via Shao-yun Yang, Denison University, 06 December 2020: A new translation of the Zhufan Zhi, a 13th century Song Dynasty work describing places in Southeast Asia and beyond. This s a great resource and facinating read with updated annotations, especially since the most recent full translation of this work was in 1911.
The Southeast Asia places mentioned are:
- Jiaozhi (Dai Viet)
- Zhancheng (Champa)
- Bintonglong (Panduranga)
- Zhenla (the Khmer Empire)
- Dengliumei (Tambralinga)
- Pugan (Pagan)
- Sanfoqi (Srivijaya)
- Danmaling (Tambralinga)
- Lingyasijia (Langkasuka)
- Foluoan (possibly Phatthalung)
- Xintuo (Sunda)
- Jianbi (possibly Kampar)
- Lanwuli (Lamuri)
- Xilan (Sri Lanka)
- Shepo (Java)
- Yantuoman (the Andaman Islands)
- Shahuagong (Zamboanga)
- The Maluonu (possibly the Maranao)
- Boni (Borneo)
- Mayi (Mindoro or Bay)
- The Three Islands (Palawan and the Calamian Islands)
- Pulilu (Polillo Island)
- Liuqiu (Taiwan or Okinawa)
- The Pisheye (the Visayans)
This is a complete annotated translation of Part 1 of the Zhufan zhi (Gazetteer of Foreign Lands), an early thirteenth-century ethnographic and geographical description of nearly sixty foreign countries known to the Chinese through maritime trade relations, as well as a couple of imaginary countries that appear to be based on Arab myths.
The Zhufan zhi deserves to be more widely known and studied as a source for medieval Chinese geographical knowledge and perceptions of the outside world. I hope that this new translation will make it accessible and useful to a new generation of researchers.
