Although the intimate knowledge of Ceylon acquired by the Chinese at an early period, is distinctly ascribable to the sympathy and intercourse promoted by community of religion, there is traditional, if not historical evidence that its origin, in a remote age, may be traced to the love of gain and their eagerness for the extension of commerce. The Singhalese ambassadors who arrived at Rome in the reign of the Emperor Clandius, stated that their ancestors had reached China by traversing India and the Himalayan mountains long before ships had attempted the voyage by sea[1], and as late as the fifth century of the Christian era, the King of Ceylon[2], in an address delivered by his envoy to the Emperor of China, shows that both routes were then in use.[3]
1: PLINY, b. vi. ch. xxiv.
2: Maha Naama, A.D. 428; Sung-shoo, a "History of the Northern Sung Dynasty," b. xcvii, p. 5.
3: It was probably the knowledge of the overland route that led the Chinese to establish their military colonies in Kashgar, Yarkhand and the countries lying between their own frontier and the north-east boundary of India.—Journ. Asiat. 1. vi. p. 343. An embassy from China to Ceylon, A.D. 607, was entrusted to Chang-Tsuen, "Director of the Military Lands."—Suy-shoo; b. lxxxi. p. 3.
It is not, however, till after the third century of the Christian era that we find authentic records of such journeys in the literature of China. The Buddhist pilgrims, who at that time resorted to India, published on their return itineraries and descriptions of the distant countries they had visited, and officers, both military and civil, brought back memoirs and statistical statements for the information of the government and the guidance of commerce.[1]
1: REINAUD, Mémoir sur l'Inde, p. 9. STANISLAS JULIEN, preface to his translation of Hiouen-Thsang, Paris, 1853, p. 1. A bibliographical notice of the most important Chinese works which contain descriptions of India, by M.S. JULIEN, will be found in the Journ. Asiat. for October, 1832, p. 264.
It was reasonable to anticipate that in such records information would be found regarding the condition of Ceylon as it presented itself from time to time to the eyes of the Chinese; but unfortunately numbers of the original works have long since perished, or exist only in extracts preserved in dynastic histories and encyclopædias, or in a class of books almost peculiar to China, called "tsung-shoo," consisting of excerpts reproduced from the most ancient writers. M. Stanislas Julien discovered in the Pien-i-tien, ("a History of Foreign Nations," of which there is a copy in the Imperial Library of Paris,) a collection of fragments from Chinese authors who had treated of Ceylon; but as the intention of that eminent Sinologue to translate them[1] has not yet been carried into effect, they are not available to me for consultation. In this difficulty I turned for assistance to China; and through the assiduous kindness of Mr. Wylie, of the London Mission at Shanghai, I have received extracts from twenty-four Chinese writers between the fifth and eighteenth centuries, from which and from translations of Chinese travels and topographies made by Remusat, Klaproth, Landresse, Pauthier, Stanislas Julien, and others, I have been enabled to collect the following facts relative to the knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Chinese in the middle ages.[2]
1: Journ. Asiat. t. xxix. p. 39. M. Stanislas Julien is at present engaged in the translation of the Si-yu-ki, or "Mémoires des Contrées Occidentales," the eleventh chapter of which contains an account of Ceylon in the eighth century.
2: The Chinese works referred to in the following pages are.—Sung-shoo, the "History of the Northern Sung Dynasty," A.D. 417-473, by CHIN-YŎ, written about A.D. 487,—Wei-shoo, "a History of the Wei Tartar Dynasty," A.D. 386-556, by WEI-SHOW, A.D. 590.—Foĕ-Kouĕ Ki, an "Account of the Buddhist Kingdoms," by CH[)Y]-FĂ-HIAN, A.D. 399-414, French transl., by Rémusat, Klaproth, and Landresse. Paris, 1836.—Leang-shoo, "History of the Leang Dynasty," A.D. 502-557, by YAOU-SZE-LEEN, A.D. 630.—Suy-shoo, "History of the Suy Dynasty," A.D. 581-617, by WEI-CHING, A.D. 633.—HIOUEN-THSANG. His Life and Travels, A.D. 645, French, transl., by Stanislas Julien. Paris, 1853.—Nan-shè, "History of the Southern Empire," A.D. 317-589, by LE-YEN-SHOW, A.D. 650,—Tung-tëen, "Cyclopædia of History," by TOO-YEW, A.D. 740.—KÉ-NËĔ si-yĭh hing-Ching, "Itinerary of KÉ-NËĔ's Travels in the Western Regions," from A.D. 964-979.—Tae-ping yu-lan, "The Tae-ping Digest of History," compiled by Imperial Command, A.D. 983.—Tsĭh-foo yuen-Kwei, "Great Depository of the National Archives," compiled by Imperial Command, A.D. 1012.—Sin-Tang-shoo, "A New History of the Tang Dynasty," A.D. 618-906, by GOW-YANG-SEW and SING-KÉ, A.D. 1060.—Tung-che, "National Annals," by CHING-TSEAOU, A.D. 1150.—Wăn-hëén tung-kaou, "Antiquarian Researches," by MA-TWAN-LIN, A.D. 1319. Of this remarkable work there is an admirable analysis by Klaproth in the Asiatic Journal for 1832, vol. xxxv. p. 110, and one still more complete in the Journal Asiatique, vol. xxi. p. 3. The portion relating to Ceylon has been translated into French by M. Pauthier in the Journal Asiatique for April, 1836, and again by M. Stanislas Julien in the same Journal for July, 1836, t. xxix, p. 36.—Yŭh-hae, "The Ocean of Gems," by WANG-YANG-LIN, A.D. 1338.—Taou-e cheleŏ, "A General Account of Island Foreigners," by WANG-TA-YOUEN, A.D. 1350.—Tsĭh-ké, "Miscellaneous Record;" written at the end of the Yuen dynasty, about the close of the fourteenth century.—Po-wŭh yaou-lan, "Philosophical Examiner;" written during the Ming dynasty, about the beginning of the fifteenth century.—Se-yĭh-ke foo-choo, "A Description of Western Countries," A.D. 1450. This is the important work of which M. Stanislas Julien has recently published the first volume of his French translation, Mémoires des Contrées Occidentales, Paris, 1857; and of which he has been so obliging as to send me those sheets of the second volume, now preparing for the press, which contain the notices of Ceylon by HIOUEN-THSANG. They, however, add very little to the information already given in the Life and Travels of Hiouen-Thsang.—Woo-heŏ-pëen, "Records of the Ming Dynasty," by CHING-HEAOU, A.D. 1522.—Sŭh-wan-hëen tung-kaou, "Supplement to the Antiquarian Researches," by WANG-KÉ, A.D. 1603.—Sŭh-Hung këen-luh, "Supplement to the History of the Middle Ages," by SHAOU-YUEN-PING, A.D. 1706.—Ming-she, "History of the Ming Dynasty," A.D. 1638-1643, by CHANG-TING-YŬH, A.D. 1739.—Ta-tsing yĭh-tung, "A Topographical Account of the Manchoo Dynasty," of which there is a copy in the British Museum.