Chapter Wang Dayuan’s 汪大淵 Daoyi Zhilüe 島夷志略: Did the World Beyond Chinese Borders Stretch to Morocco?

Abstract

Wang Dayuan (14th century) travelled far and wide during the Yuan dynasty. On his two voyages he sailed to hundreds of places in Southeast Asia and India, also reaching the Near East and the coast of Africa. His work, the Daoyi zhilüe (1349/50), gathered information on places and local traditions, offering a Chinese view of the world beyond the imperial borders. This chapter examines Wang’s work and provides an analysis of the 77th section of the Daoyi zhilüe, entitled Taji’na to enhance our understanding of how far the known world outside Chinese extended at that time and to determine whether Wang Dayuan actually crossed the Mediterranean Sea, as some scholars claim.