Chen Cheng (diplomat)

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Chen Cheng ( Chinese  陈诚 , Pinyin Chén Chéng ; 1365 - 1457 ) was a diplomat of the Ming Dynasty . Born in Jiangxi Province 3 years before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he made a career as a learned civil servant under Emperor Hongwu . He held important positions under Emperor Yongle , who gave him diplomatic missions in the Timurid Empire . After he was editor of the Yongle Encyclopedia from 1406 to 1411 in the Imperial Library in Beijinghe led the diplomatic missions of the Ming to the court of the Timurids in Samarkand and Herat from 1414 to 1420 together with Li Xian and the eunuchs Li Da and Lu An . On the occasion of these trips, the Timurid rulers Shāh Ruch and Ulugh Beg were presented with imperial edicts and gifts. Local rulers and chiefs along the route from China to Central Asia were also given gifts.

In addition to his travel poems, there are especially his reports to the emperor "Xi Yu Fan Guo Zhi" (西域 番 国 志) "Report on the barbaric countries in the western region" and his travel diary "Xi Yu Xing Cheng Ji" (西域 行程 記) " Report on a trip to the Western Territories ", which had a great and lasting influence on politics and culture. The descriptions of topography, products and customs it contains are the most extensive source of information on Central Asia in the Ming period. While the travel diary begins chronologically with the first day of departure in Suzhou (Jiuquan) and describes the travel stages up to the arrival in Herat, the Xi Yu Fan Guo Zhi begins with a description of the destination, the Timurid capital Herat and the further stages such as Samarkand and Turfan. Chen Cheng traveled west several times with embassies. He began his last mission to Herat together with Guo Jing in the summer of 1420. Chen Cheng retired from civil service in 1424.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kauz, Ralph. Politics and trade between Ming and Timurids. P. 123.
  2. ^ Richtsfeld, Bruno. The notes of Ch'en Ch'eng and Li Hsien about the legation trip to Herat. Master's thesis, Munich 1985 (here also German translations of travel diary and travel report)
  3. ↑ Kauz, Ralph. Politics and trade between Ming and Timurids. P. 141.

literature

  • Didier, Michel. Chen Cheng (1365-1457) Ambassadeur des premiers empereurs Ming. Editions Peeters. 2012
  • Franke, Wolfgang. "The Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)." In Historians of China and Japan, edited by WG Beasely and EG Pulleyblank, 60-77. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.
  • Goodrich L. Carrington and Fang Zhaoying, ed. Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368-1644. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976).
  • Haidar, Mansura (Ed.). The Silk Road: Trade, Caravan Serais, Cultural Exchanges and Power Games. Aryan Books International 2014.
  • Hecker, Felicia J. A Fifteenth-Century Chinese Diplomat in Herat. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series), (1993), 3, pp 85-98. doi : 10.1017 / S1356186300003692 .
  • Höllmann, Thomas O. The Silk Road. CH Beck 2004.
  • Kauz, Ralph. Politics and trade between Ming and Timurids. China, Iran and Central Asia in the Late Middle Ages (= Iran - Turan; Vol. 7), Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag 2005.
  • Rajkai, Zsombor Tibor. Timurid Empire and the Ming China, Diss. 2007.
  • Richtsfeld, Bruno. “The notes of Ch'en Ch'eng and Li Hsien of their legation trip to Herat. A Chinese contribution to knowledge of Central Asia in the 15th century. ”Munich (master thesis) (1985).
  • Rossabi, Morris. "A Translation of Ch'en Ch'eng's Hsi-Yü Fan-Kuo Chih" Ming Studies. 1983
  • Tsai, Shi-shan Henry. Perpetual happiness: the Ming emperor Yongle. University of Washington Press. 2002.
personal data
SURNAME Chen, Cheng
ALTERNATIVE NAMES t = 陈诚 (Chinese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ming Dynasty Diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH 1365
DATE OF DEATH 1457