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In the early sixteenth century, a Persian-speaking Muslim merchant named ʿAli Akbar Khatayi traveled to China and stayed for six years. There he acquired inside knowledge of the Ming imperial court and gained familiarity with the government bureaucracy, the military, and the daily lives and culture of ordinary people. In a treatise presented to the rulers of the Ottoman Empire, Khatayi laid out his observations—here translated in full into English for the first time.
The Book of China is the most in-depth and sophisticated account of China’s government, society, and culture written by a foreigner before the era of European global dominance and an incomparable record of Eurasian perceptions of China at the dawn of the gunpowder age. In contrast to travelers such as Marco Polo, Khatayi not only chronicled sights and wonders but also sought systematic explanations for Ming China’s wealth and power. He found the answer in Chinese governmental institutions and the universal rule of law, to which administrators and even the emperor himself were subject. His text also provides vivid descriptions of street life, festivals, and places from temples to brothels to the prison where he and his companions were detained. Opening a window onto the colorful worlds of the Ming court and the Silk Road, The Book of China shows how travel and cultural contact could inspire political imagination across continents.
— Sharon Kinoshita, author of Marco Polo and His World
In its vividness and accuracy this sixteenth-century report on society and government in China ranks with Marco Polo’s famed accounts. This fine translation, along with a carefully researched and clear introduction, offers insights into the perceptions of a sophisticated West Asian Muslim observer and an excellent view of traditional China.
— Morris Rossabi, author of Voyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the First Journey from China to the West
ʿAli Akbar Khatayi was a Persian merchant from Central Eurasia, probably from around the region of present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, who spent six years in China. He later traveled to Istanbul, where he wrote the Khataynameh (Book of China) in 1516. He is not known to have authored any other works.
Kaveh Hemmat is assistant professor of history at Benedictine University. He is the translator of The Kushnameh: The Persian Epic of Kush the Tusked (2022).
John Curry is professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is a translator of Kātib Çelebi’s An Ottoman Cosmography: Translation of Cihānnümā (2021) and a number of other books.
Hyunhee Park is professor of history at the City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the CUNY Graduate Center. Her books include Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia (2012).
Lanshin Chang is retired from the University of Macau. She has translated books by Robert Antony into Chinese.
Fan Rong is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bonn. She is the author of “The Timurid Regions and Moghulistan Through the Eyes of a Ming Diplomat: An Annotated Translation of the Xiyu fanguo zhi and Selected Poems by Chen Cheng (1415).”
Note on Transliteration
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Key Figures and Terms
Timeline
Guide to Annotations
The Book of China
Appendix. Ottoman Translator’s Preface
Notes
Bibliography
Index