Zhou Daguan

Zhou Daguan (also Chou Ta -kuan; Chinese周 达 观, Pinyin Zhou Daguan ) lived during the Yuan Dynasty in East China and was a member of an imperial delegation, from 1296 to 1297, the then capital of the Khmer, Yasodharapura visited, that in the region Angkor is located. The continuing importance of Zhou's based on his account of this journey, which bears the title Zhenla fengtu ji (真 腊 风土 记) to German "Report of Cambodia ".

Life

Zhou's life data will be derived from three documents:

Probably Zhuo was so in his twenties when he traveled to Cambodia; he published his travel report within 15 years after coming back and maybe lived into his eighties, which was not unusual in China at that time. However, its exact survival data are not known.

If it is, Zhou came from Yongjia, then so a circle of major port city of Wenzhou is not about ( in the modern sense ) meant, but (as previously usual) the city as a whole. Zhou Daguans origin from Whenzou is an important clue in an attempt to classify his personality and worldview. The now looks back upon a five thousand year history of the port city, located on the southeast China coast about halfway between Hong Kong and Shanghai, to this day is a dynamic commercial center. Also during the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty embossed (1279-1368) was a place of Wenzhou interior and exterior trade, craft and the arts, influenced by many beliefs (Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, but also Islam and Christianity ). Zhou himself was probably influenced buddhist especially, at least he speaks in his work with great respect by Buddhism.

Work

The complete title of the travelogue is denominated in German "Report on the manners and customs of the people and the geographical features of Cambodia". The first two translations of the work were made into French in 1819 by Jean -Pierre Abel - Rémusat, 1902 by Paul Pelliot. Pelliot's excellent version has been widely translated into other languages ​​; the first independent English translation, described by the critics as a future "Standard Version", 2007 the sinologist anxious, researchers, academics, NGO representatives, author and BBC producer Peter Harris.

Zhou's report paints a picture of Cambodia for the time of King Sindravarman (reigned 1295-1307 ), the Theravada Buddhism drew to a close, so long after the great king and Mahayana Buddhists Jayavarman VII ( 1181 -ca. 1220 ) and directly after the iconoclastic Hindu Jayavarman VIII (ca. 1243-1295 ), who had destroyed numerous Buddha images.

The book, as it has come down to us consists of a preface and forty sections; other sections are believed to have been lost, others were corrupted, re-inserted others in the wrong place.

The preface is, among other things, the basic parameters of the trip: Zhou Wenzhou left "on imperial decree " converted on March 24, 1296 Champa reached on April 18, 1296, and Cambodia ( across the Mekong and Tonle Sap to ) in August. Less than a year later, between June 21 and July 20, 1297, he left Cambodia and reached Mingzhou, today's Ningbo ( a port city north of Wenzhou), on 30 August 1297th

The following topics are covered in the forty sections: (1) the system known today as Angkor Thom city; ( 2) the royal palace and the homes of rich and poor; (3) the clothes; (4 ) the officers; ( 5) representatives of three doctrines ( scholars, Buddhists, Taoists ); (6 ) the people (appearance, the women of the king, the palace servants, homosexuals ); ( 7) the birth; ( 8) Initiation of the girls; (9 ) slaves; (10 ) the national language; (11 ) "Wild "; (12 ) the font; (13 ) Fixed in Ordinary and astronomy; (14 ) the settlement of disputes; (15 ) Leprosy ( widely used by Zhou's opinion, because people " go after lovemaking into the water and swim " often ) and other diseases; (16 ) death; (17 ) Agriculture and defecation; (18 ) the landscape; (19 ) Natural Products; ( 20) of the trade; (21 ) looking for Chinese goods; (22 ) Flora; (23 ) the birds; (24 ) Wild animals and farm animals; (25 ) vegetables; (26 ) fish and reptiles (eg " crocodiles as big as boats" ); (27 ) fermented beverages; (28 ) salt and spices; (29 ) silk production immigrant Siamese; (30 ) Kitchen utensils and tableware, furniture and mosquito nets; (31 ) palanquins, chariots and elephants saddle; (32 ) boat building; (33 ) prefectures; (34 ) villages; (35 ) by collecting human bile for the king of Champa; (36 ) of the risk to grow together in incest; (37 ) bathing culture; (38 ) Reasons for Chinese sailors in Cambodia to stay; (39 ) the army (inadequate equipment and management ); (40 ) the king.

Zhou's book is the only surviving eyewitness account of daily life in the historic Angkor Empire. In each section shows the openness, versatile Interested and intelligence of the young foreigner. Peter Harris: "Many details of Angkor he is correct is ( although a few wrong). And he convinces us that he has most of what he tells us, seen. "

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