''Daoyi Zhilüe'' ( zh, t=島夷誌略, s=岛夷志略, p=Dǎo Yí Zhì Lüè, w=Tao i chih lio) or ''Daoyi Zhi'' ( zh, t=島夷誌, s=岛夷志, p=Dǎo Yí Zhì, w=Tao i chih) which may be translated as ''A Brief Account of Island Barbarians'' or other similar titles, is a book written c. 1339 (completed c. 1349) by Yuan dynasty Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan recounting his travels to over a hundred places in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. The book was written in present-day

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It described the weather, products, people, and customs of the places that Wang Dayuan visited. The timeline for Wang Dayuan's life and travels is: *1311 - born *1330 - sailed for the first time from Quanzhou *1334 - returned to Yuan dynasty *1337 - sailed for the second time from Quanzhou *1339 - returned to Yuan dynasty The content of the book (known as ''Dao Yi Zhu'') was originally an appendix in a local gazetteer ''Qing Yuan Xu Zhi'' ( 清源续志, ''A Continuation of the History and Topography of Quanzhou)'' composed by Wu Jian in 1349. According to the Yuan poet Zhang Zhu, ''Daoyi Zhilüe'' was re-published in 1350 as an individual travel account. Andaya and Andaya write that Dao Yi Zhi Lue provides more information on areas east of the Malay Peninsula than any other Yuan dynasty source. According to the postscript Wang Dayuan visited all the places described. However, Park notes that 90% of the text is devoted to Southeast Asia and that Wang does not give details of his route and itinerary to West Asia. However, Deng states that Wang Dayuan's account is consistent with later Ming dynasty accounts of Zheng He's travels. There is currently no full English translation of the book but the Chinese version is available online. Partial translations however are available.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *
1330 - Singapore's Early Settlements & Trade
- a short documentary about how Singapore was depicted in Wang Dayuan's ''Daoyi Zhilue'', produced for the Singapore Bicentennial in 2019. Chinese non-fiction books 1330s books History books about Sri Lanka Books about Sri Lankan natural history Books about Sri Lankan exploration History of the Philippines (900–1565) History books about India {{travel-book-stub

See also

References

Bibliography