Xi yu fan guo zhi
西域番国志 (Pinyin: Xi Yu Fan Guo Zhi or Hsi-yü fan-kuo chih; literally "A Record of the Barbarian Countries in the Western Region.") was a report submitted by Ming dynasty envoy Chen Cheng (陈诚) to the Yongle Emperor about the eighteen countries and territories he traveled through during 1414–1415 as a member of an embassy contingency, to the kingdom of Timurid in Central Asia.
Contents
Xi Yu Fan Guo Zhi consists of 18 chapters:
- Herat
- Samarkand
- Andkud
- Balkh
- Termez
- Shahrokhia
- Sayram
- Tashkent
- Bukhara
- Kesh
- Yanghikend
- Bishbalik
- Turpan
- Ya Er
- Yamshi
- Khocho
- Lukchun
- Kumul
English translation
There is no complete translation of the Xi Yu Fan Guo Zhi, however, there is an English translation of the first chapter:
- Morris Rossabi: "A Translation of Ch'en Ch'eng's Hsi-Yü Fan-Kuo Chih", Ming Studies, 17 (1983): 49–59.
See also
- Morris Rossabi, "Two Ming Envoys to Inner Asia," T'oung Pao, LXII/1-3 1976, 1-34.
- F. J. Hecker, "A fifteenth-century Chinese diplomat in Herat", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 3rd series p85-91, 1993.
- Emil Bretschneider Mediaeval Researches vol 2, p 147.