Beyond the eastern coast, there are mysterious countries whose customs and products seem to emerge from a dream - this is the wonderful picture brought by the Yuan Dynasty's "Foreign Land Chronicles". It is not only a regional book, but also an early history of Sino-foreign interaction from a cross-cultural perspective.
"Records of Foreign Regions", formerly known as "Li Chong Lu", was written by Zhou Zhizhong, the magistrate of the Yuan Dynasty, and was published during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. The book consists of two volumes and contains entries from about 157 countries and regions, including records of customs, customs, geographical locations and products of 81 countries including Fusang, Korea, Japan, Uighur, Srivijaya, Dashi, Daqin, Persia, and the Kingdom of Women.
The author has been on missions to foreign lands many times, and most of what he records comes from what he has seen and heard, and is also supplemented by information from books such as "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Lingwai Dai Da Reply". The narrative is brief but covers a wide range of areas, covering East Asia, West Asia, South Asia and even parts of Africa.
The language of "Records of Foreign Lands" is concise and clear, but it carries the Yuan Dynasty's preliminary understanding of the world. Although there are some errors in simplicity, such as poor geographical location, it is still an important document for studying Sino-foreign exchanges and multicultural encounters. Reading it, you feel as if you are traveling around the vast world with an envoy from the Yuan Dynasty, using ancient pens to outline a magnificent picture of transoceanic exchanges.
