Du Huan’s 杜環 Perception of the Ecumene in the 8th Century

From Firenze University Press Book: Navigating the Mediterranean Through the Chinese Lens

Victoria Almonte, Tuscia University, Italy

This chapter deals with a preliminary analysis of the journey that Du Huan 杜環 took toward Western countries, during the Tang dynasty (618–907). In particular, it focuses on the perception of the Mediterranean area, conceived as a transcultural and transnational territory, as reflected in the eyes of a Chinese traveller of the 8th century. The idea for this study emerged from research questions that arose through discussions with colleagues. Among these research questions were: did the Chinese know the Mediterranean area in ancient times, before the arrival of the Jesuits in China? How did the Chinese perceive this portion of the ecumene during the Tang and Song dynasties? These inquiries prompted me to delve into the past and examine one of the earliest travel works written in Chinese by a real traveller, thereby exploring how the Chinese image and representation of the Mediterranean territory evolved over hundreds of years. One of the most important studies in this field was carried out by Yu Taishan 余太山, who collected and analysed Chinese references to the Mediterranean territory (including the Eastern Roman Empire) in ancient Chinese sources, labelled according to literary genre. He scrutinised dynastic histories, travel works, geographical treatises, Taoist and Buddhist works as well as supernatural writings (Yu 2013; Li and Yu 2009). He studied Du You’s 杜佑 (735–812 CE) work, Tong dian 通典 (Encyclopaedic History of Institutions), which mentioned Du Huan’s work several times, but he did not mention Du Huan’s travel book, Jing xing ji 經行記 (Memories of a Journey or Records of My Travels). Du Huan is thought to be one of the first Chinese travellers to have visited and recorded his observations about the north-western coast of Africa and other territories, under the influence and the control of the Arab-Islamic empire during the 8th century. His work reveals a prominent interest in the customs and habits of the local populations, which he described with great ability. Unfortunately, his work Jing xing ji has been almost completely lost except for a few extracts found in the Tong dian written in 801 by Du You — a relative of Du Huan. T hese fragments contain 1,513 Chinese characters and form just two out of 200 chapters (or scrolls) of the Tong dian. They reveal some very insightful observations of various places that Du Huan visited, and pioneering impressions about faraway places almost unknown to the Chinese in the 8th century. I tried to read Du Huan’s work with an overall vision of his knowledge of the Mediterranean area (and regarding the ecumene as a whole), not focusing on one country at a time. This analysis will bring out how already in the very early geographical sources the Mediterranean area was seen as a transcultural entity and his perception went beyond all imperial, national and geographical borders. Du Huan’s work has been analysed and annotated by several Chinese scholars. Among them, Ding Qian 丁謙 (1843–1919), who wrote the essay Jing xing ji dili kaozheng 經行記地理考證 (Philological Analysis of the Geographical Work Jing Xing Ji), deserves a mention, as well as Zhang Yichun 张一纯 who in 2000 compiled the Jing xing ji jianzhu 经行记笺注 (Commentary on Jing Xing Ji), a fully annotated version of Du Huan’s work. Zhang’s study includes a rich preface and has been inserted in the book series Zhonghua jiaotong shiji congkan 中外交通史籍丛刊 (Series on Historical Contacts between China and the Rest of the World). In more general terms, in 2011 the Chinese Arabist Song Xian 宋岘 wrote the history of the cultural relationships between China and the Arab empire (Zhongguo Alabo wenhua jiaoliu shi hua 中国阿拉伯文化交流史话) and largely quoted Du Huan’s manuscript, since it can be considered one of the most relevant works about Chinese Arabic contacts (Song 2011, 11). In 2022 Xiao Chaoyu 肖超宇 wrote a very interesting essay, highlighting the ethnographical value of Du Huan’s work, Minzuzhi shijiao xia de Jing xing ji 民族志视角下的《经行记》 (Xiao 2022). Although the first complete translations only came to light very recently (in the last two decades as we will soon see), over the last two centuries various scholars dedicated articles to specific chapters of the work, providing useful annotated translations; moreover, short mentions of passages from Jing xing ji are scattered throughout several other works and papers, such as H. Yule (1871), Hirth (1885), Chavannes (1903), Pelliot (1929),1 and W. Smidt (2001) who focused on the section about Molin 摩隣 country (Smidt 2001, 4). It is worth noting that a very incisive graphic biography of Du Huan’s life and journey is available online, provided by the Khan academy, that offers young readers an important tool for understanding Du Huan’s value.2 Two annotated translations of Du Huan’s manuscript are available so far: one published by Alexander Akin (2000) and one by Wan Lei (2017). Their works reveal remarkable differences: in describing the countries visited by Du Huan, Wan followed the order reported by Du You’s Tong dian, whereas Akin preferred to follow an imaginary geographical line of Du Huan’s journey from the East to the West and vice versa (his journey back to China).3 We will see this in more detail in the next paragraph. I am extremely grateful to all of the scholars who approached this work before me for inspiring me to further investigate Du Huan’s Jing xing ji. Du Huan’s manuscript gives a crucial contribution to the studies regarding China’s contacts with the rest of the world, particularly about the historical exchanges between China and Africa and China and the Arab-Islamic world (Song 2011, 8; Smidt 2001, 3). Furthermore, his writings testify to the extent of the knowledge of the far West (intended as the Mediterranean area) that the Chinese already had in the 8th century, and reflect Du Huan’s interest for new original aspects (never mentioned in earlier works), probably based on first-hand observations, noted down by the author himself: for instance, the expressions related to the concept of multiculturalism and to the perception of religion that Du Huan mentions in his description of the Arab-Islamic world, and not only in this section. T his chapter offers an innovative interpretation of Du Huan’s work, looking into it with a more open and flexible approach than the traditional method, which confines his words within geographical borders. It presents a multicultural and transnational viewpoint of the ecumene as reflected in Du’s accounts, aiming at grasping the extent to which his perception of the ancient world was global, globalised and cosmopolitan (Frankopan 2015, 28). To address the previously proposed research questions, this chapter will examine not only Du Huan’s narrative regarding encounters with the Mediterranean portion of the ecumene, but also the political landscape he described. His account of alliances and conflicts further emphasises the interconnected nature of ancient civilisations. These political dynamics frequently transcended regional boundaries, impacting multiple territories and peoples, thereby contributing to a globalised perspective. T he chapter is divided into two sections: the first section provides some information about Du Huan’s life and the events that led him to reach such faraway territories; the second section is focused on his work, Jing xing ji, and some interesting and noteworthy aspects about it, seen from a multicultural point of view.

DOI: 10.36253/979–12–215–0598–6.06

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