The Land of the Uyghurs in Prose & Poetry

XU, Song.

Xiyu shui dao ji [Records of the Waterways in the Western Regions].

Many woodcut maps. 43; 37; 49; 50; 44 folding leaves. Five juan in five vols. Large 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, later stitching. [China]: Preface dated 1823. [with]: —. Han shu Xiyu zhuan bu zhu [Supplementary Notes for the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty]. 38; 34 folding leaves. Two juan in two vols. Large 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, later stitching. [China]: Preface dated 1829. [with]: —. Xinjiang fu [A Poem on Xinjiang]. 27 folding leaves. Large 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, later stitching. [China]: Preface dated 1824.

First editions, published under the collective title Xiyu san zhong (or Xu Xingbo san zhong). Xu (1781-1848), historian, scholar, and government official, was one of the founders of geography of northwest China, especially the Qing’s new possession of Xinjiang. The present works reflect the new wave of interest on the part of Chinese intellectuals in the Central Asian regions of the Qing empire in the early 19th century.

Xu had been exiled to Xinjiang in 1812 for alleged corruption and during his eight years of banishment developed a keen interest in the history and geography of the region. While there, Xu went on a journey of exploration in 1815-16 to collect information for the compilation of a gazeteer of Xinjiang, during which he visited the Buddhist cave site at Dunhuang and recorded stele inscriptions about the founding of the site. He also noted other ancient sites.

1. This is a “notable” (see Wilkinson, Chinese History. A New Manual, 4th ed., p. 200) history of the river systems of Xinjiang. At the end of Vols. 2-5 are multi-page woodcut maps depicting the waterways and mountain ranges of the region.

2. This work contains notes to the chapter on the region in the Han Dynastic History.

3. A long poem on Xinjiang, with detailed historical and geographical explanatory notes. Literature was another traditional activity for exiled Chinese scholars. This poem is of the Chinese fiction genre Xibu wenxue (literature of the Western regions). “These writings invariably reflect a keen sense of the physical geography of the borderlands and its impact on people’s lives.”–L.J. Newby, “The Chinese Literary Conquest of Xinjiang” in Modern China, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Oct. 1999), p. 451–(& see the entire excellent article).

Fine set, preserved in a hantao.

❧ Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (1644-1912), Vol. I, pp. 321-22.

Price: $3,500.00

Item ID: 8095