Poems by an Early Manchu on his Journey to Mongolia and Xinjiang
Han, Sherman
Brigham Young University-Hawaii
35th Meeting of the PIAC, Taipei 1992
Akdun Zhangjia (1685–1756) was a student of the famous Chinese scholar Li Guang-di. He served successfully under both Emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng. Several times in his life he travelled as a royal envoy abroad or inside China for specific missions. A considerable number of poems were composed during these journeys. They were collected in De-yin-tang ji which was first published in 1777 by his son, Agui, and again in 1816 by his great grandson, Nayancheng.
There is a total of 34 poems in Volume 8 of this book that deal exclusively with his journeys to Mongolia and Xinjiang. Their topics vary, ranging from his report on the routines on the trips, to the descriptions of the regional geography and cult ure, to the political statement of his commitment to the royal missions. In this paper I will translate some of the selected poems into English, analyze how Akdun views the people and culture of this region as reflected in the poetic themes, and evaluate his poetic achievements as shown in these works.