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{{Short description|Chinese geographer and traveller}}
{{Infobox person
|name= Xu Xiake
|image= Xu Xiake.png
|image_size= 200px
|image caption= Portrait of Xu Xiake
|birth_name= Xu Hongzu
|birth_date= 5 January 1587
|birth_place= [[Jiangsu]], [[Ming dynasty|Ming China]]
|death_date= 8 March 1641 (aged 54)
|death_place= [[Jiangyin]], [[Nanzhili]], Ming China
|education= 
|occupation= Explorer,  [[geographer]],  [[travel writer]]
|spouse=
|parents=
|children=
}}

{{infobox Chinese
|c=徐霞客
|p=Xú Xiákè
|w=Hsü<sup>2</sup> Hsia<sup>2</sup>-k'o<sup>4</sup>
|mi={{IPAc-cmn|x|ü|2|-|x|ia|2|.|k|e|4}}
|j=Ceoi4 Haa4-haak3
|y=Chèui Hàahhaak
|ci={{IPAc-yue|c|eoi|4|-|h|aa|4|.|h|aak|3}}
}}
[[File:Jiangyin Xu Xiake Guju 2015.04.24 09-34-58.jpg|thumbnail|Former residence of Xu Xiake in Jiangyin|alt=]]
[[File:Jiangyin Xu Xiake Guju 2015.04.24 10-10-34.jpg|thumbnail|Tomb of Xu Xiake|alt=]]
{{family name hatnote|[[Xu (surname 徐)|Xu]]|lang=Chinese}}
'''Xu Xiake''' ({{zh|c=徐霞客|p=Xú Xiákè|w='''Hsü Hsia-k'o'''}}, January 5, 1587 – March 8, 1641), born '''Xu Hongzu''' ({{lang|zh|徐弘祖}}), [[courtesy name]] '''Zhenzhi''' ({{lang|zh|振之}}), was a Chinese explorer, [[geographer]], and [[travel writer]] of the [[Ming dynasty]], known best for his famous geographical treatise, and noted for his bravery and humility. He traveled throughout China for more than 30 years, documenting his travels extensively. The records of his travels were compiled posthumously in ''[[Xu Xiake's Travels|The Travel Diaries of Xu Xiake]]'', and his work translated by Ding Wenjiang.<ref name="needham volume 3 524">Needham, Volume 3, 524.</ref> Xu's writing falls under the old Chinese literary category of 'travel record literature' ('youji wenxue'“遊記文學”), which used [[narrative]] and [[prose]] styles of writing to portray one's travel experiences.<ref name="hargett 67 69">Hargett, 67–69.</ref>

The [[People's Liberation Army Navy]] barracks ship ''[[Chinese barracks ship Xu Xiake|Xu Xiake]]'' was named after him.

== Life ==

With ancestors from [[Jiangxi]] province, Xu Xiake was born in what is today [[Jiangyin]] (in [[Jiangsu]] province) as Xu Hongzu ({{lang|zh|宏祖}}), as the second son of Xu Yu'an (徐豫庵, 1545–1594) and Wang Ruren (王孺人, 1545–1625). It was often said his mother encouraged him to travel and this shaped Xu's predilections. His sobriquet is Zhenzhi ({{lang|zh|振之}}). ''Xiake'' was an alternate [[sobriquet]] ({{lang|zh|別號}}) given to him by his friend [[Chen Jiru]] (陳繼儒, 1558–1639) and it means "one who is in the sunset clouds". His other friend, [[Huang Daozhou]] (黃道周, 1585–1646), also gave Xu an alternate sobriquet: ''Xiayi'' ({{lang|zh|霞逸}}), meaning "untrammelled in the sunset clouds."

On his journeys throughout China, he travelled with a servant called Gu Xing ({{lang|zh|顧行}}). He faced many hardships along the way, as he was often dependent on the patronage of local scholars who would help him after he had been robbed of all his belongings.<ref name="needham volume 3 524" /> Local Buddhist abbots of the various places he visited often would pay him money as well, for the small service of recording the history of their local monastery.<ref name="needham volume 3 524" /> From the snowy passes of [[Sichuan]], to the subtropical jungles of [[Guangxi]] and [[Yunnan]], to the mountains of [[Tibet]], Xu Xiake wrote of all his experiences and provided enormous amounts of written detail from his observations.

==Travel records==
{{anchor|geography|diary|journals|records}}
[[File:Travels of Xu Xiake.png|thumb|Travel routes of Xu Xiake]]

The written work of Xu Xiake's travel records and diaries contained some 404,000 [[Chinese character]]s, an enormous work for a single author of his time.<ref name="hargett 69">Hargett, 69.</ref> Xu traveled throughout the provinces of Ming China, often on foot, to write his enormous geographical and [[topography|topographical]] treatise, documenting various details of his travels, such as the locations of small gorges, or [[mineral]] beds such as [[mica]] [[schists]].<ref name="needham volume 3 525"/> Xu's work was quite systematic, providing accurate details of measurement, and his work, later translated into modern Chinese by [[Ding Wenjiang]], reads more like the accounts of a 20th-century field surveyor than an early 17th-century scholar.<ref name="needham volume 3 525" /> In [[Guizhou]], he made the discovery of the true source of the [[Xi Jiang|West River]]. He also discovered the [[Mekong]] and [[Salween River|Salween]] rivers were, in fact, separate drainages with completely separate watersheds.<ref name="needham volume 3 525">Needham, Volume 3, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jfQ9E0u4pLAC&q=Quantitative+Cartography+in+East+and+West p. 524-525].</ref> Xu made the important realization that the [[Jinsha River|Jinsha river]] network {{ndash}} and not the [[Min River (Sichuan)|Min]] or [[Yalong River|Yalong]] {{ndash}} formed the true headwaters of the [[Yangtze|Yangtze River]], correcting a mistake in Chinese geography as old as the "[[Tribute of Yu]]" compiled by [[Confucius]] in the [[Classic of History]].<ref name="needham volume 3 525" />

== Notes ==

{{reflist}}

== References ==
* Hargett, James M. "Some Preliminary Remarks on the Travel Records of the Song Dynasty (960–1279)," Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (July 1985): 67–93.
* Ward, Julian, and Hongzu Xu. 2001. Xu Xiake (1587–1641): the art of travel writing. Richmond [England]: Curzon. {{ISBN|0-7007-1319-0}}.
* [[Needham, Joseph]] (1959). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Mathematics and the Sciences of Heaven and Earth''. Vol III (Cambridge University Press, 1959).
* {{cite ECCP|title=Hsü Hung-tsu}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Xu Xiake}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070411044627/http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_madeinchina/2005-09/02/content_72439.htm Xu Xiake bio at Chinaculture.org]
* {{Cite web|url=http://open-lit.com/bookindex.php?gbid=185|title=Travel Diary of Xu Xiake (徐霞客遊記)|language=zh|publisher=open-lit.com|access-date=January 11, 2014|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303214514/http://open-lit.com/bookindex.php?gbid=185|url-status=dead}}

{{Chinese travellers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu Xiake}}


[[Category:1587 births]]
[[Category:1641 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Chinese scientists]]
[[Category:17th-century Chinese writers]]
[[Category:17th-century geographers]]
[[Category:Chinese explorers]]
[[Category:17th-century explorers]]
[[Category:Chinese geographers]]
[[Category:Chinese travel writers]]
[[Category:Ming dynasty writers]]
[[Category:Scientists from Wuxi]]
[[Category:Writers from Wuxi]]