Toponymic Representation Of Central Asia In Xuan Zang’s “Great Tang Records On The Western Regions”

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the book “The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions” which recounts the historical journey of the Chinese traveller Xuan Zang to Central Asia in 627 AD, as he embarked on a travelling to India to study Buddhism. Throughout his travels, Xuan Zang meticulously documented the events he witnessed, the geographical locations of various countries, as well as the ethnography and daily life of the medieval inhabitants of the region. The travelogue provides detailed accounts of the distances and routes to several Central Asian countries, offering valuable topographical insights into the history of the region. Xuan Zang's extensive journey encompassed territories that now belong to the Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, offering unique perspectives and impressions of the places he visited. Furthermore, this article delves into comparative analyses of the accounts provided in Xuan Zang’s “The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions” and the Chinese historian Ouyang Xiu’s “Xin Tan Shu” presenting findings from scholarly works by Uzbek, Russian, and Chinese historians. This study sheds light on the rich historical and geographical information preserved in these pivotal sources.