Xu Baoguang
- Died: 1723
- Other Names: 亮直 (Liang xuan)
- Chinese/Japanese: 徐葆光 (Xu Baoguang / Jo Hokou)
Xu Baoguang was a Chinese scholar-official known especially for his 1719 journey to the Ryûkyû Kingdom as an investiture envoy, and for his writings on that journey.
Xu Baoguang was originally from Changzhou in Jiangsu province. His zi (J: azana) was Liang xuan. He passed the Chinese imperial examinations in 1712 and became a member of the Hanlin Academy.
Seven years later, in 1719, he served as deputy envoy on a mission to the Ryûkyû Kingdom to perform the official investiture of King Shô Kei. The lead envoy was named Haibao. The envoys stayed in Ryûkyû for eight months, the longest any Chinese mission ever remained in the islands.[1] The official report and record of the journey compiled by Xu Baoguang in 1721, entitled Zhongshan chuanxin lu (J: Chûzan denshin roku), quickly came to be regarded as one of the chief sources on Ryûkyû, and remains an important historical document today. The text describes the journey to Ryûkyû, various rituals and ceremonies including the investiture ceremony and formal banquets, as well as the topography, political structures, customs, and language of Ryûkyû. Its diagrams of the maritime distances between Fuzhou and Naha, and between Naha and various other locations in the Ryûkyû Islands, may be the earliest extant such record.[1]
Xu's report was first published for a more popular audience in 1766,[1] and was later not only re-published in both Edo and Kyoto, but was even translated by a French missionary, becoming a valuable source of information on Ryûkyû for a Western audience.
The work also served as the basis for multiple later works, including the 1757 Liuqiu-guo zhilue by investiture envoy Zhou Huang, and a handscroll painting (date unknown) by Japanese painter Yamaguchi Suiô, now in the collection of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Library, depicting scenes from the activities of the investiture envoys.[2]
References
- "Jo Hokô," Asahi Nihon rekishi jinbutsu jiten 朝日日本歴史人物事典, Asahi Shimbun-sha.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Katrien Hendrick, The Origins of Banana-Fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus, Japan, Leuven University Press (2007), 54.
- ↑ "Ryukyu Kokuo Sappo No Zu," Treasures from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Libraries.
