Xu Xiake and Song Yingxing
3 min readXu Xiake
Xu Xiake（1587-1641），born in today’s Jiangyin of Jiangsu Province，was a noted traveler and geographer.
He studied the ancient classics as a small boy and learned to write the Eight-part Essay prescribed for the Imperial Examination，but refused to take part in it.Instead，he developed an interest in historical books，especially books on different places，and devoted himself to traveling all over the country.During his lifetime，Xu Xiake conducted surveys in 16 provinces，leaving his footsteps in virtually every part of the country.In conducting his surveys and investigations，he would never blindly embrace the conclusions recorded in previous documents.Instead，he discovered that the documentations made by his predecessors in their geographical studies were quite picture 10-6 Xu Xake unreliable in many aspects.
To ensure that his reconnaissance was real and detailed，he seldom traveled by ship or by wagon.He climbed over mountains and hills and traveled long distances almost entirely on foot.Aiming to develop a true picture of the natural world，he made a point of undertaking his expeditions in those mountainous areas which were difficult to reach and in those woods that were sparsely populated.In this way he discovered many marvelous mountains and beautiful scenes.He made repeated visits to the famous mountains across the country at different times and seasons of the year so that he could make observations of their wonderful scenery that kept changing all year round.
Xu Xiake’s contribution to ancient Chinese geography was unprecedented，especially his detailed narration of the Karst Landform.His travel journal was compiled by the later generations into a book called The Travel Diaries of Xu Xiake，which is of high scientific and literary value.This book is in the form of diaries and mainly about his observations during his travels from 1613 to 1639 and provides detailed records of geography，hydrology，geology and plants.It is highly accomplished in both geography and literature.
Song Yingxing
Song Yingxing（1587-1661）was born in Jiangxi Province.He lived in the latter part of China’s feudal society when commodity economy began to flourish，and agriculture，handicraft industry and traffic on land and water developed rapidly.Song Yingxing went to the capital city to take the Imperial Examinations five times.On the way he had opportunities to investigate the manufacturing processes in workshops.
At the age of 50 he finished his Exploitation of the Works of Nature，which contained the best of traditional Chinese science and technology.This was an encyclopaedia-type scientific monumental work comprising 18 volumes with 123 drawings.It covers all major industrial techniques of the time in agriculture，textiles，mining，metallurgy，chemical engineering，boat building，and weaponry.Though written more than 300 years ago，the farming techniques and security measures in coal mining recorded in the book are still applicable even today.
This book praises nature for its power and ingenuity to create all things in the world.It holds that only with due respect to the work of nature and proper application of the work of man can humankind explore nature and benefit from it.
