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

This paper will introduce Western scholars to the geographical work, Lingwai Daida, Notes from the lands beyond the Passes, written by Zhou Qufei in 1178. Zhou Qufei was an imperial official during the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). He lived and worked many years in Guangxi province. His work contains descriptions of geography, history and customs of Guangxi province and it includes descriptions of oversea territories, until Northern Africa countries.

Zhou Qufei was an imperial official during the Southern Song dynasty (11 27-1279). He lived many years in Guangxi province and in 1178 he wrote a geographical work, titled Lingwai Daida (Answers about territories beyond Lingnan). This manuscript contains descriptions of geography, history and customs of Guangxi province and it includes descriptions of oversea territories, until Northern Africa countries. The attempt to reconstruct Zhou Qufei’s biography stems from the need to fully understand the context in which he produced his work.

Il presente lavoro approfondisce il trattamento che Zhou Qufei nel XII secolo riserva alle varietà linguistiche,
descritte nella sua opera geografica. Per varietà linguistiche si intende qualsiasi altra lingua eo dialetto
diversi dal guanhua 官话 ufficiale dell’impero Song. Zhou Qufei fu un funzionario imperiale durante la dinastia dei Song meridionali; nacque nel Zhejiang, a Yongjia, ma venne inviato ad assolvere la sua carica nel Guangxi, tra Guilin e Qinzhou. Egli nel 1178

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,

This work, for the first time in English, presents the annotated translation of the geographical sections of the work Lingwai Daida (Notes from the Land Beyond the Passes) written by Zhou Qufei in 1178. It is composed by two chapters: firstly, the author focuses on Zhou’s life, on the structure of his work and on other relevant aspects (its sources, editorial history, relationship with other geographical works written during the Song dynasty).