Xu Xiake in Yunnan
The late Ming traveller and geographer Xu Xiake 徐霞客 (1587-1641) spent two years in Yunnan province in 1638-1639. He visited holy Buddhist mountains, grottos, and hot springs, while also examining the region’s geography to correct mistakes in existing geographic works. Mining was not a topic that Xu was interested in, yet his Yunnan travel diary Dianyou riji 《滇游日記》 names and records 18 sites that worked silver, copper and gold. They diary constitutes an important source in the region’s poorly documented mining history, providing the only Ming period record for 11 of the sites.
The mining sites are located across the province, in southern Dongchuan 東川, the Beiya 北衙 mining district in Dengchuan 鄧川 and Heqing 鶴慶, at Jinjing 金井in Heqing and Laping 臘坪 in Dengchuan, at Mount Laojun 老君山 in the tringle where Lijiang 麗江, Jianchuan 劍川 and Lanzhou 蘭州 meet, in Yongping 永平, in the Mingguang 明光 mining district in Tengchong 騰衝, and at Yongxing 永興 in the borderlands southwest of Shunning 順寧.
This page presents my reconstructions of the sections of Xu Xiake’s journey that are relevant for the identification and geolocation of the recorded mining sites. The reconstruction used records on communications in local gazetteers, Henry R. Davies’ of 1909, a provincial map of 1913, the first large-scale maps from surveys 1917-1926 (1:100,000) and the first fully surveyed set of the late 1930s (1:50,000), US intelligence maps based on the survey maps with added aerial data of ca. 1940-1960, a provincial atlas of 1982, and current web-based maps, such as Google Maps and Baidu Maps. GIS mapping used ArcMap for geo-referenced modern maps since the 1950s and Google Earth to consult satellite images. (->full references)
The data is shown in Google Maps. This allows zooming in to see the present-day landscape in the satellite image and to examine the data in high-resolution maps. Corrections are welcome!
-> Notes on using the maps
The documentation consisting of the place names and the core information recorded in the diary and my geolocation is presented in tables. -> Notes on the documentation
The information lists the place names and the distance from one place to the next in li 里 as recorded by Xu. To save space, I provide only the sum of Xu's often detailed records, without the unit, under "Notes on locations in the diary." (The number is usually the sum of several distance records in the route description. "二里多" is rounded down to "2 li", "半里" is counted as "0.5 li".) Places where Xu spent the night are shaded green.
The presentation follows the chronology of Xu' journey. The maps are:
- The journey from Jiaoshui 交水 (Zhanyi 沾益) to Xundian 尋甸, which records the Dongchuan 東川 copper mines
- The journey from Jizushan 雞足山 to Dali 大理, which records silver mines at Xinchang 新廠 and Beiya 北衙, as well as the older sites Jiaoshidong 礁石洞 and Nanya 南衙 鄧川 in the border area of Dengchuan 鄧川 and Heqing 鶴慶, Jinjing 金井, a probable gold mine in Heqing, silver mines on Laojunshan 老君山 northwest of Jianchuan 劍川, and Laping 蠟坪 on the Fengyu 鳳羽 bazi but under the jurisdiction of 鄧川
- The journey from Yongping 永平 to Baotaishan 寶台山, which records an unnamed copper mine as well as former mines at Lutang 爐塘 and operating mines at Xiachang 下厰 and Shangchang 上厰.
- The journey in northern Tengyue 騰越 (Tengchong 騰衝), which records the “Six mines of Mingguang” 明光六厰.
- The journey Yongchang 永昌 (Baoshan 寶山) to Yunzhou 雲州 (Yunxian 雲縣), which records the Yongxing 永興 silver mines in the borderlands southwest of Yunzhou.
1 The journey from Jiaoshui 交水 (Zhanyi 沾益) to Xundian 尋甸, which records the Dongchuan 東川 copper mines
Documentation of the geographic reconstruction
2 The journey from Jizushan 雞足山 to Dali 大理
Overview
The Beiya 北衙 mining area: Xinchang 新厰, Jiaoshidong 礁石洞, Nanya 南衙 and Beiya 北衙
The Xiyi 西邑 ´-Songgui 松桂 area: Jinjing 金井 and the mines recorded in Heqing zhouzhi 《鶴慶州志》
Laojunshan 老君山 in the border triangle of Lijiang 麗江, Jianchuan 劍川 and Lanzhou 蘭州
The Laping 蠟坪 mines between Fengyu 鳳羽 and Dengchuan 鄧川
Documentation, Jizushan 雞足山 to Dali 大理
3 The journey from Yongping 永平 to Baotaishan 寶台山: Unnamed copper mines, Lutang 爐塘, Xiachang 下厰 and Shangchang 上厰
Link to the map
Documentation: Meihuashao 梅花哨 to Pingpo 平坡
4 The Tengyue 騰越 journey and the “Six mines of Mingguang” 明光六厰
Documentation: Gudong to Tengyue
5 The journey to Yunzhou 雲州 and the Yongxing 永興 silver mines
Link to the map
Documentation: Layi to Yunzhou
Notes on using the maps
You can zoom in an out 
You can open the sidebar menu and switch data layers on or off by ticking them. You can also switch the labels on and off.
Layers and symbols in the maps:
Xu's travel route as an orange line
the main courier routes as white lines
cities, towns and villages recorded in Xu's diary as red squares
places where he stayed overnight (with the date) as white pins
mountain peaks as green triangles
mines as light blue pointers (silver), light red pointers (copper), grey pointers (uncertain)
Mining remains identified in fieldwork as areas: slag dumps on site or reconstructed (black), areas where historic workings exist or existed (white)
Notes on the documentation
The tables contain: The date in the diary; the date according to the Western calendar; locations recorded in the diary (with some exceptions only places recorded by name on the travel route); the distance from the previous place and other information relevant for geolocation; the modern place name (known or according to my identification); my notes on the geolocation.
Places where Xu spent the night are shaded in green.
Note on the distance from one place to the next in li 里 as recorded by Xu. To save space, I provide only the sum of Xu's often detailed records, without the unit, under "Notes on locations in the diary." (The number is usually the sum of several distance records in the route description. "二里多" is rounded down to "2 li", "半里" is counted as "0.5 li".) Places where Xu spent the night are shaded green.
References
Xu Hongzu 徐弘祖, Xu Xiake youji jiaozhu 徐霞客遊記校注 (Xu Xiake’s Travel Diary, interpunctuated and annotated by Zhu Huirong 朱惠榮, Kunming: Yunnan renmin chubanshe, 1985.
Maps
Yunnan yutu 雲南輿圖 (Map of Yunnan), [Yunnan provincial government, 1913]
Davies, Henry Rodolph, Yün-nan: The link between India and the Yangtze (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1909), inlay map.
Yunnansheng shiwan fen yi tu 云南省十万分一图 (Yunnan province, 1:100,000), 1917-1943, Canmou benbu ludi celian zongju 参謀本部陸地測量总局 Central Army Survey Department), incomplete set, digitized by Academica Sinica, Taibei.
Yunnansheng wuwan fen yi tu 云南省十五万分一图 (Maps of Yunnan province, 1:100,000), ca. 1935-1945, Canmou benbu ludi celian zongju 参謀本部陸地測量总局 Central Army Survey Department), incomplete set, held by Harvard Yenching Library.
China Proper 1:250,000, Series L531, U.S. Army Map Service, 1944, digitized by Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas
Yunnansheng dituji 云南省地图集 (Collection of maps of Yunnan province), [Kunming]: Yunnan sheng cehuiju, 1982.
Local gazetteers
Dengchuan zhouzhi 鄧川州志, Xianfeng 咸豐 edition (1851). Compiled by Hou Yunqin 侯允欽 et al, commissioned by Shen Cheng’en 沈承恩. Digitized in Diaolong Database.
Dengchuan zhouzhi 鄧川州志, Longwu 隆武 edition (1646). Commissioned by Ao Hongzhen 敖浤貞, compiled by Ai Zixiu 艾自修.
Heqing xianzhi 鶴慶縣志, 1923 edition. Compiled by Yang Jinkai 楊金鎧. Digitized by Beijing: Erudition database 北京愛如生數字化技術研究中心, 2013.
Heqing zhouzhi 鶴慶州志 (Heqing Department gazetteer), Guangxu 光緒 edition (1894). Commissioned by Wang Baoyi 王寶儀, compiled by Yang Jinhe 楊金和. Digitized in Diaolong database.
Tengyue xiangtuzhi 騰越鄊土志, undated manuscript [early Republican period]. Digitized in Zhongguo fangzhiku.
Tengyue zhouzhi 騰越州志, Qianlong 乾隆 edition (imprint 1897). Commissioned and compiled by Tu Shulian 屠述濂 et al. Digitized 1931 edition in Zhongguo fangzhiku.
Tengyue tingzhi gao 騰越廳志稿, Guangxu 光緒 edition (1887). Commissioned by Chen Zonghai 陳宗海, compiled by Zhao Duanli 趙端禮. Digitized in Zhongguo fangzhiku.
Xuxiu Shunning fuzhi 續修順寧府志, commissioned by Dang Meng 党蒙, compiled by Zhou Zongluo 周宗洛. Orig. Fengqing 1904. Reprint in Xinxiu fangzhi congkan 新修方志叢刊, 163. Taibei: Taiwan xuesheng shuju, 1968.
