With the territorial markings of the ancient Chinese state more zonal than lineal, discussions of sovereign borders must rely upon an analysis of the breadth of applied politico-legal or military force. But the representation of such is not inevitably secular; indeed, it requires a keen appreciation of ritualized markers and activities that effectively claim an area as part of a sovereign domain. The topography of the ancient state was no disenchanted breadth; sovereign possession was sanctified. Ritualized actions of its inhabitants were that which reinforced, or weakened, the sovereign’s claims. Abstract representations of borders and boundaries, maps were assertions of interest in the area. However, given the zonal conceptualization of early Chinese space, their lines are somewhat deceptive. Indeed, if work on early Roman cartographic thinking is any indication, it’s not clear how consistently three-dimensional exploratory visualizations were. Rather, the maps seem more driven by two-dimensional, directional frameworks. A variable, moving perspective appeared to have influenced the whole conceptualization of lived, and thus possessed, space. Passing beyond any sovereign boundary had ritualized signifiers. These boundaries, however, should not be conflated with militarized structures, such as walls.