The travels of famous people in history

Li Daoyuan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Fa Xian who became a monk, Xuanzang in the Tang Dynasty, Zhao in the Song Dynasty, Zhou Daguan in the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Dayuan, Zheng He, Ma Huan, Fei Xin, Gong Zhen, Xu Xiake and Sun Zhongduan in the Ming Dynasty were all famous travelers in history.

Xu Xiake (1586- 164 1), a famous traveler and geographer in the Ming Dynasty, measured his life with his feet and wrote an eternal legend.

As the main achievement of Xu Xiake's life, Travels of Xu Xiake recorded in detail what he saw and heard in his life, including mountains and rivers, climate and vegetation, customs and so on. It is a book with strong literary color and important scientific value compiled by his good friend Ji. This book gives a detailed and systematic description of karst landforms in limestone areas of China, and it is the earliest research work on karst landforms in the world.

Xu Xiake lived in a wealthy gentry family and received a good family education since childhood. He has been fond of reading books such as history, geography and travel notes since he was a child. Everything in the book deeply touched Xu Xiake's young heart. He secretly made up his mind to do what he loves in the future. However, people can't help things. After all, Xu Xiake was born in a feudal bureaucratic family in China at that time, and was an official for generations. In his parents' time, although he "didn't like being named as a friend", he was hidden in the countryside. However, at that time, it was still an irresistible social fashion and historical trend to be poor and take the road of official career. Xu Xiake is powerless and impossible to completely get rid of the fetters of the times, but the door of his career has not been opened to Xu Xiake. After his failure, he made up his mind to get rid of the shackles of the imperial examination, immerse himself in the books he was really interested in, and rush to the world he had been longing for for for a long time-traveling and exploring the mysteries of nature.

Thirty-five years of Wanli (AD 1607) was the beginning of Xu Xiake's travel career. This year, he left his family and walked south with a backpack and an oil umbrella. Taihu Lake, known as the "Pearl of Jiangnan", became his first place to travel. The blue lake sparkled with silver. The mountains in the distance are lush and beautiful, and the fledgling Xu Xiake feasts his eyes. He visited the Xishan and Dongshan mountains obliquely inserted in Taihu Lake with great interest, and then returned to his hometown with inner joy. For more than 30 years, Xu Xiake traveled almost every year. He started from Yanji in the north, went to Fujian and Guangdong in the south, climbed to the top of Taihua in the northwest, and reached the junction of Yunnan and Guizhou in the southwest, covering the then 14 province, that is, the present Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Yunnan 16 provinces and Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and other places. Xu Xiake received strong support from his mother during his trip abroad. His mother encouraged him to say, "If you aim in all directions, men will do anything." Xu Xiake's mother even ignored her 70-year-old age and accompanied Xu Xiake to visit Jingxi and Gouqu (now Yixing, Jiangsu) with great pride. Every time Xu Xiake comes back from a tourism inspection, he talks with his mother and family about what he has seen and heard, local conditions and customs, and adventures. My mother always gives out loud laughter and feels satisfied and happy from the bottom of her heart. With great ambitions, with the strong support of his family, Xu Xiake braved the severe cold and heat to travel to Mount Tai, Tiantai Mountain, Yandang Mountain, Huangshan Mountain, Wuyishan Mountain, Songshan Mountain, Huashan Mountain, Wutai Mountain, Luojia Mountain, Taihe Mountain, Hengshan Mountain, Luofu Mountain and Panshan Mountain, and invited him to visit Dadu River, Jinsha River, Lancang River and Xingsuhai (now Qinghai Province) and other places in China. Xu Xiake was the first person in China in ancient times. He was not secular and took it as his duty to investigate nature.