Wang ocheonchukguk jeon
| Wang ocheonchukguk jeon | |
| Hangul | 왕오천축국전 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Wang ocheonchukguk jeon |
| McCune–Reischauer | Wang ochʼŏnchʼukkuk chŏn |
Wang ocheonchukguk jeon (pinyin: wǎng wǔ tiānzhú guó chuán; "An account of travel to the five Indian kingdoms"") is a travelogue by Buddhist monk Hyecho, who traveled from Korea to India, in the years 723 - 727/728 CE.
Written in Classical Chinese, the lingua franca of East Asia at the time, the work was long thought to be lost. However, a manuscript turned up among the Dunhuang manuscripts during the early 20th century. It was, bought by the French explorer and archaeologist Paul Pelliot in 1908, and is now owned by the National Library of France (Pelliot chinois 3532).[1]
The manuscript scroll contains 5,893 classical Chinese characters in 227 lines and is slightly damaged on the front and back. It is 28.5 centimeters in width and 358.6 centimeters in length and is the first overseas travelogue written by a Korean and contains information about the political, cultural and economic customs of India and central Asia at that time. The five Indian kingdoms in the work refer to West, East, North, South and Central India,[2] but it also contains information about the Byzantine Empire (Greater Fu-lin), the Arabs, Persia and several Central Asian states.[3]
It has been loaned to the National Museum of Korea and will be on display there from Dec. 18, 2010 to April 3, 2011, 1283 years after the document was first written. The five Indian kingdoms in the work's title refer to West, East, North, South and Central India.[4]
Footnotes
- ^ The Korea Times 06-29-2010
- ^ The Korea Times 06-29-2010
- ^ Yang, et al (1984), pp. 52-58.
- ^ The Korea Times 06-29-2010
References
- Yang, Han-sung et al (1984). The Hye Cho's Diary: Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India (1984). Translation, text and editing by Yang, Han-sung et al. Religions of Asia series (Berkeley, Calif.); no. 2. UNESCO Collection of Representative Works. Berkeley, Calif.: Asian Humanities Press; Seoul: Po Chin Chai. ISBN 0895810247.
External ressources
Fully digitized "Wang ocheonchukguk jeon" on International Dunhuang Project website