Wang Dae-yeon: Translator's Note: Doijiryak

Wang Dayuan, author of A Brief Account of the Island Barbarians, often called the Marco Polo of the East, embodied the worldview of Pax Mongolica and explored its tangible value during the Great Yuan Empire, one of East Asia’s most dynamic eras. Born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, he began sailing at age 20 and made two journeys across a vast region extending through Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and Africa—areas then referred to as the Eastern and Western Oceans. Written during the reign of Huizong, Toghon Temür, A Brief Account of the Island Barbarians is an unprecedented travel account that details the geopolitical features of 99 places, their importance in maritime trade, their climate and customs, and the goods traded there. Comparable Chinese texts include Zhao Rugua’s Gazetteer of Foreign Lands from the Song dynasty and Ma Huan’s Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores from the Ming dynasty. These books share a focus on the southern seas and similarities in their structure and information. Yet this work is considered the foremost because it sought to portray foreign lands as they really were. The Gazetteer and the Overall Survey contain many descriptions of customs and objects shaped by a Sinocentric bias, which could mislead readers. In his preface, Wang wrote, “I recorded only what I saw and heard in person on site, and did not recount legends.” Zhang Zhu also wrote in his preface that Wang was trustworthy because “he did not write about anything he had not seen himself.”

Korean title: 역주 도이지략

Korean author: 왕대연

Korean publisher: 역사공간

ISBN-13: 9791157076116