Xu Xiake

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Xu Xiake
Portrait of Xu Xiake
Born
Xu Hongzu

5 January 1587
Jiangsu, Ming China
Died8 March 1641 (aged 54)
Ming China
OccupationExplorer
Xu Xiake
Hanyu Pinyin
Xú Xiákè
Wade–GilesHsü2 Hsia2-k'o4
IPA[ɕy̌ ɕjǎ.kʰɤ̂]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationChèui Hàahhaak
JyutpingCeoi4 Haa4-haak3
IPA[tsʰɵy˩ haː˩.haːk̚˧]
Former residence of Xu Xiake in Jiangyin
Tomb of Xu Xiake
In this
Xu
.

Xu Xiake (

travel writer and geographer of the Ming dynasty, known best for his famous geographical treatise, and noted for his bravery and humility. He traveled throughout China for more than 30 years, documenting his travels extensively. The records of his travels were compiled posthumously in The Travel Diaries of Xu Xiake, and his work translated by Ding Wenjiang.[1] Xu's writing falls under the old Chinese literary category of 'travel record literature' ('youji wenxue'“遊記文學”), which used narrative and prose styles of writing to portray one's travel experiences.[2]

The

Xu Xiake
was named after him.

Life

With ancestors from Jiangxi province, Xu Xiake was born in what is today Jiangyin (in Jiangsu province) as Xu Hongzu (宏祖), as the second son of Xu Yu'an (徐豫庵, 1545–1594) and Wang Ruren (王孺人, 1545–1625). It was often said his mother encouraged him to travel and this shaped Xu's predilections. His sobriquet is Zhenzhi (振之). Xiake was an alternate sobriquet (別號) given to him by his friend Chen Jiru (陳繼儒, 1558–1639) and it means "one who is in the sunset clouds". His other friend, Huang Daozhou (黃道周, 1585–1646), also gave Xu an alternate sobriquet: Xiayi (霞逸), meaning "untrammelled in the sunset clouds."

On his journeys throughout China he travelled with a servant called Gu Xing (顧行). He faced many hardships along the way, as he was often dependent on the patronage of local scholars who would help him after he had been robbed of all his belongings.[1] Local Buddhist abbots of the various places he visited often would pay him money as well, for the small service of recording the history of their local monastery.[1] From the snowy passes of Sichuan, to the subtropical jungles of Guangxi and Yunnan, to the mountains of Tibet, Xu Xiake wrote of all his experiences and provided enormous amounts of written detail from his observations.

Travel records

Travel routes of Xu Xiake

The written work of Xu Xiake's travel records and diaries contained some 404,000

Classic of History.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Needham, Volume 3, 524.
  2. ^ Hargett, 67–69.
  3. ^ Hargett, 69.
  4. ^ a b c d Needham, Volume 3, p. 524-525.

References

  • Hargett, James M. "Some Preliminary Remarks on the Travel Records of the Song Dynasty (960–1279)," Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (July 1985): 67–93.
  • Ward, Julian, and Hongzu Xu. 2001. Xu Xiake (1587–1641): the art of travel writing. Richmond [England]: Curzon.
    ISBN 0-7007-1319-0
    .
  • Needham, Joseph
    (1959). Science and Civilisation in China: Mathematics and the Sciences of Heaven and Earth. Vol III (Cambridge University Press, 1959).
  • Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). "Hsü Hung-tsu" . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Xu Xiake.
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