Ricerc@Sapienza

During the last century, considerable interest arose regarding Chinese knowledge
of western territories, with a long list of works being published on the topic. Joseph
Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China (1959) states that Arab thinking had clearly
influenced the Chinese conception of geography over the centuries. Zhang Xinglang
analyses the relationship between the Chinese empire and countries overseas, focusing
on Islamic countries and particularly those in the north of Africa. Feng Chengjun’s

The work Lingwai daida (Notes from the Land Beyond the Passes), written by Zhou Qufei
in 1178, is one of the most important Song works dealing with China’s maritime contacts
with foreign countries and may thus be regarded as an important milestone in the field of
geography. This article focuses on the historico-linguistic analysis of two toponyms used by
the author in this work: Bosiguo and Kunlun Cengqiguo. Compared to the other toponyms
mentioned in Lingwai Daida, these two are characterized by some special features. Although,