Wading Barefoot Through a Mountain Stream

Experience dramatic mountain vistas and karst caves with China's most famous travel writer
Xu Xiake stands as China's most distinguished traveler and travel writer, whose extensive journeys through Ming-dynasty China offer a unique window into the era's geography, history, and cultural traditions. This new, fully annotated English translation of Travel Diaries of Xu Xiake (Xu Xiake youji) demonstrates his characteristic emphasis on the experience of the journey itself in the context of his lifelong search for extraordinary landscapes--ranging from dramatic Mount Huang to multiethnic Lijiang in Yunnan. The diaries are known for both their literary and scientific significance. Notably, Xu was among the first to trace the source of the Changjiang (or Yangzi) to the Gold Dust (Jinsha) River and to undertake scientific exploration of karst caves in the southwest. Late-imperial Chinese armchair travelers delighted in his narrative prose, which vividly evokes terrain, inviting readers to experience scenic wonders, including topography of the remote border regions of Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan. Along with the translated diaries, this volume includes maps and illustrations, allowing readers to follow Xu's routes. It will be indispensable for scholars of Chinese history, geography, and travel writing and will bring Xu Xiake's extraordinary journeys to a broader audience.

James M. Hargett is professor of Chinese at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. He is the author of Jade Mountains and Cinnabar Pools: The History of Travel Literature in China (University of Washington Press, 2018) and Stairway to Heaven: A Journey to the Summit of Mount Emei (SUNY Press, 2006); and translator of Treatises of the Supervisor and Guardian of the Cinnamon Sea: The Natural World and Material Culture of Twelfth Century South China (University of Washington Press, 2010) and Riding the River Home: A Complete and Annotated Translation of Fan Chengda's (1126-1193) Boat Trip to Wu (Wuchuan lu) (Chinese University Press, 2008).