Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Notes on Chinese Mediaeval Travellers to the West
In publishing these pages, the principal object in view has been to furnish savants interested in the ancient history and geography of Asia, with some interesting materials found in ancient Chinese literature. I have tried to make these translations as correct as possible, and it seems to me, that Peking is the only place, where such investigations can be successfully made; for the greater part of the ancient Chinese books re quired for reference can hardly be found in any European library, or in other libraries elsewhere in China. Peking is also the residence, at the present time, of several of the most accomplished sinologues, besides which there is no want of erudite native scholars; so that even a begin ner, as I am, in this branch of knowledge, is in a position to under stand Chinese works of difficult style, which could hardly be translatedcorrectly in Europe. I am however, far from asserting that my version is unimpeachable. Every sinologue knows how apt the ambiguous Chinese style is to give rise to misunderstandings, and often the Chinese themselves are unable to solve the difficulties.
At the time I wrote the translation of Ch'ang-ch'un' s travels, I had not access to a good book of reference for identifying the dates occurring in the Chinese text, with the corresponding European dates and I have therefore always given the Chinese dates, and mentioned the corresponding European days only approximately. Subsequently Mr. Wylie had the kindness to draw my attention to the importance of specifying the European dates, for Ch'ang-ch'un mentions precisely the date of a total eclipse of the sun, which was seen in western as well as in eastern Asia. As I know Mr. Wylie has given some attention to Chinese astronomy and chronology, I requested him to do me the favour of writing a few explanatory notes regarding this question, to which he kindly agreed.
In conclusion I have to state, that instead of three narratives of travel as announced in the Introduction, one more is added, for which I need not apologize.
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