China releases first mass-produced barrier-free domestic, world maps

Global Times

15th October 2025

China releases first mass-produced barrier-free domestic, world maps

Seeing culture through fingers

By Li Hang

For 17 million or so visually impaired people in China, the beauty of the nation's cultural relics and landscapes has long been out of reach. But that's beginning to change.

On Monday, ahead of White Cane Safety Day, which falls on October 15 each year, China unveiled a series of accessible cultural publications: China and World Maps, Touch Treasures of the Palace Museum and A Tactile Journey along the River during the Qingming Festival. 

These are the nation's first tactile maps in mass publication and heritage touch-books published at the state level, designed especially for people with visual impairments..

"Maps are an important vehicle for national defense education, we can't leave people with visual impairments behind," said Hao Gang, president of Star Map Press.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202510/1345659.shtml