1985 - James M. Hargett - Some Preliminary Remarks On The Travel Records of The Song Dynasty (960-1279)

Some Preliminary Remarks on the Travel Records of the Song Dynasty (960-1279)
Author(s): James M. Hargett

Source: Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), Vol. 7, No. 1/2 (Jul., 1985), pp. 67
-93
Published by: Chinese Literature: essays, articles, reviews (CLEAR)
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Some PreliminaryRemarks on the Travel Records
of the Song Dynasty (960-1279)
JAMESM. HARGETT
Universityof Colorado, Boulder
There is a rather large body of extant texts dating from the traditional period in
China which is often collectively referred to as youji gi ("travel records") or youji
wenxue • ~ ("travelrecord literature").Although on ,occasion some topical categories
,
of verse are subsumed under these headings (such poems are sometimes called jiyoushi
$•8
i~, or "poems chronicling travels"), most works which comprise the so-called travel
record tradition are written in prose. Perhaps the earliest extant specimen of this form
of writing is the well-known Mu Tianzi zhuan {4, a travel narrative of uncertain
f-f
authorshipthat probably dates from the late Zhou period (ca. 1111-221 B.C.)' In addition
to the Mu Tianzi zhuan, several other notable travel accounts have survived. To mention
just a few of these works, we have the Shi ji ~ ~ and Han shu i - chapters which
describe the Han envoy Zhang Qian's g (?-114 B.C.) embassy to Bactria and other
parts of Central Asia,2 the influential Buddhist travel accounts of Faxian t0 (337-442),
Xuanzang {K• (596-664) and Yijing f24 (635-713),3 the landscape essays of Yuan Jie
*This essay is part of a larger study which is still in progress.
'There is a voluminous body of secondary literature on the Mu Tianzi zhuan. One of the more important
critical studies of this text to appear in recent years is Wei Tingsheng's ?./1: three-volume Mu Tianzi
zhuan jinkao g y f ~ ~ (Yangmingshan [Taibei]: Zhonghua xueshuyuafi, Huagang wenhua shuju,
zongjingxiao, 1970). Although Cheng Te-k'un's [Zheng Dekun] JBi;tJi translation of the Mu Tianzi zhuan,
which appears in his "The Travels of Emperor Mu," Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society 64 (1933), 124-142 (Part I); 65 (1934), 128-149 (Part II) (portions of Zheng's translationare reprinted
in The Great Chinese Travelers, ed. Jeannette Mirsky [Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964],
pp.3-10), is still useful, probably the best study and translation of the text in a Western language is R6mi
Mathieu, Le Mu tianzi zhuan, Traductionannotde, itude critique (Paris: Collbge de France, Institut des Hautes
Etudes Chinoises [M6moires de l'Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, Vol.IX], 1978). On the authorship,
dating and itinerary described in the Mu Tianzi zhuan one should also consult Chang Kuei-sheng [Zhang
Guisheng], "Chinese Great Explorers: Their Effect Upon Chinese Geographical Knowledge Prior to 1600,"
Diss. University of Michigan 1955, pp.14-31.
2See Shi ji (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), 123.3157-3169; and Han shu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962),
61.2687-2698. Several translations and studies of Zhang Qian's Shi ji biography have been published. For
instance, see Friedrich Hirth, "Chang K'ien, China's Pioneer in Western Asia," Journal of the American Oriental
Society 37 (1919), 89-152 (selections from Hirth's translation are also reprinted in Mirsky, The Great Chinese
Travelers, pp.13-25); and Burton Watson, trans., Records of the Grand Historian of China: Translatedfrom
the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Chien (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), II, 264-274. See also A.F.P.
Hulsew6, "The Problem of the Authenticity of Shih-chi ch.123, The Memoir on Ta Yiian, Toung Pao 61
(1975), 83-147. The Han shu account of Zhang Qian's life and travels is translated in Hulsew6's China in
CentralAsia, the Early Stage: 125 B. C.-A.D. 23 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979), pp.207-228.
3The importance and influence of the Buddhist travel diaries of the Six Dynasties-in particular, those of
Faxian, Xuanzang and Yijing, is discussed in Nancy Elizabeth Boulton, "Early Chinese Buddhist Travel
Records As A Literary Genre," Diss. Georgetown University 1982. It should perhaps be mentioned here
that the Six Dynasties period also produced some of the earliest-known sustained prose landscape descriptions
in China. One of the first such accounts appeared in Xie Lingyun's ],g i (385-433) You mingshan zhi
67
68 Chinese Literature:Essays, Articles, Reviews 7 (1985)
IC(773-819),4 the diaries of Lu You P4

Lgf (719-772) and Liu Zongyuan Jl]'~i @ (1125-1210)
and Fan Chengda & (1126-1193),3 and the lengthy chronicles of Xu Hongzu i1fj H
t4lWJ
;i
jfllj (Chronicle of Travels to Celebrated Alps). Although Xie's annal is lost, the Preface and selected
entries from this work have been preserved in Xu Jian if( (659-729) et al., Chuxue ji (Records
for Elementary Studies) (Rpt., Taibei: Dingwen shuju, 1976), 5.92, 5.94 and 28.690. Other F•041.
authors of the
Six Dynasties period whose landscape essays and geographical commentaries are worthy of note include
Bao Zhao !•i( (ca.412-466), Wu Jun IMV)•(469-520), Li Daoyuan II fn (?-527) and Zu Hongxun
(d.early 550s), to mention just a few. Several representative works of these writers have been anthologized ,l{id,,j
in Xu Lian jFtiF and Li Jinggao $2@• ,, Liuchao wenjie jian /';-f j (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1962). See esp. Bao Zhao's "Ascending Great Thunder Banks and Writing a Letter to My Younger Sister"
" on pp. 99-104, Wu Jun's "Writing a Letter to Song Yuansi" on pp. 114-115
(translated in H.C. Chang, Chinese Literature 2: Nature Poetry [New York: I',
J;1frtkV,.,;, Columbia
JI,., University Press,
1977], p. 13) and Zu Hongxun's "Writing a Letter to Yang Xiuzhi" iisf•I1,K? on pp. 123-127 (partially
translated in Chang, Nature Poetry, pp. 14-15). In Ye Youming ~j H)ir and Bei Yuanchen's ."jC4 Lidai
(
youji xuan l?i''fJ, (Changsha: Hunan renmin chubanshe, 1980) also see the anonymous "Preface to the
Poems on Traveling to Stone Gate" i{(i"J,[,tJlj on pp. 403-407, the two selections from Li Daoyuan's
Shuijing zhu JA:g (Comnmentaryon the Water Classic) on pp. 416-422 and Tao Hongjing's Jj/jg,
-
(456-536) "Letter in Reply to [Chamberlain of] Central Documents Xie"
A,,?
g on pp. 423-424.
The works of these various writers undoubtedly influenced the youji authors of subsequent periods. However,
precisely how they influenced these later writers still remains to be investigated.
4The prose landscape essays of Liu Zongyuan-and here I refer specifically to his well-known "Eight
Records of Yong County" ']A.' l/\• -have attracted the attention of numerous critics and translators.
Learned and informative discussions of the "Eight Records" (with accompanying selected translations) can be
found in Jennings Mason Gentzler, "A Literary Biography of Liu Tsung-yuan," Diss. Columbia University
1966, pp. 249-279, in William H. Nienhauser, Jr. et al., Liu Tsung-yvan(New York: Twayne Publishers, 1976),
pp. 66-79, and in Madeline K. Spring, "A Stylistic Study of Tang guwen: The Rhetoric of Han Yu and Liu
Zongyuan," Diss. University of Washingtonat Seattle 1983, pp. 272-314. One of the most detailed and thorough
textual studies and commentaries on the "Eight Records" is found in He Peixiong fuJItii , Liu Zongyuan
Yongzhou baji ~Ji",i 4 1 (Hong Kong: Shanghai yinshuguan, 1974). As for Yuan Jie, although his
j•,Ij,){ not received as much attention and acclaim as those of Liu
prose landscape works have /,e_ Zongyuan, still Yuan's
essays are worthy of critical attention not only because of their intrinsic worth as literary compositions, but
also because they wielded a direct influence on the form and style Liu employed and expanded upon in his
"Eight Records." One of Yuan Jie's best youji compositions is his "Record of Right Stream" (i 8
, which
is included in Lidai youji xuan, p. 2; this essay is translated and briefly discussed in Nienhauser et al., Liu
Tsung-yaan,pp. 68-69.
As far as the youji tradition in China is concerned, the main contributionof Yuan Jie and (especially of) Liu
Zongyuan probably lies in their use and development of what might be termed "objective-descriptive"and
"subjective-personal"language modes. That is to say, their essays not only vividly describe landscapes in
physical terms (that is, the actual sites and landmarks seen at some particular locale); at times, the landscape
may also assume a metaphoricalsignificance and serve as a vehicle by which the author can (indirectly) express
his innermost feelings. A good example of this is Liu Zongyuan's "Record of the Little Mountain of Stone
Ramparts" See Liu Zongyuanji (Rpt., Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 29.772-773;
'PJg(Jlllr-e . pj[,j•
•;f,.j
see also William H. Nienhauser, Jr.'s comments on Liu's use of metaphoricallanguage (in the "Eight Records")
in Liu Tsung-yian, p.75. What is important is that this melange of objective landscape description and
subjective personal expression, centered around the idea of travel, became the hallmark quality of just about
all subsequent youji writing in China. Two further notes: One of the earliest appearances of the term youji
in traditional letters occurs in the title of Liu Zongyuan's "Record of Traveling to Yellow Stream" iA ( [ ,
which is the first of his "Eight Records." See Liu Zongyuanji, 29.759-760. Also, the Tang dynasty produced
the first real travel diary of the type that would proliferate in the Song and in later periods: Li Ao's gq
r
(jinshi 798) Lainan lu • lp (Register of Coning to the South), which chronicles a journey undertaken
in 809 from Luoyang to Guangdong. An excellent introductionto Li Ao's diary, with accompanying translation
and notes, can be found in Murayama Yoshihiro ~J~ lllI "Ri Ko no Rainan roku' ni tsuite" •
<
j4n:-- - •:if, '--4
, Chiigoku koten kenkvyi18 (1971), 43-63, selected entries from the Lainan lu are also translated
Hargett, Some PreliminaryRemarkson the TravelRecords of the Song Dynasty 69
(or Xu Xiake , 1586-1641).6 All of these authors and texts, and scores of others
which space limitations prevent me from mentioning, have been identified as being part
of this travel record traditionin China.
Youji texts are extremely valuable as source works. This is because they often
contain detailed descriptions and lists of information-usually relating to geographical
matters-which are not found elsewhere (I shall have more to say about this and related
matters below.). For this reason alone, the travel records of China are worthy of
notice. Yet to date, very little scholarly attention has been paid to the genre. While
a few dissertations, articles, anthologies and translations have appeared over the years,7
virtually no scholar, traditional or modern, Western or Asian, has attempted to
critically define or survey the youji literature of traditional China. There are at least
four reasons which might help to explain this neglect, the first of which is the sheer
bulk of primary source works confronting the would-be critic or translator. To cite one
example, the extant travel diaries of Xu Xiake alone have been estimated to amount to
about 404,000 Chinese characters.8 Although no other traditional writer (as far as we
know) matched Xu's almost incredible youji productivity, several scholars-especially
from the Song and subsequent periods-have left extensive collections of travel records.
Second, to thoroughly understand, translate and annotate a youji text requires a consider
able amount of philological spadework. This is because many of the technical terms,
geographical names and local expressions one encounters in these writings are not found
in the standarddictionaries, encyclopediae and reference sources. Third, it is difficult to
determine what relationship exists, if any, between all of these various travel accounts.
Some modern critics seem to view the numerous youji texts of the traditional period as
being part of a sustained, continuous tradition of prose writing in which practitioners of
the genre read, emulated and innovated upon earlier "models"of the form.9 In my opinion,
their arguments have been less than convincing. The fact is that to date, no one has
adequately explained precisely how youji literature developed in China. A fourth and
in Edward H. Schafer, The Vermilion Bird: Tang Images of the South (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1967), pp. 22-24.
5The diaries of these authors will be discussed below under the section "River Diaries."
6A useful introduction to the life and travels of Xu Xiake is Chang Chun-shu's [Zhang Chunshu] 4
"Hsti Hsia-k'o (1586-1641)," in Twvo Studies in Chinese Literature, ed. Chang Chun-shu et al. (Ann Arbor:
The University of Michigan, Center for Chinese Studies, 1968 [Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, No.3]),
pp. 24-39. Chang's "An Annotated Bibliography of Hsui Hsia-k'o," which also appears in Two Studies in Chinese
Literature (pp. 40-46), is outdated but still useful as an introduction to the large corpus of primary and
secondary source works on Xu and his travels. An important work on Xu Xiake which appeared after the
publication of Chang's bibliography is Li Chi [Li Qi] 4 The Travel Diaries of Hsii Hsia-k'o (Hong Kong:
i-[,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1974). The individual diaries translated in this volume cover Xu's
visits to fourteen different locations, most of which are scenic and sacred mountains.
7For a selected listing of secondary Chinese, Japanese and Western language works on Chinese travel literature
see the bibliography appended to my brief essay " Yu-chi wenxue" ["Youji wen-hsiieh"] in The Indiana Companion
to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. William H. Nienhauser, Jr. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1986), pp. 938-939.
8Chang Chun-shu, "Hsii Hsia-k'o," p. 34. Chang also points out that, according to the Qing dynasty bibliophile
and publisher Ye Tingjia 4 this figure represents only about one-sixth of Xu Xiake's
lf1 (1754-1832),
original youji corpus, the remainder of which is lost. See Ye's Preface (dated 1808) to Xu Xiake's collected
diaries in Xu Xiake youji W•~j~, j (Rpt., Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1980), II, 1266.
9The most recent expression of this view is found in the Preface to Ye Youming and Bei Yuanchen's
Lidai youji xuan, pp. 1-15.
final reason which might also help to explain why youji has been neglected in literary
history and criticism is that highly eclectic and idiosyncratic writings such as these did
not fit neatly into the tetradic classification scheme of classics •, history z, philosophy f-
and literature I-, which was commonly employed in China's bibliographic tradition.
To cite one example, Lu You's Ru Shu ji A.A and two works by Fan Chengda, the
Canluan lu and Wuchuan lu %{ -three of the best-known travel diaries of
the Southern .•
Song-are listed in the Siku Catalog under the heading "History Section,
Biographical Records Category"'diEb, if Not surprisingly, under this same category
~i,.lo
and sub-category we also find a wide assortment of titles concerned mainly with the
subject of biography (such as "chronological biographies"), none of which seem to bear
any resemblance to the form and content of the Ru Shu ji, Canluan lu and Wuchuanlu.
One result of this classificatory lacuna in traditional bibliographies was that whenever
a summary or a description of a youji text appeared in these catalogs-and such occasions
are not common-it tended to narrowly focus upon one selected aspect of that work,
usually its scenic description, historical commentary, or geographical data. Rarely, if ever,
was any mention made of the literary merit of the text." This tendency suggests, at least,
that the youji works of the traditional period were viewed by many bibliophiles as
geographical or historical-geographicaltracts rather than literary productions. To be sure,
there is ample justification to support such a view, for significant portions of these writings
are concerned with historical, geographical and topographical matters. Yet, many of
them also possess substantial belletristic content and value, much of which has been
overlooked by traditionaland modern critics alike.
Of course, even a cursory sketch of the entire youji tradition in China is beyond the
scope of a brief essay such as this. My main purpose here is to proffer a few preliminary
observations and comments concerning the travel records of the Song period (960-1279).
More specifically, I will attempt to determine what body of texts comprise that literary
form; at the same time, I will endeavor to outline its most important structural and
literary features. To put it another way, I will attempt to elucidate the form and content
of Song youji. As far as I know, this has never been done before. I turn my attention
to the Song because it was during that period in Chinese literary history when the travel
record first became a widely practiced form of literary expression.12
The prevalence of diary-keeping during the Song is attested in a number of sources.
For instance, Zhou Hui (1126-after 1198) in his Assorted Notes from [the One
UAW'iJ
Residing Near] the Clear Waves [Gate] { ijgff j mentions that "In the Prime Safekeeping
'oJi Yun ({H'Ij(1724-1805) et al., He yin Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao ji Siku weishou shumu Jinhui shumu
; I-Vr
VHht'- . k 1
& ;I ~' [ (Rpt., Taibei: Taiwan Shangwu yinshuguan, 1978),
II, 1291-1292. EH-
"Two good examples of this neglect can be seen in the Siku entries for the Canluan lu and Ru Shu ji,
in which commentary on the language employed in Fan Chengda's diary is limited to the brief remark "pristine
and refined"jI , while that in the Ru Shu ji is described only as being "refined and pure" •, . See Ibid.
'2This is evidenced not only by the prevalence of youji works in extant Song literary collections, but also
by the fact that the late Southern Song period produced what was probably China's first travel record anthology,
the Youzhi ,g (Chronicles of Travels) by Chen Renyu 14(1 (jinshi 1259). Although Chen's work is
lost, his Preface (dated 1243) and Table of Contents are preservedj,in Tao Zongyi's j•j'~f- (ca. 1316-ca.1403)
continuation of that collection titled Youzhi xubian •J (Rpt. Taibei: Taiwan Shangwu yinshuguan, 1977),
pp. 7-11.
period (1086-1094) all the various sires (or scholar-officials)kept diaries"J(iKP•? 4 .13
iu-
Another well-known Song scholar, Shen Gua i (1031-1095?) has even left~- a sort of
enchiridion for travelers-titled, quite appropriately,Register of WhatNot to Forget [When
Going on a Journey] j4'g- in which he discusses, among other things, the type of carriage,
foods, special clothing and other accoutermentsneeded during an extended peregrination.14
Several reasons account for the popularity of composing travel diaries during the
Song. To begin with, land and river travel lines were more extensive and convenient
than they had ever been in any previous period in Chinese history. This fact is documented
in a number of studies.15 Perhaps this is one reason why the subject of travel plays such
a dominant role in Song literature, especially in the shi 'j poetry of the period.16 Second,
Song writers seem to have been much more inclined than their predecessors to compose
literary records concerning the sights, events and experiences of everyday life."7 Of
course, the travel diary was an ideal literary vehicle by which one could record such
quotidian activities. And lastly, members of the enormous Song civil service bureaucracy,
whose numbers far exceeded that of any previous period, quite often held a variety of
different government posts throughout their careers. Their assignments at times took
them far away from the capital; in some cases even to the remote reaches of the empire
and beyond. Thus, it is hardly surprising that many of them, as indeed was the case,
would keep journals (in diary form) of their experiences "while on the road."
In general, Song dynasty travel records share several common traits: (1) They contain
first-handaccounts describing an excursion of some kind,'8 which may either be long-term
3Qingbo zazhi (Congshu jichengjianbian g A I~f~ ed.), 6.49. While Zhou Hui's comment here refers speci-
fically to diaries describing events which took place at court, the practice of diary-keeping during the Song extended
into quotidian matters as well. For a brief discussion of this trend see the remarks on Song diaries in Tamai Kosuke
f )4 ~itJ) , Nikki bungaku gaisetsu jH • (Tokyo: Meguro shotenban, 1945), pp. 34-36 and passim.
'4Shen Gua's text is preserved in the •fg-
Shuofu ~~5 (The Barbicans of Talks) (Rpt., Taibei: Xinxing shuju,
1970), 19.12-15; see also the comments on the Wanghuai lu in Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in
China I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), 136-137.
bi , To So jidai no kotsu to chishi chizu no kenkyu
'SSee, for instance, Aoyama Sadao L)f
a) :ci t Wi~l
tii•
OfJff (Tokyo: Yoshikawa kobunkan, 1963), esp. pp. 29-49, 161-211 and ?i,~,1j}f 327-444;
and Mark Elvin, The Pattern of the Chinese Past: A Social and Economic Interpretation (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1973), pp. 131-145.
'6"On the road" 4il poems are legion in Song literary collections. Sometimes during an excursion,
an author would compose an entire series of such verses, ostensibly for the purpose of complementing and
supplementing the entries in a prose diary kept during the same journey. This practice is briefly discussed
below under the section "Embassy Accounts."
'7Yoshikawa Kojiro ) j$lS has discussed this phenomenon with great insight in his Sishi gaisetsu
j (Tokyo: Iwanami I-'Si shoten, 1962),
'4,$ pp. 19-27. Yoshikawa's study has been translated into English
.
by Burton Watson and published under the title An Introduction to Sung Poetry (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1967); on the concern for daily life in Song poetry see pp. 14-19 of Watson's translation.
'8Liu Caonan 'lJI~lr and Ping Huishan Y\ig also note in the Preface to their Gudai youji xuanzhu
AjRyfk~ (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1982, p.1) that in order for a work to qualify as youji it
"must be ,)'a record of the author's own personal travel experiences." They then go on to say that "Although
there are some works which describe the exquisite beauties of natural scenery, yet because these are not
records of the author's own personal travel experiences, they cannot be considered 'travel record literature'."
The point raised here by Liu Caonan and Ping Huishan may appear to be obvious, but there are two texts
dating from the late Song period which are not first-hand travel accounts but which nevertheless have been
viewed as being part of the youji tradition in China. I refer specifically to Zhou Qufei's )Jif•A (jinshi
1163-after 1198) Lingwai daida 4 }-fk (Vicarious Replies [Concerning the Regions] Beyond the Ranges
(this has been translated into German by Almut Netolitzky; see her Das Ling-wai tai-ta von Chou Ch'i-fei:
eine Landeskunde Sudchinas aus dem 12. Jahrhundert [Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1977]) and Zhao Rugua's
i~~ g (ca. l 165-after 1225) Zhufan zhi g & :
(Chronicle of the Various Infidels; preface dated 1225; this
work has been translated into English by Friedrich Hirth and W.W. Rockhill; see Chau Ju-kua: His Work
and stretching over several months, or else they may be short-term, lasting only a day
or two. Although most of these accounts were written during the journey itself, some
were composed after it concluded. (2) They are often, but not always, written in diary
form,'9 with individualentries chronologicallyarranged.(3) They provide factualdescriptions
which often deal with geographical subjects, for instance, we might find passages outlining
the climate, relief, vegetation and land use in a particularlocality, reports on the physical
condition of some of its more notable landmarks,descriptions of its various cities, towns,
alps and rivers, and reportorial accounts dealing with that area's customs and products.
At times, one also finds reports on the social and political conditions witnessed in various
regions. In many ways, such descriptions are similar to the accounts one finds in local
and provincial gazetteers. (4) They invariably contain selected comments from the author
which voice his own opinions and interpretationson the sights and phenomena viewed
during the journey. These personal commentaries deal with a broad range of subject
matter, and are by no means confined to geographical topics alone. As we shall see
below, at times they can be highly complimentary, such as when an author marvels at
the naturalbeauty of some famous scenic locale. However, at other times they may bristle
with condemnation and criticism. This criticism may concern the customs and practices
of a non-Chinese state in the North, or it might relate to a famous literary work of the
past, to name just two examples. What is important to note is that this "imaginative
quality" of Song youji, if we may call it that, is the one most important characteristic
that distinguishes travel records from strictly geographical writings. It is also that quality
which makes youji so fascinatingto read, because an author'sreactions to and commentaries
on his various experiences are oftentimes totally unpredictable. And, as we shall see
presently, it is in these subjective or personal commentaries where the author most often
displays his skills as a wordsmith.
Aside from the four general characteristics outlined above, Song dynasty youji texts
do not seem to reveal any other identifiable traits or conventions. This seems to be
especially the case with regard to subject matter. Indeed, just about any topic or subject
can appear in these writings. And it is this diffusive quality which helps to distinguish
on the Chinese Arab Trade in the 12th and 13th Centuries, Entitled Chu-fan-chi [Rpt., New York: Paragon
Books, 1965]). Despite the extremely valuable information found in these works-in particular, their descriptions
of various geographical regions both within China and beyond its borders, I do not consider them to be part
of the Song dynasty youji tradition for several reasons. First, they are not personal records kept by the authors
during journeys; rather, they consist of a series of articles dealing with various geographical regions and the
customs and products found therein (convenient summaries of the contents of these works can be found in
Yves Hervouet, ed., A Sung Bibliography [Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1978], pp.158-159
and 161, respectively). Second, these texts are not primary source works in the strict sense of the word because
many of the descriptions found in them (especially those accounts of non-Chinese states and peoples) are
based primarily upon interviews with traveling merchants or upon information culled from other works.
For instance, Zhao Rugua made use of the descriptions in the Lingwai daida, while Zhou Qufei copied out
extensive sections verbatimfrom Fan Chengda'swell-known tractateon Guilin titled Guihai yuheng zhi Kj4 i,' -
(Tractate of the Cogitator and Balancer of the Cinnamon Sea) (for a brief description of this work see A Sung
Bibliography, p. 241). And lastly, the authors of the Lingwai daida and Zhufan zhi seem to be mainly concerned
with providing factual information on peoples, places and the exotic products shipped to China from those places.
Moreover, the "literary" or "imaginative" quality of Song youji which I discuss below seems to be generally
lacking in these accounts. For these reasons, such works should perhaps be more properly regarded as
ethno-geographical writings rather than youji.
'9The most important category of Song youji which is not written in diary form is the daytrip essay. This
variety of Song youji is discussed below.
Hargett, Some PreliminaryRemarkson the Travel Records of the Song Dynasty 73
youji (especially those works dating from the Song and later periods) from the more
staid prose genres (written in the classical language) of the traditionalperiod in China.
When viewed collectively, the travel records of the Song dynasty can be roughly
classified into one (or more) of three broad categories, which I shall call "daytrip essays,"
"embassy accounts" and "river diaries." To be sure, my typology is an arbitrary one,
and is devised largely to serve my own convenience. Yet, I think it offers at least
one way by which we can approach a rather large corpus of writings and formulate at
least a few tentative remarks regarding its scope and content.
Daytrip Essays
As the name suggests, daytrip essays describe the events surroundinga brief excursion
which usually, though not always, extended over one day's time. The journey itself was
often made in the form of an incidental trip to some particularlocale of note. That is to
say, if, during an excursion a writer found himself in the general vicinity of some
well-known physical landmark (such as an alp or a stream) or man-made structure (such
as a monastery or a pavilion), often he would make a detour in his itinerary in order
to pay a personal visit to that landmark or structure. The resulting literary records of
such peregrinations are usually titled either "You Such and Such a Place ji" ("Record of
a Trip to Such and Such a Place") or "Such and Such a Place ji" ("Record of Such and
Such a Place").20 These are the shortest of all Song dynasty travel records, and rarely run
more than a few hundred graphs in length. They are also the most prevalent type of youji
20The origin of the term ji as a prose genre extends far back into China's literary heritage. Its use and
meaning in two classical works of antiquity, the Li ji il• (Records of Rites) and the Shi ji is clear: these
texts were to be regarded as narrative records of events which actually took place (in the case of the Li ji,
the ritual activities practiced and performed at the Zhou court; in the case of the Shi ji, the historical events
which took place in China from legendary and semi-legendary times up through the Han dynasty). From the
Han through the Tang periods, the purpose and content of ji writings changed and proliferated. One indication
of this can be seen in the well-known anthology of Six Dynasties and Tang literature, the Wenyuan yinghua
•j •( (Choice Flowers of the Preserve of Literature), which includes more than 300 ji pieces organized
under sixty-two separate, topical categories (see the Table of Contents in Wenyuan yinghua [Rpt., Beijing:
Zhonghua shuju, 1966], V, 42-52). Cf. the comments by Jan W. Walls in "Wang An-shih's 'Record of an
Excursion to Mount Pao-ch'an': A Translation and Annotation," in Critical Essays on Chinese Literature,
ed. William H. Nienhauser, Jr. (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1976), pp.160-161. Of course,
one use of ji during the Tang which is relevant to our discussion here was the practice of keeping records
of trips out into the countryside. Liu Zongyuan's "Eight Records of Yong County," which were briefly
discussed earlier (see n.4 above), are good examples of this. During the Song, the practice of writing ji
became even more prevalent. In general, this form of prose writing during the Song served one of two
purposes: either as a testimonial marking the renovation or construction of some kiosk, estrade, or loft
of note (or some famous person whose name is associated with that structure), or to record for posterity
the sights and impressions encountered during a brief excursion. A good example of the former would be
Ouyang Xiu's [j(/ (1007-1072) famous "Record of the Daylight Damask Hall of Xiang County"
#I ~? :
J;H E, which was written as a testimonial to the upright character and moral rectitude of Han Qi
.f(1008-1075), a famous Northern Song prime minister. Of course, the two broad categories of Song
,Il'jU
ji writing mentioned above are not mutually exclusive; in fact, at times they may overlap, although this did
not seem to happen very often. Probably the one quality that most distinguishes youji from all the other types
of ji writing during the Song is the element of travel. Thus, any work that contains a first-hand travel account
and has both objective scenic description and subjective personal commentary can be considered to be
youji. These seem to be the major criteria which traditionally have been employed to identify travel records
in China.
found in Song literary collections. Practically every major litterateurof the period tried
his hand at the genre. Judging from extant sources, two writers in particular,Wang Anshi
I|ifi (1021-1086) and Su Shi +k. (or Su Dongpo 4{J7 , 1037-1101), were the most
prolific composers of the daytrip essay. If not the most prolific, then Wang and Su
are certainly the most anthologized practitioners of the form: specimens culled from
their daytrip essay collections are found in just about every anthology which includes
Song prose.2'
Although the daytrip essays always make mention of an excursion to some specific
locality, it can be argued that they are the least travel-orientedof all Song youji. In fact,
the occasion of the journey in these writings seems to serve one central purpose: to
provide a setting or stimulus in order to put forth a specific philosophical or moral
argument. Thus, persuasive speech is one of the most common elements found in the
daytrip essay. This is precisely why I refer to these writings as "daytripessays" rather
than "daytrip records."22 Indeed, at times the discursive nature of these essays seems
more akin to the traditional prose form known as lun A, or "discourses,"than to the ji,
or "records."
Perhaps the best way to illustrate the various features of the daytrip essay is to look
at a representative text. The piece I have chosen is Su Shi's "Record of Stone Bell
jl[IJ, which I translate here in its entirety.
Mountain"(,f•
"The Water Classic23 says: 'At the mouth of Pengli [Lake]24 there is a Stone Bell
Mountain.'25 Li [Dao T ]yuan (d.527)26 held that 'below it, near a deep pool, faint
breezes drum up waves, and water and rocks striking one another toll like huge bells.'27
Others have often doubted this claim. Today, if one takes a bell or a lithophone28and
places it into the water, even if there is great wind and waves, you cannot make it ring.
How much the less, then, for [common] rocks? It was not until the time of Li Bo (fl.
early ninth century) of the Tang that someone searched for a surviving trace of this
21Surely the two most popularly anthologized daytrip essays of the Song period are Wang Anshi's "Record
of a Trip to Baochan Mountain" if and Su Shi's "Record of Stone Bell Mountain" PJ
,trlill-e I,111 of?
Both are included in Lidai youji xuan, pp.37-38 and 44-45, respectively. For a translation and discussion
Wang's essay see Jan W. Walls, "Wang Anshih's 'Record of an Excursion to Mount Pao-ch'an': A Translation
and Annotation," pp.159-165. Su Shi's "Record of Stone Bell Mountain" is translatedand discussed below.
22Cf. the gloss on "essay" in Websterk Third New International Dictionary (Springfield, Massachusetts:
G. & C. Merriam Company, 1971), p.777: "An analytic, interpretive, or critical literary composition usually
much shorter and less systematic and formal than a dissertation or thesis and usually dealing with its subject
from a limited often personal point of view."
23The Water Classic is a fluvial work of uncertain authorship that perhaps dates from the third century.
On the textual source of Su Shi's quote here, see n.27 below.
24Pengli is the ancient name for Poyang 5•" Lake, which is in the northern part of modern Jiangxi province.
25Stone Bell Mountain is situated on the eastern shore of Poyang Lake, in modern Hukou ui1H xian, Jiangxi.
26Li Daoyuan (cognomen Shanchang ?-527) is best known for the commentary he wrote on the
Water Classic. He has brief biographies in•,•the Wei shu [ (Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1974), 89.1925-1926;
and in the Bei shi 4tl (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 27.994-996.
27The quotation attributed here to Li Daoyuan, as well as the line cited earlier from the Water Classic,
appear nowhere in modern editions of the Shuijing zhu. In both instances Su Shi is actually quoting from
Li Bo's '~4j (fl. early 9th century) "Bian Shizhongshanji" See Quan Tangwen ',iiE (Rpt.,
,i i•fill11 .
Taibei: Tatong shuju, 1979), 712.9260.
s28Reading zhongqing as referring to two different kinds of musical instruments; that is, a bell and a lithophone
(or stone chime). See the gloss on this expression in the Zhongwen da cidian 1; (,)E
;ft , ed. Zhang Qiyun
et al. (Taibei: Zhongguo wenhua yanjiusuo, 1962-1968), 41762.49.
•.)t/j
phenomenon. Upon finding a pair of rocks on the bank of a pool, he 'knocked them
together and listened. Their southern tone29 was mellow and muted; their northerntimbre30
was clear and shrill. When the clang ceased, its resonance mounted; the remnant notes
then gradually came to rest.'31 Li Bo then held that he had found the 'stone bells.'
However, I am especially doubtful of this statement. The clanlkingsound made by rocks
is the same everywhere. And yet, this place alone is named after a bell. Why, indeed,
is that?
On Dingchou day of the sixth lunar month in the seventh year of the Prime Abundance
period (14 July 1084), I was traveling by boat from Qi'an to Linru.32 My oldest son
[Su] Mai was just about to leave for Dexing in Rao33to take up the post of Pacificator.
Since I accompanied him as far as Hukou,34I WaStherefore able to observe the so-called
stone bells. A monk from a [nearby] monastery dispatched an apprentice carrying an axe
to select one or two among the scattered rocks and knock them [with the axe], upon
which they made a 'gong-gong'-like sound. I laughed just as I had done before and still
did not believe the legend.
That evening, the moon was bright. Alone with Mai I rode a little boat to the base
of a steep precipice. The huge rocks on our flank stood 1000 feet high. They looked
like fierce beasts and weird goblins, lurking in a ghastly manner and getting ready to
attack us. When the roosting falcons on the mountain heard our voices they too flew off
in fright, cawing and crying in the cloudy empyrean. Further, there was something
[that sounded] like an old man coughing and laughing in a mountain ravine. Someone said:
'That is a white stork.' I was shaking with fear and about to turn back, when a loud
noise rang out from the surface of the water that gonged and bonged like bells and
drums unceasing in their clamor. The boatman became greatly alarmed. I carefully
investigated it, only to discover that everywhere below the mountain there are rocky
caves and fissures, who knows how deep. Gentle waves were pouring into them, and their
shaking and seething, and chopping and knocking were making this gonging and bonging.
When our boat on its return reached a point between the two mountains35and we were
about to enter the mouth of the inlet, [I saw that] there was huge rock in the middle of
the channel which could seat a hundred people. It was hollow in the center with numerous
apertures, which, as they swallowed and spat with the wind and water, made a bumping
and thumping and clashing and bashing that echoed with the earlier gonging and bonging.
It seemed as if music was being played here. Thereupon, I laughed and said to Mai:
'Do you recognize it? The gonging and bonging is the Wuyibell of King Jing of Zhou;36
29I read "southern tone" i"• to mean gongsheng ig , which is the name of the first of the five traditional
musical scales in China and which correspondsto the direction of south.
&
30And here I read the expression "northern timbre" AL to mean shangyin I -, referring to the second
of the five traditionalmusical scales in China and correspondingto the direction of north.
31SuShi is quoting from Li Bo's "Bian Shizhongshanji," 712.9260.
32Qi'anrefers to modern Huanggang gf ] xian, Hubei; Linru refers to modern Linru xian, Henan.
33ModernPoyang • xian, Jiangxi.
34Referringto what is now Hukou xian in northern Jiangxi. This is where Stone Bell Mountain is situated.
35The term "two mountains" is a reference to the two main sections of Stone Bell Mountain, which were
known as Upper Bell Mountain
J[4llJ and Lower Bell Mountain
36King Jing (reg. 544-520 B.C.) was the twenty-fourth sovereign ,F4LI ? Zhou dynasty. According to the
of the
Guo yu (Rpt., Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1978, p.130), the casting of his Wuyi bell was
completedg_]g:
in the year 521 B.C. The term Wuyirefers to the note to which the bell was matched; specifically,
the eleventh of the traditional"twelve pitches" j- i•t .
the bumping and thumping and clashing and bashing are the song-bells of Wei Zhuangzi.37
The ancients have not cheated us!"38
Is it acceptable for someone who has not personally seen or heard something to have
decided views on whether it exists or not? Li [Dao]yuan probably saw and heard the
same things as I did, yet he did not describe them in detail. Gentlemen-officials have
always been unwilling to take a small boat and moor it beneath the steep precipice at
night. Thus, none were able to find out [about the bells]. And, although the fishermen
and boatmen knew about them, yet they were unable to describe them [in writing]. This
is why it has not been transmitted through the generations. As it turns out, imbeciles
sought the answer by taking axes and beating and striking rocks. Then they held that
they had found out the truth of the matter. Because of this I have made a record of
these events, for the most part to sigh over Li [Dao]yuan's superficiality, and to laugh at
Li Bo's stupidity!''"39
Su Shi has unabashedly organized his essay in a way that would have a persuasive
effect on his readers. In the opening paragraph he expresses doubt about the "tolling
bells" of Stone Bell Mountain, even though this "fact" is documented in no less than
two classical sources. Then, in the next section of his essay, Su relates how he was
able to personally investigate this phenomenon while visiting Hukou. Note that he cites
the specific date of his visit to the mountain (14 July 1084), which, of course, enhances
the credibility of his findings and the force of his argument. After conducting his own
investigation, Su concludes that although the statements and claims of Li Daoyuan and
Li Bo were true ("The ancients have not cheated us!"), their conclusions were not
derived from empirical evidence. Hence, the rhetorical question which opens the final
section of the essay: "Is it acceptable for someone who has not personally seen or heard
something to have decided views on whether it exists or not?" This concluding portion
of "Record of Stone Bell Mountain" illustrates well the discursive, argumentative and
persuasive quality of the Song daytrip essay. Su Shi's final argument could not have been
stated in more lucid terms: one should personally investigate something before formulating
any decided views about it, which, according to Su Shi, is precisely what Li Daoyuan
and Li Bo did not do.
We should also note that despite the strong admonitory tone and obvious didactic
purpose of his essay, Su Shi is still able to impressively display his talent as a master
wordsmith. I refer in particular to the description of his nocturnal voyage beneath Lake
Poyang's lofty cliffs. Su's enumeration of physical details-a solitary boat, a moonlit
night, a steep precipice, huge boulders in the darkness that resembled fierce beasts and
weird goblins, falcons soaring through a cloudy empyrean, rocky islands with myriad
37Wei Zhuangzi was a military adviser who lived in the sixth century B.C. He is more commonly known as
Wei Jiang g@ (Zhuangzi was his canonical name). According to the Zuo zhuan ritf, the people of Zheng ij
once presented several gifts to the Marklord of Jin R--among which were two sets of song-bells. In order
to reward Wei for his meritorious service, the marklord in turn presented him with one of the two sets of
song-bells. More details on this can be found in James Legge, trans., The Chinese Classics (Rpt., Taibei:
Wenshizhe chubanshe, 1971), V (The Ch'un Ts'ewwith the Tso Chuen), 453.
38I read ?I g in this line to mean d . Su Shi's exclamation here could als6 be paraphrased:
"Li Daoyuan and Li Bo were right; the stones here can indeed toll like bells!"
39"Shizhongshanji,." in Su Dongpo ji • (Guoxue jiben congshu [ • •j ed.). 33.317-318:
,•• This and all other translations which appear in this essay are
also included in Lidai youji xuan, pp.44-49.
my own.
caves and fissures, the murky depths of Lake Poyang- collectively evoke a strikingly
visual and eerie scene. However, what is perhaps even more noteworthy about the literary
merit of this essay is Su Shi's skillful use of several auditory terms and devices. On
the one hand, his mention of the "cawing and crying" of frightened falcons and the
"coughing and laughing" of a mysterious figure in a dark ravine (which, it will be
recalled, turned out to be a stork) further enhances the verisimilitude of his fearful
nighttime scene. On the other hand, by employing several onomatopoeic terms, often
in succession, he seems to very aptly convey just what it was he heard upon "discovering"
the aqueous and rocky source of Stone Bell Mountain's "tolling bells." His comments
that "their (that is, the waves') shaking and seething, and chopping and knocking were
making this gonging and bonging," and that the numerous apertures in the huge rock,
"as they swallowed and spat with the wind and water, made a bumping and thumping
and clashing and bashing that echoed with the earlier gonging and bonging," are particularly
evocative in this respect. Indeed, Su Shi's highly detailed and dynamic description of
an exterior scene, and the sonorous cadence produced by his various onomatopoeic
devices, have combined to form a panoramathat not only reveals strikingly visual qualities,
but one that possesses sound qualities as well.
II. Embassy Accounts

It is general knowledge that the Song dynasty produced some of the most extraordinary
cultural, intellectual and technological advances and developments in the history of the
world. The superb landscape paintings and exquisite porcelains of the period, for instance,
are known to connoisseurs both in China and abroad. Several of the most significant
inventions in the history of mankind-printing, movable type, the compass and gun-
powder, to just name a few-were also products of the Song dynasty. In the intellectual
sphere, certainly the most important advance was the synthesis of elements culled from
the Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist traditions of thought into what later became known
as Neo-Confucianism. Despite these various domestic or internal advances, in the field
of foreign affairs the Song was an era of great instability and uncertainty. This was
especially the case in its military position compared to the non-Chinese kingdoms which
bordered the Song empire in the north and in the west.
In the first half of the eleventh century, two belligerent powers, the Liao • kingdom
of the Qidan •14 (or Khitan) people in the north, and the Xixia lt kingdom of the
Tanguts in the west, menaced China with frequent incursions across its borders. Later,
the state of Jin 1, a Tungusic tribe from northern Manchuria, launched a successful
invasion into China and captured the Eastern Capital of the Song at Kaifeng ]jJ4(modern
Kaifeng, Henan). At various times between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, the
Song concluded treaties and alliances with two of these states, the Liao and the Jin. On
some occasions these agreements were the result of a military stalemate,40and at other
40The best-known historical example of such an occurrence is the Shanyuan •i treaty with the Liao,
which was concluded in 1005. After a disastrous military defeat by the Liao in 986 and two subsequent decades
of indecisive fighting, the Song finally capitulated to an agreement which stipulated-among other things-that
the Song would thereafter send annual tribute payments to the Liao. The precedents established in this agreement
formed the basis for all later treaties, including those with the Jin. The Shanyuan treaty has been studied in
detail by Christian Schwarz-Schilling in Der Friede von Shan-yiian (1005 n. Chr.), Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte
der chinesischen Diplomatie (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1959).
78 Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 7 (1985)
times they were the result of the Song policy of using one "barbarian"to help it extinguish
another "barbarian."41 One outcome of this situation was the establishmentof formalized
diplomatic channels that shuttled Song and northernenvoys back and forth between their
respective capitals.42 In general, there were two types of Song embassies, the first of
which might be called "ceremonial" in that they were commissioned on specific occasions,
such as the New Year's holiday, the birthday of a sovereign, the accession of a new
emperor, or the adoption of a new reign-title. The second type of embassy was that
charged with dispatching diplomatic documents containing requests or inquiries dealing
with specific issues. Often these were called "floating embassies" ){{t and were headed
by an official who held the title State Letter Envoy ig]t'{, and who, acting as the
personal representativeof the Song emperor, had the power to negotiate with a foreign
state. Since Song emissaries were recruited almost exclusively from the scholar-official
class, it is hardly surprising that many of them kept diaries of their embassy experiences.
These diaries, several of which are still extant today, form the second category of Song
youji-what I call the "embassy accounts." The first major Song literary figure to
compose a travel record resembling the embassy account was Ouyang Xiu (1007-
[•,[;
1072), who kept a journal of his trip into political exile in 1036 titled Yuyi zhi ftj,i
(Chronicle of Going into Service).43 Other prominent Song literary figures who actually
participatedin embassies to the Liao and Jin and kept written records of their experiences
include Su Che @A(1039-1203), Fan Chengda, Zhou Hui and Hong Mai A j(1123-1203).
Given the large number of Song embassies that were commissioned to the Liao
and Jin between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries,44and that Song emissaries were
required to keep detailed written records of their journeys, a surprisingly few number
of these embassy accounts have survived. The majority of those diaries which are
extant date from the twelfth century, and describe excursions to the Jin court. Although
Herbert Franke has published a convenient bibliographic survey of these reports and
4IOne such treaty was concluded between the Song and Jin in 1123. The texts of the "oath letters" -
which finalized this military alliance against the Liao are translated and discussed in Herbert Franke, "Treaties
Between Sung and Chin,' in Etudes Song, Histoire et Institutions I, ed. Francoise Aubin (Paris: Mouton & Co.,
1970), pp.60-68.
42The most thorough treatment of the Song traveling ambassador system-which, incidentally, was also
established in the Shanyuan treaty of 1005-appears in Herbert Franke, "Sung Embassies: Some General
Observations," in China Among Equals: The Middle Kingdom and Its Neighbors, I0th-14th Centuries, ed.
Morris Rossabi (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), pp. 116-148.
43In Ouyang Xiu quanji ['( @g (Hong Kong: Guangzhi shuju, n.d.), 5.77-82.
44A convenient chronology-covering the period 1117-1233-listing embassies exchanged between the Jin
and Song is provided in the Jin shi ity (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 60.1386-62.1490. This list also
includes embassies exchanged between the Jin and the Xixia, and between the Jin and the Koryb. Although no
convenient chronology of Song and Liao relations appears in traditional source works, several modern scholars
have published works on this subject. See, for instance, Nie Chongqi's gg1 "Song-Liao jiaoping kao"
'4 Yanjing xuebao 27 (June, 1940), 1-51, and his "Songren shi Liao yulu xingcheng kao
QFt-A,
@~- j , Guoxue jikan 5.4 (1935), 165-194; Fu Lehuan ({$g , "Song-Liao pingshibiao gao
~
'4,X:hl,••.,•ff Bulletin of the Institute of Histor'v and Philology, Academia Sinica 14 (Dec., 1949), 57-136;
,
and Itj_•.t
Zhang Liangcai • Bu Liao shi jiaopingbiao @@ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1958).
., in Li Tao's $ (.
Passages on Song-Liao relations (1115-1184) Xu Zizhi tongjian changbian g
have been assembled by Tao Jing-shen [Tao Jinsheng] [ n]: and Wang Minxin lXKf in ,•' their Li Tao Xu
Zizhi tongjian changbian Song-Liao guanxi shiliao jilu (Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan,
")
Lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, 1974). (,;_ ,• ,•
Hargett, Some Preliminary Remarks on the Travel Records of the Song Dynasty 79
diaries,45 it will be useful to our discussion below to briefly list here, in chronological
order, the most detailed and complete of the extant Song embassy accounts:
1125: Fengshi xingcheng lu ${f jt@

• (Register of Travels and Journeys While
Serving As an Envoy), authorship traditionally ascribed to Xu Kangzong
Sj~iJ;46 translated by Edouard Chavannes, "Voyageurs chinois chez les
Khitan et les Joutchen,"Journal Asiatique 9.11 (May-June, 1898), 361-439.
1169-1170: Beixing rilu 4L• H @(Daily Register of Northern Travels), by Lou Yue $
(1137-1213).
1170: Lanpei lu of Grasping the Carriage Reins), by Fan Chengda;

•,,(Register
translated by James M. Hargett, "Fan Ch'eng-ta's (1126-1193) Lan-p'ei lu:
A Southern Sung Embassy Account," Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies,
New Series, 16.1-2 (Dec., 1984), 119-177.
1176-1177: Beiyuan lu (Register of Northbound Thills), by Zhou Hui; translated

IL,~
by Edouard Chavannes, "Pei Yuan Lou, R6cit d'un voyage dans le Nord,"
T'oung Pao 5.2 (1904), 163-192.
1211-1212: Shi Jin lu {• ~t (Register of an Embassy to the Jin), by Cheng Zhuo i -

(1153-1225); translated by Herbert Franke, "A Sung Embassy Diary of
1211-1212: The Shih-Chin lu of Ch'eng Cho," Bulletin de lIEcole Francaise
D'Extrdme-Orient 69 (1981), 171-207.
To this list we should perhaps also add a second, or special type of embassy account:
that written after the completion of a diplomatic mission. One such work is Xu Jing's
4I ,j, ,•
(1091-1153) Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing';i
•l j ~#-(Illustrated Account of Serving
as an Envoy to Korea During the Proclaimed Accord Period). This work offers an
encyclopedic account of Korea and its institutions based on observations the author made
during an embassy there in 1123.47
Since the procedures governing the exchange of documents and the commissioning
of envoys between the Song and Jin became increasingly formalized as time went on,
and emissaries from both courts were required to follow prescribed itineraries during
their embassies,48 it is perhaps inevitable that we find varying degrees of repetition in
45See Herbert Franke, "A Sung Embassy Diary of 1211-1212: The Shih-Chin lu of Ch'eng Cho," Bulletin
de I~cole Francaise DExtrdme-Orient 69 (1981), esp. 172-173. Professor Franke also provides a list of
embassy diaries known only by titles in various bibliographic catalogs.
46Chen Lesu [ • has suggested that the author of this diary is actually one Zhong Bangzhi • 1.f
See the comments in Chen's "Sanchao beimeng huibian kao" _(4ULf , Bulletin of the Institute of
History and Philology, Academia Sinica 6 (Dec., 1936), 263 and passim.
47See also the comments in Franke, "Sung Embassies," p. 116. A detailed outline of the rich contents in
Xu Jing's account can be found in Douglas L. Merwin, "A Translation of the Sea Route Chian of the
Kao-li t'u-ching," Thesis Columbia University 1969(?), pp. 72-78; a brief summary of the Gaoli tujing is also
included in A Sung Bibliography, pp. 159-160.
48The distance from the Southern Song "transit locale"
G-E
(or g
capital-in-exile) at Lin'an (modern
Hangzhou) to the Jin capital at Zhongdu 4i [ (modern Beijing), which is the itinerary described in most
extant Song embassy accounts, is approximately 850 miles one-way, and it took Song envoys anywhere from
three to six months to complete their missions there (that is, to make a round trip to and from the Jin capital).
The standard itinerary followed by all Song emissaries (who began their missions in Lin'an) first took them
northwest from Lin'an to the Song border town of Xuyi tifJ on the Huai :i River (after 1143, this was
the topics and subjects which are dealt with in Song embassy accounts. In many of these
texts, for instance, we find mention of the standard ritualistic activities associated with
all diplomatic embassies, such as the formal reception of Song ambassadors into Jin
territory by Welcoming Escort Envoys , accounts of the banquets given for Song
4(-f'tj
envoys during their stays in the North, the details of their imperial audience in the Jin
capital, and so on. In his Beixing rilu Lou Yue even describes a dress rehearsal held at
a post-station in preparationfor a formal audience at the Jin court.49 Mention of certain
well-known cities and landmarks is also a prominent feature in these diaries. Two
metropolises described in great detail are Zhongdu, which, after 1153, became one of
the regional capitals of the Jin empire, and Kaifeng (I shall have more to say about
these descriptions below). Still another recurrent theme in these writings is the various
adversities and dangers experienced by Song envoys. Among the hardships described in
the embassy accounts, the cold winter temperatures and harsh winds of North China
find particular mention.50 One Song ambassador, Fan Chengda, even went so far as
to have a special felt cap and wadded coat tailored for his embassy to the Jin during the
autumn and early winter of 1170.5' One very real danger to representativesof the Song
court-and this was especially the case during periods when Song-Jin political and military
relations were unstable-was the possibility of detention by the Jin. This actually happened
to several envoys, among them a military officer named Wang Lun f~i(1084-1144). For
five years Wang steadfastlyrefusedoffers to defect to theJin. He was then executed in 1144.52
The types or modes of language found in the embassy accounts also reveal certain
similarities and recurrent patterns. A convenient way to approach and discuss these
similarities is through the objective-descriptiveand subjective-personaltypes of language,
which, it will be recalled, are two important qualities found in all youji. As for the
objective language found in the embassy accounts, we may distinguish two general types:
conventional and reportorial. A good example of the first of these would be the initial
diary entry, which almost always lists the date when the embassy was commissioned
by imperial order, the civil service rank and/or titular title(s) to be held by the envoy
and his military deputy (titular titles were conferred temporarily in order to enhance the
prestige of the holder), and the envoy's ambassadorialtitle(s). As an example, consider
the opening entry in Lou Yue's Beixing rilu:
the official boundary between Song and Jin territory). From there they continued northwest, following the
Bian it<River (or Bian Canal) until they reached Kaifeng. After passing through Kaifeng, they then proceeded
north to Zhongdu. The itinerary for Jin envoys was the same, but in reverse order. For more specifics on
these itineraries, see Franke, "Sung Embassies," pp. 128-129; see also the map of Fan Chengda's route to
Zhongdu on p. 176 of my "Lanpei lu" article in the Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies.
49Beixing rilu (Zhibuzuzhai congshu ed.), 1.6a-6b.
$1]H-:IjE-
50In his diary entry dated twelfth lunar month, fifth day (25 December 1169) Lou Yue mentions that it
was so cold that the temple hairs of everyone in his embassy froze. See Ibid., 1.13a. And Zhou Hui in his
Qinghbo zazhi (5.41) notes that envoys commissioned to the Jin during the winter months faced the danger
of their "ears turning white and then freezing and falling off" IH1nJJp[l . Zhou even discusses some
precautions one can take to prevent such an occurrence.
5'Fan mentions this in one of his later travel diaries, the Canluan lu. See Shihu jixing lu (ijf'6J••f (Rpt.,
Taibei: Guangwen shuju, 1968), p. 9. All further references to Fan Chengda's travel diaries will be to this edition.
52Details of Wang Lun's mission to the Jin and later detention and execution are related in his biography
in the Song shi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977) 371.11522-11526; see also the entry on Wang Lun by
Herbert Franke in'(,j1
Song Biographies, ed. Herbert Franke (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1976), II, esp. 126-127.
"On the ninth, or xinmao, day of the tenthlunarmonthin the fifth, or jichou, year of
the GenerativeWay period (30 October 1169) notice came from the capital that my
paternaluncle (that is, Wang Dayou'ff( , 1120-1200), the Esquire-in-Attendance,
was to serve as Congratulatory New Year's Envoy, with GeneralSupervisorZeng Di
(1109-1180)accompanying him as deputy."53
Other examples of conventional language would be the cyclical dates which begin each
diary entry, the constant derogatory references to the Jin as "caitiffs" I and the identi-
fication of place names and structurenames (such as a city gate) by formulaic expressions
such as "Passed place-name x, which in fact is place-name y" . .}lJ . . %. Such
,.
phrases seem to have been employed for one of two reasons: either to help readers54
identify and distinguish between the popular If and the official It names of places, or
to inform readers about the new Jin appellations for various landmarkswhile at the same
time reminding them of the "proper" Song terms for these same locations. A good
example of the first of these is the following, quoted from the Lanpei lu of Fan Chengda:
"Passed the Imperial Garden in the East, which is in fact the Befitting Spring Preserve"
: ~IJ?I• i • .55The same diary also has a good example of the latter. Fan Chengda's
r4IiWl
,reference here is to Yingtian Xi (modern Shangqiu Henan), the former Southern
Iit,,[,
Capital of the Song: "Reached the Southern Capital; the Jin have changed its name
to Guide municipality" :19' I ; •IHMli .f 56
The second type of objective language employed in the embassy accounts-the

reportorial-appears in those highly descriptive reports which chronicle observations
made by Song emissaries during their long treks to and from Zhongdu. These descriptions
are objective in that they do not directly reflect the outlook or opinions of the author;
rather, their purpose is to provide vivid accounts of the sites and activities encountered
on the road to the Jin capital. As one would expect, geographical and topographical
descriptions and diplomatic activities are the primary topics of these reports. Moreover,
it can be argued that many of these descriptions in some way reflect the historical or
antiquarian interests of the author. That is to say, the sites and activities portrayed in
these accounts are often related to specific historical landmarks, personages, or events.
This was to be expected, for such topics would naturallyattract the interest and curiosity
of the envoy and, in turn, that of his readers. To mention just a few of the landmarks
one often encounters in these diaries, there are the tumuli of several historical and
prehistorical figures, such as Yi Yin fI J+, minister to the founder of the Shang dynasty,57
53Beixingrilu, I. la.
54By "readers" I refer to persons living in Chinese-controlled territory south of the Huai River, many of
whom were members of families who had been displaced from their ancestral homes in the North after the
Jin invasion in 1126.
55Lanpei lu, p. 2. The Befitting Spring Preserve (or Imperial Garden in the East) was situated just outside
of New Song Gate A& 5W]in Kaifeng. This gate was one of at least two portals along the outer eastern wall
of the city. In identifications like this, the popular name is usually given first and the official name second.
The reason why Song place- and structure-names often carried several different appellations was because
when the dynasty was founded, many of the older names inherited from the past were changed. However, in
popular practice, many of these earlier designations continued to be used. Cf. the comments by E.A. Kracke, Jr.
in "Sung K'ai-feng: Pragmatic Metropolis and Formalistic Capital," in Crisis and Prosperity in Sung China,
ed. John WinthropHaeger (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1975), p.71.
56Lanpeilu, p. 2. For the sake of convenience, the Song administrativeunits of fu ITf, thou )MI[ and xian
will hereafter be translated"municipality," "county," and "township," respectively. ,
57Yi Yin's tumulus was near Yongqiu @fr[ township (modern Qi 4FExian, Henan). For more details see
Lanpei lu, p. 2; Chavannes, "Pei Yuan Lou," 175-176; and Franke, "A Sung Embassy Diary," 180.
and Lady Yu 0tf, mistress of the Han general Xiang Yu J (232-303 B.C.);58 the
temples constructed in honor of Zhang Xun j( (709-757) and Xu Yuan pa (709-757),
both of whom waged courageous battles against the forces of An Lu-shan during the
Tang dynasty;59 and the famous wine-lofts • of Xiang } county.60 Two topics
which also attracted considerable attention were the well-known landmarks in and around
Kaifeng, and the architectural layout and imperial guard system in Zhongdu. Typical
of these metropolitan descriptions is Lou Yue's account of the interior precincts of
Kaifeng, which he visited in 1170:
"Entered the city wall of the Eastern Capital. The name of the city has been changed to
'Southern Capital.'61 New Song Gate was formerly called 'Sunrise Aurora;' now it is
called 'Universal Humanity.' The city wall towers are imposing and extraordinary;
the turrets and moats are in prime condition and repair. The willow trees planted on
each side of the moat seem like an outstretched rope. First, we entered a jar wall,62
upon which are built watch towers. Next, there is anotherjar wall that has three towers.
Next, just where we entered the great city wall, there are three aligned gates capped
with a large tower. From the southernmostgate we entered the interior city wall, which
is quite distant [from the outer city wall]. People and things outside the city walls are
extremely scattered and sparse. . . [The area] inside the city walls is also decaying and
crumbling into ruins.''63
Descriptions of Zhongdu are similar, but tend to emphasize the opulent style of Jin
architectural designs. Here is the way Fan Chengda described one portion of the Jin
capital in 1170:
"The Speedway64 between the Imperial Porticos in the East and West is very broad.
On both sides of it there are conduits. Willow trees are planted along the conduits. The
ridgepoles of the two porticos are covered with azure-glazed tiles. The palace pylons,
gates and doors use such tiles exclusively. At the northern end of the Speedway are
the eleven towers of the Main Gate, which is called the 'Gate That Accords With Heaven.
Formerly, it was known as the 'Passageway to Heaven.'65 There are towers on the two
580OnLady Yu's tomb, which was near Hong (1 township in Su &

prefecture (north of modern Su xian,
Anhui) see Lanpei lu, p. 1; Chavannes, "Pei Yuan Lou," 171-172; and Franke, "A Sung Embassy Diary," 178.
temples constructed in honor of Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan were just outside the west gate of the
-9The
Southern Capital (or Yingtian municipality). Descriptions of these fanes can be found in Lanpei lu, p. 2; in
Chavannes, "Pei Yuan Lou," 173; and in Franke, "A Sung Embassy Diary," 202.
600Onthe famous wine-lofts of Xiang county (modern Anyang [ , Henan) see Beixing rilu, 1.22b-23a;
Lanpei lu, pp. 5-6; Chavannes, "Pei Yuan Lou," 179; and Franke, A Sung Embassy Diary," 184.
6'Following Song and Liao precedents, the Jin established several regional capitals throughout their empire.
Kaifeng was officially designated the "Southern Capital" of the Jin in 1153. See Jin shi, 25.587.
62A jar wall" J is an enceinte constructed beyond the outer wall of a city. They were so-called
because their shape resembled a jar or a vase.
63Beixing rilu, 1. 15b.
64The term "Speedway" here refers to the main north-south thoroughfare in Zhongdu, which was patterned after
a similar boulevard in Kaifeng. According to Meng Yuanlao & iL (ca. 1090-ca. 1150), the Speedway in
Kaifeng was 200 double-paces or so in width, and chevaux-de-frise apportioned it into three lanes. The middle lane
was reserved for the emperor's exclusive use. Hence, an alternate name for the Speedway was the "Imperial Way"
. See Dongjing meng Hua lu 4 (eitroD~
~
(Register of Dreaming of Hua [Xu] in the Eastern Capital)
i]•_ with commentaryby Deng Zhicheng
(Rpt. , Hong Kong: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1961), p. 52.
sW,__
65All extant editions of the Lanpei lu I have seen follow the term "Passageway to Heaven" with two graphs
fI4
'A . The meaning of the characters in this context is unclear to me, and I strongly suspect that there is a
corruptionin the text. Thus I have not included them in my translation.
flanks of the gate which seem like patterns of ascending dragons on the left and right.
As for the two corner towers in the east and west, each of them, in sequential order,
joins three eaves, which connect with the flank towers. The workmanshipis exceptionally
skillful and elaborate."66
Later, in the same diary entry, Fan Chengda offers a very detailed description of the
Jin imperial guard:
"Along each of the eaves of the Imperial Porticos in the East and West are armor-clad
soldiers in ranks. Those who stand in the east [wear] red-filament armor67 and [hold]
guard-spears wreathed in gold. Azure dragons are painted on their yellow banners.
Those who stand in the west [wear] cyan-filament armor and [also hold] guard-spears
wreathed in gold. Azure dragons are painted on their white banners."68
Highly descriptive passages like this are not unusual in Song embassy accounts; in fact,
they are quite common. However, it should be pointed out that envoys did not limit
their subject matter to geographical or architectural topics alone: we also find reports
on a wide variety of other subjects, among the more interesting of which are the
production and distribution of paper currency by the Jin,69 the health conditions in various
parts of North China70 and even a canine sacrificial ceremony.7' All of this information,
of course, is of great value to historians of the period.
The use of subjective language modes, or instances where an author expresses a
personal opinion on a given subject or topic, are not common in Song embassy diaries.
In fact, when such remarks do appear in a text, they are usually in the form of occasional
comments and criticisms. Moreover, quite often they pertain either to the declining
physical condition of various landmarks in the North or to the extreme hardships suffered
by native Chinese still living there under Jin domination. The manner in which these
criticisms are voiced at times can be indirect. Take for instance, the following commentary
on the "Eight Teardrops Gallery" AigcL4j in Kaifeng, which once served as the
residence of Zhao Ji gt (pht., Huizong gg, reg.1100-1126). The tone of disgust in
this extract, though it is not stated directly, is still unmistakable:
66Lanpei lu, p. 10.

67Referring to a type of cuirass that was embroidered with red silk filament. Cf. the gloss on rong il in
the Zhongwen da cidian, 31600-4.
68Lanpei lu, pp. 11-12.
69Described in Ibid., p. 3.
70To cite one example, in the Shi Jin lu Cheng Zhuo discusses how the people in Qingdu (6 township
(modern Wangdu •• , Hebei) and a bordering township suffered from goiter. See Franke, "A Sung
Embassy Diary," 190.
7'The canine sacrifice mentioned here is described in Fan Chengda's Lanpei lu (p. 8):
"People residing outside the walls [of Handan fW ] (modern Handan, Hebei) use long bamboo
- the head. [The dogs are then] bound with
poles to impale white dogs from the anal cavity to
floss-grass to another bamboo pole, immersed in wine and erected above. It was said that the
Niizhen (or Jin) people use this [ceremony] when sacrificing to heaven in order to seek release
from illness."
This sacrifice was originally a Qidan (or Liao) custom. See the remarks on this in Rolf Stein, "Leao-Tche,"
Toung Pao 35 (1940), 135.
84 Chinese Literature. Essays, Articles, Reviews 7 (1985)
"The so-called Eight Teardrops Gallery caused all the ranks of officers and clerks under
my command to fall into uncontrolled tears when they gazed at it. Now the Jin have
made it into a Supreme Grove Locale (that is, an imperial hunting park)." 72
Instances where an author expresses a personal opinion are more often voiced in very
lucid and direct language. Lou Yue, commenting on the Jin occupation of North China,
made the following observation:
"The Jin squeeze the people of their sap and blood in order to load up their (that is,
the Jin's) nests and dens, and treasuries and storehouses, most of which are located in
various areas around their Supreme Capital.73Thus, the people of Henan are impoverished
to a great extent and specie is becoming increasingly scarce."4
The harshest criticisms of the Jin came from the brush of Fan Chengda. One subject
in particular seems to have attracted Fan's critical eye: the great loss of human life and
the enormous expense that resulted from the Jin building their new capital in Zhongdu:
"Conscription laborers numbering 800,000, and military laborers numbering 400,000,

worked and labored [on the project] for several years. The number of those who died is
beyond calculation. The lands [excavated by the Jin] all [housed] ancient cairns and
barrows, which were dug up and abandonedwithout exception." "
Fan also mentions that all of these efforts by the Jin are an example of "exhaustive
extravagance that culminates in waste" 4 He concludes his critical appraisal
R;•i4f,.76
of the Jin with the following observation:
"After the Jin trod and trampled upon the lands of the Central Plains, their policy and
rule was to anomalously mimic the customs of Hua ... but in the end they did not even
approach similarity."
''
Now that we have seen several specific examples of what I have called objective-
descriptive and subjective-personal language modes, we should perhaps turn our attention
to the following question: why did Song envoys employ these different types of expression
in their diaries? To begin with, the large preponderance of objective description in these
works can be explained by the fact that the main purpose of the embassy diary was to
provide first-hand and detailed reports on what was observed in the territory of the Jin.
This information served at least two purposes. First, it provided reliable and up-to-date
intelligence information on the locations of Jin military fortifications and (occasionally)
their troop movements,7" on road conditions, on the position of key bridges, and on the
precise distance between cities and towns. Such data would obviously have been of great
value to the Song if it had later mounted a military campaign to reclaim the North
(as it turned out, this never happened). Of course, the Jin were aware that Song envoys
72Lanpei lu, p. 6.
73The Supreme Capital of the Jin was located south of modern Baicheng xian in Heilongjiang province.
74Beixing rilu, 1.17a 2$JS,
7 Lanpei lu, p. 13.
76lbid., p. 12.
77Ibid.
78For instance, during his mission in 1211-1212 Cheng Zhuo gathered information on the Mongol invasions
against the Jin, a topic of obvious interest to the Song court. See the entries dated 7, 14, 23, and 31 January
in
Franke, "A Sung Embassy Diary," 179, 182, 189 and 192, respectively.
were gathering intelligence information, and, as a result, at times made them travel by
night in order to restrict their observations.79Another reason which may help to explain
why the embassy diaries are so overwhelmingly descriptive is that people living in the
Chinese-controlled areas south of the Huai River were probably eager to read first-hand
accounts of what conditions were like in the North. This was because many of them
likely had relatives still living there. We should also note that envoys and other embassy
personnel chosen to participate in missions to the Jin capital, for obvious reasons, also
had a great interest in reading the accounts of former envoys.80
Isolating the reason or reasons why we find subjective commentaries in the diaries
is difficult. Were they inserted merely for narrative effect or didactic purpose? Were
the composers of these accounts merely playing upon the patriotic sentiments of the Song
court and readers in the south? This does not seem to be the case, for the diaries of
some authors, such as the Shi Jin lu of Cheng Zhuo, have a distinctive objective orientation,
while other works, such as the Lanpei lu of Fan Chengda, have a generous mixture of
both objective and subjective idiom. After reading several of these embassy accounts
it becomes clear that various authors reacted differently to the conditions they witnessed
in North China. How they reacted to a given situation was often conditioned by the
historical and political circumstances of the moment. For instance, while Cheng Zhuo
seems to be interested in gathering information on Mongol military operations and Jin
troop movements-a topic of keen concern to the Song in the early thirteenth century,
Fan Chengda, Lou Yue and others seem to be more preoccupied with reporting on the
deplorable conditions, both human and material, they witnessed during their embassies.
However, it can probably be said that in most instances, the personal opinions that are
voiced in the embassy accounts are an inevitable reflection of the grim realities envoys
witnessed in the North. These reactions, which range from mild disappointment to
complete disgust, were triggeredby specific situations;among them, the decaying conditions,
both physical and human, in Kaifeng, the suffering of native Chinese living under Jin
rule and the extravaganceand the waste that went into the constructionof the Jin imperial
palaces in Zhongdu. The net effect of this mixture of objective description and personal
commentary is a very stark picture of the Jin-ruled lands in northernChina in the twelfth
century. And if an envoy composed a sequence of poems to accompany and supplement
his diary entries, as Fan Chengda did,8' an even more vivid picture emerges, offering
a poignant contrast to the nostalgic splendors of the North (particularly, of Kaifeng)
outlined in works such as the Dongjing meng Hua lud• E{4 f .
IlL. River Diaries

The third and final variety of Song youji I identify are the "river diaries," so-called
because they describe peregrinations taken along the course of a river. These accounts
79This happened during the embassy of Cheng Zhuo. See the remarks by Herbert Franke in Ibid., 206.
80Judging from the passages in the Shi Jin lu which are copied out almost verbatim from the Lanpei lu, it
seems quite possible that Fan Chengda's diary might have served as a handbook for later Song ambassadors.
8'Fan Chengda composed seventy-two heptasyllabic quatrains during his embassy to the Jin. See Fan Shihu ji
' BiM] (Rpt., Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 12.145-158. These poems not only supplementthe information
in his diary entries but also provide useful data (especially in the notes and glosses appended to his poems)
not found in the Lanpei lu.
were usually composed by scholar-officials either during a journey to a new government

post or while returning home from a previous appointment. Although only a handful
of these texts have survived, they form an important part of the Song youji tradition,
not only because their belletristic content is proportionallymuch greater and qualitatively
more significant than that in the daytrip essay and embassy account, but also because
it was these works more than any other that established the prototype of the travel diary
which proliferated in the subsequent Ming and Qing periods and which still continues
to thrive today. Three diaries mentioned earlier in this essay, all of which were composed
in the 1 170s, are particularly significant in this respect: Lu You's Ru Shu ji (Record of
Passing Into Shu), which chronicles a journey Lu You made from ShanyiniII (modern
Shaoxing •t, Zhejiang) to Kui • county (modern Fengjie g g, Sichuan) in 1170,82
and two works by Fan Chengda: the Canluan lu (Register of Mounting a Simurgh) and
the Wuchuan lu (Register of a Wu Boat).83 The Canluan lu describes a journey Fan
made from his ancestral home in Wu Ij township (near modern Suzhou) to Guilin ?ftR4
(modern Guangxi) in 1172-1173, while the Wuchuan lu depicts a lengthy trip taken
down the Yangzi River from Chengdu pg (modern Sichuan) to Wu township in 1177.
The journey described in the Wuchuan lu covers roughly the same itinerary as that in
the Ru Shuji, but in reverse order.
Several parallels can be drawn between the contents of the river diaries and the
embassy accounts. The first of these is the presence of conventional or formulaic phrases.
Aside from the most obvious of these-dated entries, we also find frequent mention of
the activities common to any lengthy river excursion, such as "spent the night at ..."
('" ~....."), "moored at ..." (" M I..."), "had our morning meal at ..." (" Yi ..."),
"set out from ..." (" ... "), and so forth. Several of these phrases are also employed
in the embassy accounts. We also find in these periegeses a good deal of reportorial
language concerning matters such as the obligatory courtesy calls a traveling civil servant
was expected to pay upon local officials and a listing of the various titles held by those
officials. Much of the objective language we find in these diaries also concerns the same
types of subject matter found in the embassy accounts: geographical and topographical
topics, historical landmarks, famous temples, pavilions, mountains and tumuli, to just
name a few examples. Accompanyingthese descriptivereportsare the personalcommentaries
of the author. However, for obvious reasons, the authors of the diaries now under
discussion are less concerned with the sorts of political, military and intelligence matters
found in the embassy accounts. Instead, the general focus of the subjective language
in the river diary is mainly upon historical and literary matters (this will be discussed
presently).
The one quality that perhaps most immediately distinguishes the river diary from
the daytrip essay and the embassy account is length: these are easily the longest and
most detailed of all Song youji. The Ru Shu ji alone comprises 6 juan. One reason which
82In Lu You, Lu Fangweng quanji $MJ • (Rpt., Taibei: Heluo tushu chubanshe, 1975), Weinan
wenji fi(1 , 43.264-48.298. For a complete annotated translation of this work see Chang Chun-shu
and Joan Smythe, trans., South China in the Twelfth Century: A Translation of Lu Yu's Travel Diaries July 3-
December 6, 1170(Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1981).
83The only available translation of the Wuchuan lu in a Western language that I am aware of appears in
Delphine Weulersse, "Journal de voyage d'un lettr6 chinois en 1177: Wuchuan-lu de Fan Cheng-Da," Diss.
University of Paris 1967. To date, no study or translation of the Canluan lu has appeared in any language.
accounts for the great length of these texts (relative to other varieties of Song youji)
is obvious: they chronicle extended excursions over very great distances of land and water.
The Ru Shu ji and Wuchuan lu, for instance, each describe journeys of about 1800 miles.
Also, the authors of the river diaries did not, as a rule, have any specific political,
diplomatic or intelligence duties to perform during their journeys; hence, in general
it may be said that they had more time for sightseeing.84 And, since these works describe
some of China's most spectacular riverscapes and best-known historical sites-all of
which had been celebrated in famous literary works of the past-it seems highly likely
that the beauty and literary legacy of these areas would be more prone to catch the
attention of a traveling scholar and inspire description and commentary in his diary.
In general, then, one could argue that the authors of the river diaries had more interesting
subjects to write about and more time in which to do it. Whatever the case, there is
little doubt that the river diaries of the Southern Song-and here I refer specifically to
the Ru Shu ji, Canluan lu and Wuchuan lu-contain the most detailed and varied description
and commentary of all Song youji.
In order to illustrate the great detail with which the authors of these diaries described
and commented upon a given subject, let us first consider the following excerpt from
Fan Chengda's Canluan lu. The topic of discussion here is taxation; specifically, the
tariffs levied upon grand conifer (or China fur; Cunninghamia lanceolata) logs at a pontoon
bridge which spanned the Jian j Jiang in Yan Y county (modern Jiande g g xian,
Zhejiang):
"The prohibitions at the pontoon bridge are very strict. Conifer rafts from Shepu85
are all piled together under the bridge. The objective is to tax them heavily, which
merchant-travelersfind greatly distressing. Some of them are delayed and hindered for
several months, unable to proceed. When I held a post in She86 I came to know quite
a bit about this matter. The hills in Xiuning87 are well-suited to the conifer. While a
few of the local residents there work the fields, most make their living by cultivating
conifer. Conifer is moreover something that grows easily; thus it is difficult to
exhaust [supplies of] it. When it comes out of the hills, its price is extremely cheap.
When it reaches the commandery wall, already taxes have been levied on it to no end.
When it reaches Yan, then the tax on it has been multiplied several hundred-fold. Some
officers and clerks in Yan just now said: 'Our county lacks a source of earnings.
Were it not for the conifer from She, we would not be a county anymore.' In view
of this statement, when will the time come when the afflictions of merchant-travelers
are cured? It may well be that when a single log comes out of the hills it is sometimes
84This was not always the case. For instance, Fan Chengda remarks in the Canluan lu (p. 31) that because
of delays and inclement weather his boat had to travel from morning to night in order to make up for lost time,
and, as a result, he did not even have time to inquire about the names of the places he passed by on the river.
85Shepu was another name for She township (near modern She xian, Anhui), which was situated at the
confluence of the Lianqi
•*•"
and Xin'an Yj Rivers. See Yue Shi 2
(930-1007), Taiping huanyu ji
~ (Records Encompassing the Universe from the Grand Tranquility Era) (Rpt., Yonghe zhen:
t~'f•`if
Wenhai chubanshe, 1963), 104.28.
86Fan Chengda held two different minor government posts in She township in the late 1150s. See Wang
Teh-yi [Wang Deyi] E Shihu nianpu" , in Songshi yanjiu lunji t I{j"
/, "Fan . ij)]j_
iff
-
II
(Taibei: Dingwen shuju, 1972), 192-193.
87Both Xiuning and Shepu (on Shepu see n.85 above) were townships under the jurisdiction of Hui
county. According to the Taiping huanyu ji (104.28), Xiuning was sixty-six li east of Hui county.
not worth a hundred cash. But when it reaches [the lower course of] the Jian Jiang, it is
then sold for two thousand cash. This is all caused by heavy taxes and [the] long-term
traveling expenses [of merchants].88
In addition to economic reports and commentaries similar to the passage just quoted
from the Canluan lu, a host of other topics are dealt with in these diaries as well, many
of which do not ordinarily appear in either the daytrip essays or in the embassy accounts.
For instance, we find reports on such diverse subjects as botany 89, the origin of the
Yangzi River,90, the activities of grave robbers,9' local agricultural practices,92 and even
Buddhist "apparitions." 93 Perhaps this great variety in subject matter is one reason
why Chang Chun-shu [Zhang Chunshu] chose "South China in the Twelfth Century"
as the title for his translation (which is based on Joan Smythe's draft) of Lu You's
Ru Shu ji, for we learn something perforce of almost every aspect of daily life in these
writings. One author even raises the subject of outhouses and privies.94 This tremendous
variety in subject matter is one quality that distinguishes youji in general, and the river
diary in particular, from other varieties of belletristic prose in traditional China.
From a literary standpoint, certainly one of the most notable aspects of the river diary
is its vivid descriptions of riparian scenery. It is in these passages where the author
displays his literary skills and reveals his knowledge of history and the literary works
of the past. Often, these descriptions are inspired by some famous landmark, such as
the Yellow Crane Loft
A,(g(':
"As for the Yellow Crane Loft, an old tradition has it that Fei Yi made his flight and
ascension [to immortality] here.95 Later, he suddenly came back riding a yellow crane.
Hence the loft is so-named. It is known for having the finest scenic view in the Underheaven.
Cui Hao's (d. 754) poem [on the loft] is the best known.96 And the marvelous lines
[Li] Taibo (701-762) got here are especially numerous. Now the loft is already in ruin;
its old foundation is no longer extant, either. I asked an old clerk [about its location]
and he said that it was between the Stone Mirror Kiosk and the South Loft, directly
facing the Parrot Isle. I still can imagine what it looked like. Only the loft's name placard,
88Cainluan lu, p. 11.

89Forinstance, see Fan Chengda's remarks in Ibid. (p. 30) on the botany of the pine g and cypress #( trees.
See also the Wuchuanlu (pp. 30-31), where Fan describes several of the unusual herbaceous and woody plants
(
he observed on Emei [1f Mountain in Sichuan.
90See Wuchuanlu, p. 5.
91See Ru Shu ji, in Lu Fangweng quanji, 45.276; Chang and Smythe, South China in the Twelfth Century,
pp.87-88.
920ne of the more interesting agricultural observations recorded in the river diaries is Fan Chengda's description
of "•ladder field" flt[ (or terrace) farming in Yuan • county (modern Yichun 4Y1 xian, Jiangxi). See
,
Canluan lu, p. 28.
931Irefer here to the "Buddha lights"' (fg) (or circular colored haloes) seen by Fan Chengda on Emei
Mountain in Sichuan and described by him in the Wuchuan lu, pp. 34-36. Portions of Fan's account are translated
by Jonathan Chaves in Heaven My Blanket, Earth Mv Pillow: Poems by Yang Wan-li (New York and Tokyo:
25-26.
Weatherhill., 1975), pp.
94Canluan lu, p. 36.
95Fei Yi was an important official of the Shu Han Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period. For a
brief account of his life and public career see the Sanguo zhi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1964),
44.1060-1061. "•]j,,
96Referring to Cui Hao's famous poem "The Yellow Crane Loft" A'
1V , in Quan Tang shi
ikt•-,
(Rpt., Beijing: Zhonghua shuju. 1979), 130.1329.
which is in the seal scriptof Li Jian97and engravedin stone, is extant.Taibo climbed
this loft and sentoff MengHaoran(689-740)witha poemwhichreads[in part]:
'His solitary sail's distant glare vanishes in cyan alps,
I see only the LongJiangas it flows to the sky's horizon.'"98
Presumably,the sail and mast shiningagainstthe distantmountainswas especiallyworth
viewing.Withouttravelingthe Jiangfor a long time one cannotcome to knowthis.'99
Highly descriptive passages like this are common in the river diaries, and are valuable
not only for the historical, geographical and folkloristic data they provide, but also
because they vividly illustrate how historical and literary associations from the past
came into play when an author visited and then commented on some famous landmark.'00
How the authors of the river diaries responded to these situations is interesting because
most of the scenic and historical sites they describe and comment upon had already been
celebrated in the works of China's most renowned writers, among them Li Bo, Du Fu R+: I1
(712-770), Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi and Huang Tingjian 4i-A (1045-1105). Thus Lu You,
Fan Chengda and others quite often found themselves in situations where they had to
respond in some way to the themes, sights and events which had already been described
in the prose works and verse of China's most redoubtable litterateurs. How did they
respond to these situations? As we have seen in Lu You's account of the Yellow Crane
Loft, he does not hesitate to quote directly from a literary masterpiece of the past and
then follow with a brief comment of his own, such as "Without traveling the Jiang
for a long time one cannot come to know this." 1'0 However, on other occasions an
author may respond in different ways. For instance, we might find a detailed critique of
an earlier literary work that is associated with some particularlandmark. A case in point
is Fan Chengda's commentary in the Canluan lu on Yuan Jie's "Song-Hymn of Central
Ascendency" .102 On other occasions an author might be more concerned with
•ji
I,
philological matters.
For instance, in the Wuchuan lu Fan Chengda openly disputes a
popular (Song) interpretationof a couplet in a Du Fu poem.1'03 And on still other occasions
he may offer critical comments on the historical development of a particularliterary genre.
A good example of this can be found in the Ru Shu ji, where Lu You summarizes and
assesses the ancient prose ~(• -style of writing during the Tang and Song periods.104
i
To be sure, the literary appeal and great topical range of the descriptive language
in the river diary immediately distinguishes it from the other two categories of Song
youji discussed earlier. The erudite historical and literary quotations and the allusions
and commentaries which permeate these writings also serve to'make the river diary
unique among the travel records of the Song. Perhaps it is these characteristics which
9I have not been able to find any information on the life of Li Jian.
98Quoted from Li Bo's poem "Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling at the Yellow Crane Loft"
. See Li Bo ji jiaozhu 'F-
gggg", commentary and collations by Qu Shuiyuan [A]
•E;i;iO t
and Zhu,•',_
Jincheng &4• (Rpt., Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1980), I, 935.
99Ru Shu ji, in Lu Fangweng quanji, 47.288; Chang and Smythe, South China in the Twelfth Century, p. 134.
o0oI have raised this and some of the points discussed below in my review-article, forthcoming in the Bulletin
ofSung-Yiian Studies, on Chang and Smythe, South China in the Twelfth Century.
'o?In the Canluan lu (p. 34) Fan Chengda makes the very same statement regarding a couplet in the poetry
in Lu Tong JI (d. 835). Such comments are very common in Song literature and criticism.
'0o2In Ibid., pp. 37-41.
'03See Wuchuan lu, p. 3.
'04Ru Shu ji, in Lu Fangweng quanji, 47.287; Chang and Smythe, South China in the Twelfth Century, p. 122.
account for the fact that of all traditionalyouji in China, the three diaries discussed in
this section are among the best known to posterity. The greatest appeal and value of
these works may lie in the intimate glimpse they give into the daily life and activities
of a twelfth century scholar-official. This is revealed through the author's open expression
of his literary preferences, historical consciousness, and most intimate personal concerns.
Very few types of descriptive prose in traditional China were capable of painting an
equally poignant portraitof the daily activities and concerns of a scholar-official.
ConcludingRemarks
The lines of demarcation between the three categories of Song youji outlined in this
essay are not fixed and rigid; in fact, they are tenuous as best. This is because one
category may, at times, overlap with another category. For instance, in the river diaries
we can find accounts of side trips similar to those described in the daytrip essays. 15
Yet, despite the very general (and even superficial) nature of my typology, it still suggests
one way by which we can begin to approach this material. In light of the foregoing
discussion, I would like to close with a few brief observations. First, the terms you and
ji, as they are used in the generic label for these writings, have an extremely wide field
of reference. As for you, it can refer to texts which describe an afternoon jaunt out into
the countryside or to an extended excursion lasting six months or more. On the other
hand, although the term ji consistently retains its primary meaning of "to make a record
[of facts and actual circumstances]," at times it also connotes the idea of "a discursive
essay on . . . ". This is certainly the case with the daytrip essays. We should also note
that in the titles of most embassy accounts and river diaries, the term lu (or "register")
is more commonly used than ji (the main exception to this is Lu You's , Ru Shu ji).
Although I have no explanation as to why most Song authors preferred this term over ji,
I suspect it was because Li Ao used it in his Lainan lu (which, it will be recalled, is
China's earliest-known travel diary). Whatever the reason, the meaning of lu in the titles
of Song travel records is clearly analogous to the more primary meaning of ji. That is
to say, these texts were to be regarded as registers of actual journeys undertakenby the
author. Second, the composers of Song youji seem not to have been under the influence
of an earlier literary tradition which had already established fixed guidelines regarding
the content and style of the travel diary. Since the relationship between the various
pre-Song travel records seems to be dubious, one might even argue that there was no
youji tradition in China prior to the Song dynasty. If this is the case, it might help to
explain why Song authors seem to have had great freedom of choice regarding what
they could write about in their diaries (for reasons which have already been discussed,
this was probably more the case for authors of the river diaries and less the case for
authors of the embassy accounts; the composers of the daytrip essays seem to fall
somewhere in between). This accounts, I think, for the impressionistic nature of most
Song youji. One final point: although the language in these texts can at times be erudite
and elegant, for the most part these are not highly polished literary pieces. Many of the
river diaries, for instance, contain errors of historical fact and misquotes from earlier
'050ne example of this is Fan Chengda's lengthy description of his ascent of Emei Mountain. See Wuchuan lu,
pp.25-36.
verse and prose.'06 This seems to suggest that the requirements of the genre were less
formal and demanding than that of most other types of descriptive prose (written in the
literary language), which is perhaps why we find such diversity in the language and
subject matter of these texts. It is precisely this diversity which helps to make Song
youji a unique form of prose writing in traditionalChina.
Textual Citations
Su Shi's "Record of Stone Bell Mountain"
~F~~1S~ftt~L~ ~L~b
4~R#fP
?tr~_~~aTrS II~~~ct4 f~ITA T
ot R4N~Hr? lj(p. 82) f}L
~!~:~:mi~,l'c~ti,
?f of Kaifeng i Beixing rilu
Des~criptio~-n
(Page ref. in my essay: 74-76)
Opening entry of Beixing rilu
(p. 8 1)
Description of Kaifeng in Beixing rilu
(p. 82)
'06Cf. also the following comment by Chang Chun-shu, which appears in the Introduction to South China in
the Twelfth Century, p. 16: "[In the Ru Shu ji Lu You] more often than not misquoted his sources." The Siku
editors have also taken note of several historical errors that appear in Fan Chengda's Canluan lu. See Siku quanshu
zongmu tiyao, II, 1291.
Description of Zhongdu in Lanpei lu
(pp. 82-83)
Description of the Jin ImperialGuard in Lanpei lu

$j oo _ o~1 H
o
pilo o4ij•fl
j_
(p. 83)
"Eight TeardropsGallery"
(p. 84)
Description of Kaifeng in Beixing rilu
(p. 84)
Description of Zhongdu in Lanpei lu
(p. 84)
Description of the Jin in Lanpei lu
(p. 84)
Description of taxes on cryptomeriain Canluan lu
(pp. 87-88)
Description of the Yellow Crane Loft in Ru Shuji

•o ? •• o •
t-
-t? ,• I1giJj,• , ? •.•,•,•
-•-I
f•f
,.o
o i
?(pp.88-89)
(pp. 88-89)
Preface to Gudai youji xuanzhu
, tt• • • • -4 o
(n.18, pp. 71-72)
Description of a canine sacrifice in Lanpei lu
(n.71, p. 83)

1985 - James M. Hargett - Some Preliminary Remarks On The Travel Records of The Song Dynasty (960-1279)

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1985 - James M. Hargett - Some Preliminary Remarks On The Travel Records of The Song Dynasty (960-1279)

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Some Preliminary Remarks on the Travel Records of the Song Dynasty (960-1279)

Author(s): James M. Hargett

IC(773-819),4 the diaries of Lu You P4

II. Embassy Accounts

1125: Fengshi xingcheng lu ${f jt@

1170: Lanpei lu of Grasping the Carriage Reins), by Fan Chengda;

1176-1177: Beiyuan lu (Register of Northbound Thills), by Zhou Hui; translated

1211-1212: Shi Jin lu {• ~t (Register of an Embassy to the Jin), by Cheng Zhuo i -

The second type of objective language employed in the embassy accounts-the

580OnLady Yu's tomb, which was near Hong (1 township in Su &

66Lanpei lu, p. 10.

"Conscription laborers numbering 800,000, and military laborers numbering 400,000,

IlL. River Diaries

were usually composed by scholar-officials either during a journey to a new government

88Cainluan lu, p. 11.

ot R4N~Hr? lj(p. 82) f}L

Opening entry of Beixing rilu

Description of Kaifeng in Beixing rilu

Description of Zhongdu in Lanpei lu

Description of the Jin ImperialGuard in Lanpei lu

Description of Kaifeng in Beixing rilu

Description of Zhongdu in Lanpei lu

Description of the Jin in Lanpei lu

Description of taxes on cryptomeriain Canluan lu

Description of the Yellow Crane Loft in Ru Shuji

Description of a canine sacrifice in Lanpei lu

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