific historical space by measuring the proportional relationship between the distribution of individual cases and the overall relic sites, thereby enhancing the value of religious-themed images.

Response2：

Thank you for pointing this out. We have modified all dates accordingly in the revised manuscript.

Reviewer 4 Report

Dear Authors,

   You need to polish your English so that your article will read more smoothly. At present, your article reads like a list of bullet points and sounds very repetitive.  There is no flow in your English.

   Furthermore, the fact you tried to deal with all periods in Chinese history in one article seem too ambitious.  Is it possible to limit your article from Han to Sui and Tang and add other elements besides mud, stone and brick as your reference points? 

Author Response

Response1：

Thank you for your suggestion. We actually designed our manuscript to be progressive in terms of the structure: the overall distribution map, the material distribution map and the kernel-density distribution map based on the overall distribution map, and an in-depth discussion of the spatial distribution in each period centering on time slices. To better convey the original intent of this paper, we revised the abstract, introduction, conclusion, and transitions between chapters.

Response2：

Thank you for your suggestions. (1) Since this spatial research focuses on the overall distribution of relics, the general history distribution can more effectively illustrate the problem. There are a large number of studies on tomb murals in China, most of which are cohort studies and qualitative studies on a particular image topic. We agree with your reasonable suggestion, as information can easily become saturated in quantitative studies with a specific sample size. However, the spatial-temporal coordinates of the GIS tool resolved exactly the only outcome of information saturation. This visual representation makes full use of every relic site, and ultimately reflected on the map. (2) We selected these three indicators because the majority of Chinese tomb murals are made of mud, stone, and brick. However, we also agree that adding other elements as indicators can indeed provide more detailed visual representations, so we will take this into consideration in our future research.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

China map still has problems.South China Sea is a nine segment line in the small figure, and the big picture should include the South China Sea.

 

 

Author Response

Thank you very much for your suggestion. We modified the three big pictures, which include the South China Sea.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf