Chun Yuan "Western Regions Records" Research

Western Regions Records is a private local chorography compiled by Chun Yuan during the reign of Emperor Qian Long.It is an important document to study Xin Jiang in the early Qing Dynasty.Using the theory and research methods of philology,in view of the research theories of chorography and culturology,this thesis makes a comprehensive and systematic study of the book.The book was written during the reign of Qian Long,when the Qing government unified the western region and incorporated it into the Chinese territory.Chun Yuan was instructed to work in Xinjiang and completed this book after walking for 20,000 kilometres.After published,the book had attracted many readers and gotten over 20 different versions in the process of making private copies and printing,the widely spread names include in Xi Yu Wen Jian Lu,Western Regions Detailed Discussion and Western Regions Overall chorography.There are two major types of this book,one is “Wenjianlu” system the other is “Suotan” system.The former is the reorganized version of the Chun Yuan manuscript and has the the importance of versioning.The Zhou's publication is relatively early in the publication era which is recognised as a batter version,and the preamble provides readers a comprehensive understanding.As a successful private chorography which has a logical structure,the simple statements and well orgnasied body itself describes the multi-cultural and multi-regional folk lone events and customs in Western Regions.The records of many cultures and historical facts are comparable to those of official editorial books,which enriches the historical documents of Xin Jiang in the Qing Dynasty.The paper is divided into four chapters in the main body and has seven parts including the introduction,conclusions and references,with a total of 44,000 characters.