Xu Xiake

Xu Xiake , born Xu Hongzu , courtesy name Zhenzhi , was a travel writer and geographer of the Ming Dynasty known best for his famous geographical treatise, and noted for his bravery and humility. He traveled throughout China for more than 30 years, documenting his travels extensively . Xu's writing falls under the old Chinese literary category of 'travel record literature' , which used narrative and prose styles of writing to portray one's travel experiences.

Life

With an ancestry in Jiangxi, he was born Xu Hongzu , as the second son of Xu Yu'an and Wang Ruren . It was often commented that it was his mother's encouragement for him to travel that shaped Xu's predilections. His sobriquet is Zhenzhi . ''Xiake'' was an alternate sobriquet given to him by his friend Chen Jiru and it means "one who is in the sunset clouds". His other friend, Huang Daozhou , also gave Xu an alternate sobriquet: ''Xiayi'' , meaning "untrammelled in the sunset clouds."

On his journeys throughout China he travelled with a servant called Gu Xing . He faced many hardships along the way, as he was often dependent on the patronage of local scholars who would help him after being robbed of all his belongings. Xu traveled throughout the provinces of China to write his enormous geographical and treatise, documenting various details of his travels, such as the locations of small gorges, or mineral beds such as mica schists . It was because of the confusion of earlier Chinese over the enormous bend and detour of the Lu Nan Shan mountains that they believed the Jin Sha Jiang River was its own. It was Xu Xiake who discovered that the Jin Sha Jiang was simply the northern section of the Yangtze River.