Record of the Western Regions

The Records of the Western Regions, also known by its Chinese name as the Datang Xiyuji or Da Tang Xiyu Ji and by various other translations and Romanized transcriptions, is a narrative of the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang's 19 year journey from Tang China through the Western Regions to medieval India and back during the mid-7th century CE. The book was compiled in 646, describing travels undertaken between 626 and 645. Bianji, a disciple of Xuanzang, spent more than one year editing the book through Xuanzang's dictation. The text presents an account of Xuanzang's route with religious details as well as reports of the people and places he encountered. It is now considered not merely a landmark work in the history of Buddhism and Indo-Chinese relations but also in cross-cultural studies across the world. Xuanzang's pilgrimage began in the imperial capital of Chang'an (now Xi'an in China's Shaanxi Province) and followed the overland Silk Road through what is now Gansu and Xinjiang in northwest China. He travelled through Central Asia around the Himalayas to India, where he reached as far south as Kanchipuram. He then returned to China where, despite the illegality of his departure, his travels and scholarship were celebrated by the Emperor Taizong of Tang.