Ying-yai Sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores [1433]

Ma Huan, J.V.G. Mills (Translator)
ISBN: 9dbffba2a03b Category:

$80.00

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First hand account by a classically trained Chinese/Muslim diplomat who traveled with the Ming Treasure Fleet in the early 15th century. Provided some of the first written eye-witness accounts of various South/East Asian cultures. A bureaucrat at heart, the prose is workmanlike and listing. As a narrator, he is virtually invisible, so it’s exceedingly difficult to judge whether or not he gathered his information first hand or from his peers/subordinates. His interest in marriage and funeral rites along with systems of justice informs the more compelling passages of the piece. Encounters with Buddhism, Hinduism & Islam reveal are particularly mosaic spiritual map of the East. Prev owner’s bookplate, dustjacket protector applied, pp. xix, 393 illusts First Edition #0119Less entertaining but more factual than the Gavin Menzies historical fantasies of “1421 : The Year China Discovered the World”1434 : The Year A Chinese Fleet Sailed To France and Ignited the Renaissance”

Additional Information

AuthorMa Huan, J.V.G. Mills (Translator)
PublisherCambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society
Year Published1970
Book Condition

Very Good

Binding Type

Hardcover in Dustjacket

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