• Published by Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, London, 1970 (1st edition).
  • SIGNED and INSCRIBED by the translator and editor, J.V.G. Mills.
  • Large octavo, xx, 393 pages with 5 maps (1 double-page), 2 illustrations (portrait of the emperor Ch’eng-tsu (Yung-lo) and a sketch of Cheng Ho’s ship, 4 stellar diagrams plus a large folding map in a rear end pocket.
  • ‘The fifteenth century was the heroic age of Chinese naval expansion; four Chinese fleets traversed the Indian Ocean simultaneously, and flotillas explored ‘the four seas’ from Southern Africa to Timor; the Imperial Court was thronged with Royal visitors or envoys from seventy foreign countries from Japan to Hormuz, and Chinese manufactures was sought after in the markets of Asia from Majapahit to Baghdad.
  • Of the sources for the history of southern Asia, during this period, the Chinese authorities are the most rewarding, and of these, the most informative and interesting is Ma Huan, the Muslim interpreter of the famous Cheng Ho.
  • Ying-yai sheng-lan contains Ma Huan’s descriptions based on personal observation of twenty countries from Champa (central Vietnam) in the east to Mecca in the west.
  • This new translation is based on the definitive text established by the eminent Chinese scholar Feng Ch’eng Chun and first published in 1935. Mr Mills’ introduction contains accounts of Cheng Ho’s expeditions, and Ma Huan’s book. Eight appendices treat peripheral topics, mainly geographical and nautical; a gazetteer records the names of some seven hundred places known to the Chinese when their golden age of exploration ended in 1433; with the aid of printed and manuscript, sailing, directions, and attempt is made to explain about 600 names and legends In the remarkable Maritime cartogram (‘Mao K’un Map’) published in the Wu Pei Chih, and to trace the stages of voyages made, inter alia, through Singapore strait, from Sumatra to Ceylon (Pieh-lo-li, Beruwala), and from Malacca to China.’ (Dust jacket).
  • PRICE COMPARISON: No signed copies available. Excluding ex-library and copies without dust jackets, price range from US$497 (A$756) to (damaged) US$175 (A$266)The only copy in Oceania is US$369 (A$561).