A MID-MING ACCOUNT OF THE ROAD INTO EXILE

Abstract

Late imperial China's borders and peripheral regions have been a major focus of recent scholarship, and one of the most important of many sources has been the travelogue. Through the latter, scholars have been able to examine both the relatively elite members of Chinese society who made such records and the non-Han inhabitants of the regions whom they often described. In this paper, I will examine a particular travelogue titled Diancheng ji <inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in1.tif"/> Afygo., (Record of a Trip to Dian [Yunnanj). It was written by the Ming dynasty scholar and exile Yang Shen <inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in2.tif"/> (zi Yongxiu <inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in3.tif"/> hao Sheng'an <inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in4.tif"/> <inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="splitsection2_in5.tif"/> 14, 1488–1559) and describes Yang's route into exile in 1524 through China's southwest region. The focus of this paper will be an analysis of four themes in the work: the description of the natural world; a discussion of the description of the various peoples of the Southwest; the construction of this world by cultural figures and the accounts of religious and ritual aspects of the regional inhabitants. I hope my reading will extend and challenge several of the arguments that have been made about travel writing, the periphery, and elite cultures in the late imperial period of China.