The ''Jingxingji'' (; literally "Record of Travels") was a now lost journey book written by

Du Huan Du Huan (, ) was a Chinese travel writer born in Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty. According to his writings, he was one of a few Chinese captured in the Battle of Talas in 751, along with artisans Fan Shu and Liu Ci and fabric weavers Le Wei and ...

shortly after he returned to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 762 from the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

. Only about 1,511 words are being preserved under the ''

Tongdian The ''Tongdian'' () is a Chinese institutional history and encyclopedia text. It covers a panoply of topics from high antiquity through the year 756, whereas a quarter of the book focuses on the Tang Dynasty. The book was written by Du You from 766 ...

''. It recorded about thirteen main countries, and a separated book was later published by

Wang Guowei Wang Guowei (; 2 December 18772 June 1927) or Wang Kuo-wei, courtesy name Jing'an () or Boyu (), was a Chinese historian and poet. A versatile and original scholar, he made important contributions to the studies of ancient history, epigraphy, ph ...

under the title of ''Guxingji Xiaolu'' from this source. Other parallel quotes can also be found from the ''

Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era The ''Taiping Yulan'', translated as the ''Imperial Reader'' or ''Readings of the Taiping Era'', is a massive Chinese ''leishu'' encyclopedia compiled by a team of scholars from 977 to 983. It was commissioned by the imperial court of the Song ...

'', ''Taiping Huanyuji'', ''Tongzhi'' and '' Tongkao''. In 1866, a section with regard to the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

of the texts was being translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Henry Yule Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Oriental studies, Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabilia'' by the 14th-century Dominican ...

. Since then, a few of the scholars such as

Hirth Hirth Engines GmbH is an engine manufacturer based in Benningen, Germany. It is currently a part of the UMS Aero Group. Hirth began manufacturing aero engines in the 1920s, was taken over by Heinkel in WWII to develop the Heinkel-Hirth jet en ...

(1885), Chavannes (1903), Shiratori (1904), Rockhill (1911) and Pelliot (1904 and 1929) carry on the translation and excerpt from the portion of the texts into their works. The texts has overall been held in high regard among the early Chinese scholars such as Zhang Xinglang, Feng Chengjun, Xiang Da and

Bai Shouyi Bai Shouyi (; February 1909 – March 21, 2000), also known as Djamal al-Din Bai Shouyi, was a Chinese ethnologist, historian, social activist, and writer who revolutionized recent Chinese historiography and pioneered in relying heavily on sci ...

References

*Zhang, Yi and Zhang, Yichun (2006, 2nd ed). ''Annotation and Interpretation on the "Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Kingdoms of India" and the "Record of Travels"''. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. . *Yang, Tingfu
"Du Huan"
''

Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

'', 1st ed.

External links

A Chinese in the Nubian and Abyssinian Kingdoms (8th Century)
Wolbert Smidt. Chinese history texts Tang dynasty literature 8th-century history books 8th-century Chinese books {{china-hist-book-stub