원나라 常德의 서역 使行記— 劉郁 ≪西使記≫ 해제 및 역주

Abstract

Liu Yu’s Record of Mission to the West is a story of Chang De visit to Hulagu, who went to conquer the West. In the ninth year of Möngke Khan(1259), the levy commissioner Chang De accepted the order that Möngke Khan leave for the West, met Hulagu in person and return to the Yuan Dynasty in 14 months. After he return, he narrated his journey, and the historical events about Hulagu’s expending to the West, geographical condition, customs, and religions of Western countries that he had seen or heard. His report was written down by Liu Yu as Record of a Mission to the West. His report is divided into two parts, the first part of which describes the journey of Chang De to the west, and the second part of the Hulagu how conquered Western countries. It not only describes the journey but also record the climate, products, vegetation, customs, religion and architecture of the Western countries. So his report provides an important resource for studying the history of the Yuan dynasty, Central Asia, West Asia, and the West. This paper is based on Chen Dezhi’s Commentary on Record of Chang De’s Mission to the West, translated with reference to the Wei Yuan’s Hai-Guo-Tu-Zhi and Bretschneider’s Mediaeval researches from eastern Asiatic sources.