Du Huan (simplified Chinese:杜环;traditional Chinese:杜環;pinyin:Dù Huán;Wade–Giles:Tu Huan,fl. 751–762) was a Chinesetravel writer born inChang'an during theTang dynasty.
According to his writings, he was one of a few Chinese captured in theBattle of Talas in 751,[1] along with artisans Fan Shu and Liu Ci and fabric weavers Le Wei and Lu Li.[citation needed] After a long journey through theAbbasid Caliphate (the 'Lands of the Tājīk', 大食), he returned by ship toGuangzhou in 762.[1]
Following his return, he wrote hisJingxingji (lit. 'Records of Travels'), a work which has been almost completely lost. A few extracts survived inTongdian under volume 192 and 193, anencyclopedia compiled by his uncle,Du You (735–812).[1] The original text was reconstructed byChen Yunrong in 1911.[1] In the 8th century, Du You's encyclopedia quoted Du Huan himself on Molin (North orEast Africa):[2]
We also went to Molin, southwest ofJerusalem. One could reach this country after having crossed the great desert ofSinai and having travelled 2,000li (approx. 1000 km). The People there were black, swarthy, and their customs are bold. There is little rice and cereals, with no grass and trees on this land. The horses are fed with dried fish, and the people eatGumang.Gumang is a date. Subtropical diseases (Malaria) are widespread. After crossing into the inland countries there is a mountainous country, which gathered a lot of confessions here. They have three confessions, the Arab (Islam), Byzantine (Christianity) and Zimzim. The Zimzim practiseincest, and in this respect are worst of all thebarbarians. The followers under the confession of Arab have a means to denote in law, while not entangling the defendant's families or kins. They don't eat the meat of pigs, dogs, donkeys and horses; they don'trespect (bow) either the king of the country, nor their parents; they don't believe insupernatural powers, perform only sacrifice to heaven (Allah) and to no one else. According to their customs, every seventh day is a holiday (Jumu'ah), on which no trade and no currency transactions are done, whereas when they drink alcohol, and behave in a ridiculous and undisciplined way during the whole day. Within the confession of the Byzantines, there are beneficent medical doctors who know diarrhea; they could either recognize the disease before its outbreak, orcould remove the worms by opening the brain.[3][4][5][2]
According to the historian Angela Schottenhammer, "Du Huan’s exceedingly positive description of the 'Lands of the Tājīk', coupled with the opportunities that he was granted during his travels, indicate that he was no traditional prisoner of war".[1] Schottenhammer also points out that he is unlikely to have visited all the lands he included in his report, but that he provides a detailed description of life inKufa,[2]which was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate before the foundation ofBaghdad.[1] His report may have served as a guide for the embassy ofYang Liangyao in 785, who went in the opposite direction, i.e. from Guangzhou via sea to the west.[1]