ZHOU’S FOREWORD
Mr. Cai Tinglan is a scholar from Penghu. In the spring of renchen, the twelfth year of the Daoguang reign [1832], I took up my post to aid Penghu through the Xingquan Yong Circuit [in Fujian], and he came to visit me with a poem tucked in his sleeve and told me that the people were suffering from famine on account of a storm. I wrote a poem to respond to his. He asked to be my student, and because his name was Lan [Orchid], I gave him the style name of Xiangzu [Source of Fragrance]. I instructed him on our predecessors’ methods of studying.
Penghu is one of the islands in the sea in Taiwan Prefecture; the soil is alkaline and unsuitable for growing wheat or rice. Yams, taro, and some other grains grow there. The people are accustomed to fishing, and the sea provides their livelihood. There are no schools, but they are allotted four licentiates under the prefectural school. Because there were no books on the island for him to read, he went to the county and studied hard; he tested at the highest level and became a [government] “stipendiary student.” When he would cross the sea for the county level examination and stay in Xiamen, I would often test him at Jade Screen Academy.
In autumn of the yiwei year (the fifteenth year of the Daoguang reign) [1835], while returning from the examination he met with a hurricane and disappeared. In the summer of the following bingshen year (the sixteenth year of the Daoguang reign) [1836], he returned from Vietnam and described his hardships in detail. Moreover, he brought to me Vietnamese envoys’ regards (in the summer of the renchen year [1832], the director of the Ministry of Works, Trần Văn Trung; the vice director of the Ministry of Rites, Cao Hữư Dực; and the envoy Trần Văn Tuân escorted Li Zhenqing, formerly of Zhanghua county [in Taiwan], and his family to Xiamen. In the winter they returned to their country. We sent them off with poems). I celebrated his rebirth and paid for his expenses to return to Penghu.
That autumn, after I was transferred to Taiwan, he compiled “Record of Danger on the High Seas,” “Travelogue of the Fiery Wastelands,” and “Record of Vietnam” for me to review. I read his text and marveled. First he writes of how in the midst of a storm upon the dark sea, being battered by billowing waves and hanging between life and death, he remained calm inside, thinking only of his old mother. Then he writes of Vietnam’s obedience to the Qing, their high estimation of the Heavenly Empire’s literati, and how he matched poetry with the literati there. He even discusses the real state of its historical mountains, rivers, roads, passes, city walls, palaces, granaries, treasuries, and markets. Next he narrates Vietnamese history, sketching the past but detailing the present thoroughly and completely, and examines their customs accordingly. Ah! You can call his journey extraordinary. I was worried that growing up in his poor and lonely island hometown, even if he studied hard, he would not be able to have many novel experiences. Did not heaven intend to open his thoughts and senses to improve his writing through this experience?
The Grand Historian [Sima Qian] said, “I have traveled west to Kongtong, north to Zhuolu, east to the ocean, and south to the Huai River.” That is why his writing was erudite, provocative, and extraordinary; no later writer has been able to reach his level. When scholars travel, they should always contemplate the local mountains, rivers, people and related affairs. Everything that can provide a broader perspective and reference points is called learning. And since he traveled to a faraway land, of course he had something worth writing about. Besides, Vietnam is Nanyue, where in the past, Lu Jia went, gathered a lot of gold, and came back. [In contrast], he [Cai Tinglan] was lost and empty-handed, but he was prudent in what he declined and what he accepted—how can we compare him to Lu Jia? Now he has selected tribute for the court. If he will use this as his calling card, to show to the important people, there must be ones who can reward him.
Su Ziyou [Su Zhe] said, “When it comes to mountains, I have seen the height of Mount Song and Mount Hua. When it comes to rivers, I have seen the width of the Yellow River and the Yangzi River. Gazing upon palaces, I have seen the grandness of the world.”1 If he had traveled there, it could not compare in retrospect to his travels in Vietnam. The benefit to his writing is boundless.
Composed by Zhou Kaizhong of Fuyang county [Zhejiang]