On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c4.s3.1

v1.c4.s3.1

There is only one Preface in the A, B, and C editions of the “Hsi-yü-chi”, but the D edition gives two Prefaces. The second of these is common to all, while the first is apparently only in D and the Corean edition. This latter was apparently unknown to native editors and it was unknown to the foreign translators. This Preface is the work of Ching Po (敬播), a scholar, author, and official of the reigns of T‘ang Kao Tsu and T‘ai Tsung. Ching Po was well read in the history of his country and was in his lifetime an authority on subjects connected therewith. He was the chief compiler and redactor of the “Chin Shu (晉書), an important treatise which bears on its title-page the name of T‘ang T‘ai Tsung as author. Ching Po’s name is also associated with other historical works, and notably with two which give an official account of the rise of the T‘ang dynasty and of the great events which marked the early years of T‘ai Tsung. It is plain from this Preface that its author was an intimate friend of Yuan-chuang whose name he does not think it necessary to mention. He seems to have known or regarded Yuan-chuang as the sole author of the "Hsi-yü-chi", writing of him thus:—"he thought it no toil to reduce to order the notes which he had written down". Ching Po must have written this Preface before 649, as in that year he was sent away from the capital to a provincial appointment and died on the way. The praises which he gives Yuan-chuang and their common master, the Emperor, are very liberal, and he knew them both well.