Kunlun Travel Diary

Author: Wen Shilin (Qing), edited by Gao Chengyuan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: "Travel Diary" contains many outstanding "special research topics," such as the discovery of the Dunhuang Grottoes, possibly the earliest detailed account. The author often participated in local affairs with a strong sense of responsibility, for example, urging the business community in Xinjiang to establish a chamber of commerce to revitalize industries and resist Russia's economic aggression in his speeches. When suggesting that the ethnic autonomous authorities of Hami select young people for training in Tianjin, he even specifically entrusted his Hui ethnic friends from his hometown to take care of the customs of ethnic minorities. The author's travels resemble the "fieldwork" of an anthropologist, with the book documenting countless incredible customs and the shocking poverty of the people in the northwest. The author dedicated himself to saving the country through education, with the focus of his travel and research being schools. This book, in its traditional binding form and publication year of 1910, is considered an ancient book. The original was printed with lead type, without punctuation, and not in paragraphs. It was published by his family in 1941 (the 30th year of the Republic of China), without a "copyright page."