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Along with the history, topography, governmental structures, customs, and language of Ryûkyû, the text also describes the Chinese envoys' journey to the island kingdom, and a variety of formal receptions and banquets enjoyed by the envoys, along with official rituals and ceremonies, including the investiture ceremony itself. The volume's diagrams of the maritime distances between [[Fuzhou]] and [[Naha]], and between Naha and various other locations in the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]], may be the earliest extant such record.<ref>Katrien Hendrick, ''The Origins of Banana-Fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus'', Japan, Leuven University Press (2007), 54.</ref>

Along with the history, topography, governmental structures, customs, and language of Ryûkyû, the text also describes the Chinese envoys' journey to the island kingdom, and a variety of formal receptions and banquets enjoyed by the envoys, along with official rituals and ceremonies, including the investiture ceremony itself. The volume's diagrams of the maritime distances between [[Fuzhou]] and [[Naha]], and between Naha and various other locations in the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]], may be the earliest extant such record.<ref>Katrien Hendrick, ''The Origins of Banana-Fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus'', Japan, Leuven University Press (2007), 54.</ref>

Xu's volume was published in [[Edo]] and [[Kyoto]] beginning in [[1765]], including a version published in Kyoto in [[1766]] by [[Hattori Somon]] which included ''kundoku'' marks aiding the Japanese reader to read the [[kanbun|classical Chinese]].<ref>William Fleming, “The World Beyond the Walls: Morishima Chūryō (1756-1810) and the Development of Late Edo Fiction,” PhD dissertation, Harvard University (2011), 89.</ref> The text was later re-published in a variety of different forms, some more loyal to the original than others. [[Morishima Churyo|Morishima Chûryô's]] ''[[Ryukyu-dan|Ryûkyû-dan]]'', published in [[1790]], draws extensively on the ''Chûzan denshin roku'', as do the ''[[Ryukyu nendaiki|Ryûkyû nendaiki]]'' and ''[[Ryukyu kitan|Ryûkyû kitan]]''<!--琉球奇譚-->, both published in [[1832]].

Following his return to China in [[1720]], Xu organized the text to be formally presented to the [[Kangxi Emperor]]. It was then published for wider consumption in China in [[1721]], by a publisher called Èr'yǒuzhāi (二友斎, lit. "Two Friends Studio"). It is unclear precisely when the text first made its way to Japan, but it is mentioned in documents from 1740 and 1759;<ref> Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 226.</ref> it was then republished in [[Edo]] and [[Kyoto]] beginning in [[1765]], including a version published in Kyoto in [[1766]] by [[Hattori Somon]] which included ''kundoku'' marks aiding the Japanese reader to read the [[kanbun|classical Chinese]].<ref>William Fleming, “The World Beyond the Walls: Morishima Chūryō (1756-1810) and the Development of Late Edo Fiction,” PhD dissertation, Harvard University (2011), 89.</ref> The text was later re-published in a variety of different forms, some more loyal to the original than others. [[Morishima Churyo|Morishima Chûryô's]] ''[[Ryukyu-dan|Ryûkyû-dan]]'', published in [[1790]], draws extensively on the ''Chûzan denshin roku'', as do the ''[[Ryukyu nendaiki|Ryûkyû nendaiki]]'' and ''[[Ryukyu kitan|Ryûkyû kitan]]''<!--琉球奇譚-->, both published in [[1832]].

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