Xu Song's Record of the Waterways of the Western Regions
The most precise Chinese survey of Xinjiang's rivers and lakes before 1850, written by an exiled official.
Full title Record of the Waterways of the Western Regions, 5 juan (compiled during exile in Ili 1812-1819; printed 1823)
西域水道記
Xu Song (1781-1848)
Xu Song (1781 to 1848), an official exiled to Ili, compiled this five chapter survey there between 1812 and 1819, and it was printed about 1823. He combined his own observations and local informants with older texts to describe the rivers and lakes of the Tarim Basin, Ili and Dzungaria, including Lake Balkhash and Issyk Kul, giving Turki, Mongol and Chinese names, with maps. The copy is a Peking University Library print in 4 volumes. The atlas holds only a poor-quality machine reading (OCR) of this scan, and no passages were selected or read for this guide.
- How they knew
- Part eyewitness
- Who “Tartar” means here
- Not recorded. The card names the Qing, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, the Turkic Muslims of the Tarim Basin and the Oirats.
- Why read it
- It is the best pre-1850 Chinese description of Xinjiang's waters and a rich source of place names in several languages.
- Watch out
- The author leans on the Xiyu tuzhi and Xiyu tongwen zhi for older names, and marks his own observations in the text.
What it says
No quotes from this one yet. Its text is out of reach for now, or the scan could not be read.
The fine print
How we know
firsthand The author saw the places or people described.
firsthand survey and informant testimony gathered by an exiled official in Xinjiang, combined with textual research
Research notes
- Uses the Xiyu tuzhi and Xiyu tongwen zhi for older names; Xu Song's own observations are marked in the text.
Why it matters
Most precise pre-1850 Chinese hydrographic description of Xinjiang, giving Turki, Mongol and Chinese toponyms for rivers and lakes, with maps.
Places named
Xinjiang (Tarim, Ili, Dzungaria); Lake Balkhash; Issyk Kul
Peoples named
Qing; Kazakhs; Kirghiz; Turkic Muslims of Altishahr; Oirats