異域錄

Yìyù lù 異域錄

Record of a Strange Land by 覺羅圖理琛 (Tulišen / Tú Lǐchēn, 1667–1740) — zhuàn 撰

About the work

A 2-juan early-Qīng record of an imperial diplomatic mission from Beijing to the Tórgūt Mongols (then on the lower Volga in the territory of the Russian Empire) and back, undertaken between Kāngxī 51 fifth month (1712) and Kāngxī 54 third month (1715). The mission was undertaken by Tu-li-shen 圖理琛 (Manchu Tulišen, of the Bordered-Yellow Banner Āyán Juéluó clan; CBDB 487009; 1667–1740), then Yuánrèn nèigé shìdú (former Imperial Reading-in-Waiting), under imperial command. The mission travelled by way of Khalkha (Outer Mongolia), across Siberia and the Russian Empire, to the Tórgūt khanate at the lower Volga (then under Ayuki Khan), and returned the same way. The work was composed and presented to Kāngxī upon his return, and was further revised in 1721 with the imperial map.

The work is divided into two juan: juan 1 is a regional-geographical survey of the territories traversed (the fāngzhōu / xíngshì arrangement, with day-by-day entries appended); juan 2 narrates the embassy’s diplomatic reception, gifts, conversations, and ceremonial. The Sìkù tíyào notes the unusual format: unlike Sòng-period embassy-records (which arrange day-by-day with topographical notes appended), Tu-li-shen places topography first, with chronological notes appended. The work records numerous “great gathering-places” not in any prior Chinese gazetteer; corrects long-standing Chinese-historical doubts (e.g. on the existence of the Arctic Sea / Běihǎi: Tu-li-shen’s record of Yīnièxiè river (the Yenisei) shows that one month’s journey from there leads to the Arctic Ocean, confirming a tradition that earlier Confucian scholars had doubted; on the Sàmoyed peoples’ midsummer twilight conditions, his arrival in May verifies a Tángshū claim that earlier scholars had taken as unverified hearsay). The work also records the 14 countries on the southern (Caspian / Central Asian) Russian frontier, several of which would later be brought into Qīng territory.

The work is the principal Chinese-language pre-modern documentary record of (a) the Tórgūt khanate before its return to China in 1771; (b) the early-modern Russian Empire as known to the Qīng court; (c) the Siberian and Central-Asian land routes between China and Russia.

Tiyao

We respectfully note: the Yìyù lù in two juan is by Tú Lǐchēn of our state. Tú Lǐchēn’s surname is Āyán Juéluó, his ancestors of Yèhè; from kǎoqǔ (selection-by-examination), Nèigé zhōngshū, rose to Bīngbù zhífāngsī lángzhōng. This compilation: in Kāngxī 51 fifth month (1712), Tú Lǐchēn, as former Nèigé shìdú, by imperial command went on embassy to Tórgūt; from Khalkha across Russia to that place; in 54 third month (1715) returned to the capital; further responding to imperial command, he narrated its routes-and-distances, mountains-rivers, popular-customs, products, plus the embassy’s ceremonial response, respectfully submitting for imperial perusal. Prefaced by a yútú, then daily-entry recordings of seeing-and-hearing.

The format roughly resembles Sòng-period embassy-records; only Sòng xíngjì take days-and-months as the warp, with geography appended; this takes geography as the warp, with days-and-months appended. What is recorded — the great gathering-places — are all not in past yújì, also not paths past embassies have walked. As the Shǐjì narrative of Xiōngnú Běihǎi (the Arctic Sea) makes a doubting expression, hence Confucians often say there is no Arctic Sea — now from what Tú Lǐchēn records, knowing that the Yīnièxiè (Yenisei) is more than a month’s distance from the Arctic Ocean. Further, the Tángshū says of the Xuēyántuó (Sir-Tarduš) that the night is not very dark and one can still play bóyì (board games) — only obtained from hearsay; Tú Lǐchēn arrived at that place in the fifth month (May), knew that around the summer solstice this is verifiably the case.

All these are because of our Sage-progenitor Rénhuángdì (Kāngxī)‘s virtuous transformation extending bounteously and his awe-and-grandeur shaking the layers — hence wherever the yáochē (post-cart) reached, no one failed to provide the post-station and supply-fodder. Crossing more than 30,000-40,000 lǐ like walking through the inner chambers — hence he was able to travel-and-view at leisure, see what had not been seen, hear what had not been heard, edit-and-narrate into a complete book, supplementing the Huángtú (the Yellow Map / imperial cartography) where it had not been thorough.

We now fully record the text, so that the world-and-ten-thousand-ages may know that the Sage Civilising-influence is mílún (vast and inclusive), reaching far beyond what ZhāngHài (the Hàn-period Zhāng Qiān and Hài) walked. Further, what is recorded of the Russian and Tórgūt fearful-respectful sincere submission especially shows the Yáo Heaven’s pīmào (broadly-covering) [virtue]. The submission to zhǐshǔ (touchstone-grinding, i.e. authoritative) borders is unbounded; all those fāngzhǐ yuánlú (with square feet and round skulls = humans) gather like fish-scales, looking up at the current, performing sincere submission — kǒng hòu, since the Three-and-Five not yet seen.

Now the Tórgūt entire-people have already submitted internally, and the 14 countries of southern Russian route which are recorded — Qiánlóng […]

Abstract

The Yìyù lù is the principal early-Qīng Chinese-language documentary monograph on the Russian Empire and Inner Asia, by the Manchu official Tulišen 圖理琛 / 覺羅圖理琛 (1667–1740; CBDB 487009; zì Yīnzhōu 因周; of the Āyán Juéluó 阿顏覺羅 clan, originally of the Yèhè 葉赫 lineage; Bordered-Yellow Banner). Tulišen rose through kǎoqǔ (selection-by-examination) to Nèigé zhōngshū, then Nèigé shìdú, Bīngbù zhífāngsī lángzhōng, and eventually senior posts under Yōngzhèng (including service as Lǐfānyuàn shìláng).

The mission was undertaken from May 1712 to March 1715: from Beijing across Mongolia (passing through Khalkha and Khalka territory), then across the Siberian taiga via Selenga, Tobolsk, Kazan to the lower Volga steppes (the territory of Ayuki Khan, the principal Tórgūt ruler, who had taken his people from the Dzungarian steppes to the Volga in 1630). The diplomatic objective was to invite the Tórgūt to coordinate against the Dzungar (a Mongol confederation hostile to both the Qīng and the Tórgūt). The return was by the same route. The mission preceded by 56 years the famous Tórgūt return-to-China of 1771 under Ubashi Khan.

The work is divided into juan 1 (regional geography) and juan 2 (the embassy chronicle), with imperial map as frontispiece. It is the principal Chinese-language pre-modern documentary source on: (i) early-eighteenth-century Russia (with detailed observations on Russian governance, Orthodox religious life, dress, food, and law); (ii) the Tórgūt khanate; (iii) the Siberian and Central-Asian overland routes; (iv) the southern Russian frontier countries (Persia, the Khanates of Khiva and Bukhara). The work is also a foundational document in the early-modern history of Sino-Russian relations.

The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 594.13).

Translations and research

• Staunton, George Thomas, Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of the Tourgouth Tartars in the Years 1712, 13, 14, & 15, by the Chinese Ambassador, and Published, by the Emperor’s Authority, at Pekin (London: John Murray, 1821). Classic English translation, the earliest Western scholarly notice of the work.
• Imanishi Shunjū 今西春秋, Tulišen: Lakcaha Jecen-de takūraha Babe Ejehe Bithe (Tokyo: Tenri Daigaku Shuppanbu, 1964). Critical edition with extensive Manchu/Chinese parallel text and Japanese-language commentary; the standard scholarly apparatus.
• Peter Perdue, China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia (Harvard, 2005). Uses Tulišen extensively.
• Mark C. Elliott, The Manchu Way (Stanford, 2001).
• Pamela Crossley, A Translucent Mirror (UC Press, 1999).
• Jonathan Smele, Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars (Lanham, 2015) and other works on the Tórgūt.
• ECCP s.v. Tulisen.
• Wilkinson §74.6.

Other points of interest

The work is bilingual in origin (composed in both Manchu and Chinese; the Manchu original Lakcaha Jecen-de Takūraha Babe Ejehe Bithe and the Chinese Yìyù lù are parallel texts) — making it one of the principal early-Qīng documents available in both court languages. The Manchu version often preserves more terminological detail than the Chinese.

Links

• Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5945411 (Tulišen)
• Imanishi, Tulišen: Lakcaha Jecen-de Takūraha Babe Ejehe Bithe (Tokyo, 1964)
• ECCP s.v. Tulisen
• Wilkinson §74.6