Chinese Sources on West Asia

John Chaffee, Binghamton University

Because of the great distance of western Asia from China, Chinese knowledge about that part of the world was slow to develop and sporadic in character. This is evident in the sources describing the “western regions” (xiyu 西域). The most numerous – though often repetitive – are the treatises on foreign lands in the official dynastic histories (see the table below). These often describe tribute missions from the distant west, an obvious source of information about those lands, as well as repeating information from earlier treatises. There are also first-person accounts by travelers describing the lands that they had visited. With a few noteworthy exceptions from the Han and Tang, such accounts come mainly from the Yuan and Ming, when travel by Chinese to the western Indian Ocean became more common. Finally, beginning in the Song there are geographical compendia written by individual scholars that used information gleaned from foreign merchants in addition to the material from the dynastic histories.

Information about the “western regions” came to the Chinese by both land and sea, so even though the emphasis is on maritime sources, I have erred on the side of inclusion even though my focus is on sources that are demonstrably maritime.

Han and Period of Division

During the Han dynasty the sojourns and subsequent reports of Zhang Qian (d. 113 BCE) and Ban Chao (32–102 CE) provided important information about the world of the distant west. While Zhang primarily described the states and peoples of central Asia, Ban Chao’s envoy Gan Ying went as far as the Persian Gulf, and his account of Da Qin (describing the Roman empire or at least its eastern provinces), included in the geographical treatise of the Hou Han shu 後漢書 (Later Han History), provided the first substantial description of that distant empire.

Sources relating specifically to Chinese maritime connections with western Asia are extremely rare for the pre-Tang period. A reported emissary from “Andun” (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus?) in 166 CE, who may well have been a merchant, most likely arrived by sea, which was also the case of a merchant named Qin Lun claiming to be from Da Qin who arrived at the southern port Jiaozhi in 226 CE and was sent on to the capital of Eastern Wu. There are also Chinese references to Roman merchants in Cambodia and Vietnam.

Tang

Chinese contacts with western Asia increased dramatically during the Tang dynasty. The Tang extension of power into central Asia resulted in a plethora of tribute missions from the “western regions” (12 Arab missions during the years 755-798 alone), resulting in considerable information. There are references to Persian and Parthian maritime merchants active in Asian waters and Arabs as well, from the eighth century. There are also two Tang sources providing important information about the west.

First is a remarkably accurate description of the sea route from Guangzhou to Baghdad by the statesman and geographer Jia Dan (730-805), originally part of a now-lost geography and preserved in the Xin Tang shu 新唐書 (New Tang History, 43B). Almost certainly reflecting the knowledge of West Asian mariners, it provides a clear sense of the route taken by ships. Second is an excerpt from the now lost Jingxingji 經行記 (Records of Travels) by Du Huan 杜環 preserved in the Tongdian 通典 by Du You 杜佑 (chapter 193). Du Huan, a Chinese officer who was captured by the Arabs after the Battle of Talas in 751 and returned to China ten years later aboard a merchant ship that went to Guangzhou, offers a detailed description of the young Abbasid Caliphate and its society.

Song

In the Song, the government’s policies encouraging maritime trade and the dynasty’s relative lack of access to the land routes across Asia (especially in the Southern Song) together resulted in the primacy of the sea-based connections with western Asia and an increase in references to and information about west Asian countries and peoples. The fifth chapter of the section on foreigners (fanyi 蕃夷) in the Song huiyao jigao 宋會要辑稿 contains much information missing from the treatise on foreigners in the fourteenth century Song History.

Two important geographical works helped to disseminate knowledge that was percolating in the major port cities. The Lingwai daida 嶺外代答 by Zhou Qufei 周去非 (jinshi 1163), a minor official who had served in Guangdong and Guangxi devoted half of the third chapter (out of ten) to the countries of the “western regions.” Of greater importance is the Zhufan zhi 諸蕃志 (Description of foreign peoples) by Zhao Rugua 趙汝适 (1170–1231), who served as superintendent of foreign trade in the port of Quanzhou, is of special importance, for while Zhao did not venture abroad, he drew heavily on the accounts of merchants and the records of the Superintendency to provide detailed information about foreign places, including many from Asia and the Mediterranean world as well as all of Asia. Also worth mentioning is the encyclopedia Wenxian tongkao 文献通考 by Ma Duanlin 馬端臨 (1245–1322). Although technically a Yuan work, Ma came of age in the Song and his description of Arabia and other western countries in chapter 490 draws primarily from Song and pre-Song sources.

Yuan

The Mongol era in Chinese history was one of maximal contact with foreign peoples, including many Muslims from central and western Asia who came to China. Many of these individuals came by land and had little if anything to do with the sea, but in the late thirteenth century internecine warfare between Khubilai and his kinsmen impeded land travel across Eurasia even as he nurtured close ties with the Ilkhans, his Mongol allies in Persia. Those ties, which were maintained predominantly via the sea, resulted in exchanges of people, technology and knowledge that were unprecedented, significantly increasing Chinese knowledge of Islamic culture and society. Unfortunately, at least two major geographical works by Muslims writing in China have been lost so that most of what we now know about those exchanges comes from west Asian sources. There is a brief but informative work by Liu Yu, who in 1259 accompanied a Mongol mission to the newly established Ilkhanate. The Xishi ji 西使記 (Record of an embassy to the west) recounts their land-based trip, describes several west Asian cities (including Baghdad and Mecca), and even has a section on Arabic medicinal herbs.

The Yuan is also noteworthy for its records of two Chinese who traveled to west Asia. In 1304 Yang Shu 楊樞 (1282–1331) was charged by the Yuan emperor of returning a Ilkhan envoy back to the Ilkhanate. The account in his epitaph is brief but describes the varied local products that he purchased in Hormuz in 1307 for his return to China. Most important is the Daoyi zhilue 島夷誌略 (A brief account of island barbarians, 1349) by Wang Dayuan 王大淵 (1311–1350), a commoner who traveled extensively across maritime Asia. Organized geographically, the work finished shortly before his death also recounts some of his own experiences in poetry and prose.  

Ming

During the post-Mongol period, with one major exception knowledge and accounts of western Asia decreased greatly, thanks in part to the Ming probation on maritime trade. The exception were the seven maritime expeditions under Zheng He from 1403 to 1431, which saw Chinese ships in large numbers making their way throughout the Indian Ocean, including the Persian Gulf, the east coast of Africa and even the Red Sea, with some travelers even going to Mecca. Although many of the documents from the expeditions were later destroyed, but four accounts by individuals who participated in them presented new information about major port cities of the western Indian Ocean.

Two are by Ma Huan 馬歡 (1380–1460), a Chinese Muslim who served as an official translator on three of the expeditions. Most important is Yingyai shenglan 瀛涯勝覽 (Captivating views of the ocean’s shores), which goes into great detail about four west Asian locales (Dhofar, Aden, Hormuz and Mecca), places that he had personally visited. Of lesser value is his Sanbao zhengyi ji 三寶征夷集, with a single chapter covering the same cities but in less detail.

We also have accounts by two soldiers who traveled on one or two of the expeditions. The Xingcha shenglan 星槎勝覽 (Captivating views from a star raft) by Bi Xin 費信 (1388–1436?) describes 22 places that he had visited, plus another 23 that he had heard—or read —about. The Xiyang fanguo zhi 西洋番國誌 (Records of foreign countries in the Western Ocean) by Gong Zhen 鞏珍 (b. ca. 1415) largely repeats the information provided by Ma Huan, but it includes three imperial edicts relating to the voyages not available elsewhere.

In the late sixteenth century, the maritime trade prohibitions were lifted, thereby allowing for more open contact between China and other parts of maritime Asia. However, by this time the main foreigners from the distant west with whom the Chinese had the most contact were the Portuguese and then the Dutch. And while there are useful Ming collections of information relating to west Asia, these did not represent new knowledge.

Source list

Title (pinyin)	Title (hanzi)	Title (English)	Author (pinyin)	Author (hanzi)	Date
Weilüe	魏略	Brief History of Wei	Yu Huan	魚豢	after 265
Youyang zazu	酉陽雑俎	Youyang Mountain Miscellanies	Duan Chengshi	段成式	ca. 855
Xin Tangshu	新唐書		Ouyang Xiu, Song Qi, et al.	歐陽修, 宋祁	1060
Zhufan zhi	諸蕃志		Zhao Rugua	趙汝适	ca. 1225
Yiyu zhi	異域志		Zhou Zhizhong	周至中	1297-1329
Daoyi zhilue	島夷誌略		Wang Dayuan	汪大淵	1349
Xingcha shenglan	星槎勝覽		Fei Xin	費信	1436
Shuyuan zaji	菽園雑記		Lu Rong	陸容	after 1493
Mingshi	明史		Zhang Tingyu, et al.	張廷玉	1739 [1789]