Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
development of natural sciences was very slow, and thus, having any scientifi c
instruments for fi eldwork for Hsü was defi nitely out of the question. All Hsü Xia-Ke
could do was to walk with his two feet in his travels and to work with his empty
hands in his research and investigation. Indeed, he collected some rocks or plants as
specimens for his studies even they were rare, as he had to carry everything for
himself with his two hands and on his bare shoulders. Under such an environment,
how could Hsü Xia-Ke's work compare with Alexander von Humboldt who could
make use of sea transportation and use big boats to carry his great amount of specimens
and manuscripts?
The story of Alexander von Humboldt is very different. He spent 5 years in South
America. When he returned to Europe in 1804, he brought with him in the boat 30
large cases of specimens and records for his studies and references. He was able to
live in Paris for 20 years to study and analyse his records and to write his 30 volumes
of research on the New World. After that, he went back to Berlin. Then, again, he
travelled to Central Asia. He spent the latter part of his life in studying and writing.
He died at the old age of 90 in 1859.
Hsü Xia-Ke spent more than 3 years in the southwest of China exploring
(1636-1640). When he returned to his native land, he brought back only a few rocks
as reference plus an exhausted body. And within a year after his being back home,
he died of poverty and illness, with the research and exploration of Chinese geogra-
phy unfi nished. According to an account of his life, even when he was seriously ill
in bed, he still had his few rocks by his bedside and continued to study them and
fondle them until the last moment of his life. He was only 56 when he died. Except
the few 100,000 words of fi eldwork diary and records of observation and a few
essays on his studies, he left no other writings.
The main reasons that I try to compare Hsü Xia-Ke of China of 340 years ago to
Alexander von Humboldt of Germany of 130 years ago are not only to show the
difference of their fate, but also to convey to you by means of emphasizing their
important infl uences to the development of the sciences in the East and in the West,
how the studies of sciences had developed into two different ways from times of
these two prominent geographers on.
The scientifi c activities of von Humboldt had a far-reaching infl uence in Europe.
For instance, it was under his infl uence that the British government sent a boat
“The Beagle” in 1831 to the seacoast around South America for a scientifi c survey
and research. On board the ship, a young man brought along with him von
Humboldt's topics. He read the topics enthusiastically and sent letters home asking
for more of von Humboldt's new topics. The name of this young man is Charles
Darwin. With this expedition as his starting point for his scientifi c research, he
finally established the theory of “The Origin of Species”. And with Darwin,
sciences in the West had a big leap from the starting point of von Humboldt.
To return to our consideration of Hsü Xia-Ke's contributions to sciences in
China, we fi nd that in spite of his hard work, he had very little infl uence in the intel-
lectual circle of his time. Indeed, there were some people who acknowledged his
talent as a literary man; there were also some but fewer people who appreciated
Hsü's life as an explorer who faced dangers bravely. However, there was practically
