The Xichui Zongtong Shilüe as the Source on the Historical Geography of Central Asia

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the study of the Chinese written source Xichui Zongtong Shilüe西陲總统事略 (The General Description of the Western Outskirts) and its information on the historical geography of Central Asia. The purpose of the article is to analyze the written source, provide information about the authors, compilers and editors of the writing, as well as introduce new information on the history of Central Asia in the second half of the 18th century into scientific circulation. The information from the Xichui Zongtong Shilüe covers a wide range of socio-economic, political and military life on the northwestern borders of Xinjiang and contains unknown and little-studied data on the historical geography, the history and culture of the peoples of Central Asia, the political situation in the region in the Qing era. The historical and chronological analysis is applied in the research of the information of the Xichui Zongtong Shilüe on the historical geography of Central Asia. The article analyses the works of Chinese and Russian-speaking authors related to our research, using generalizing and comparative research methods. For the first time, extracts from the Xichui Zongtong Shilüe are introduced into scientific circulation, which supplement and expand general information on the history of the peoples of Central Asia, on their relationship with Qing China in the second half of the 18th century. Information on the history of the creation of the work and its publication is given. The main cities and fortresses located on the slopes of the Tian Shan along two main roads (Northern and Southern) leading to Central Asia are listed. A brief description of the economic structure of the peoples near the border points is given. The efforts of the Qing administration to organize the supply of border outposts and many other issues are highlighted. This research has been funded by the Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant No. AP09259919).