Xu Xiake

Also known as Xuhong Zu · Zi Zhenzhi · Hao Xiake

Xu Xiake, born Xu Hongzu with the courtesy name Zhenzhi, came from Jiangyin in the Southern Metropolitan Region; Xiake was his sobriquet. He began travelling at twenty-two with his mother's encouragement, and over three decades climbed Mount Tai, Huangshan, Yandang and other peaks, keeping a daily record of routes and sights. In 1636 he set out on his last great journey through Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Guangxi and Guizhou into Yunnan, observing limestone caves and tower karst, and in his essay On Tracing the Yangzi to Its Source (Sujiang jiyuan) he identified the Jinsha River as the upper Yangzi. A foot ailment struck him in western Yunnan in 1639, and the next year the Lijiang chieftain Mu Zeng had him carried home, where he died in 1641. Friends such as Ji Mengliang copied and arranged the diaries, which were not printed until the Qianlong reign, and Qian Qianyi wrote his biography. Since 2011 the date of his first Tiantai diary entry, 19 May, has been the national Tourism Day.