费信

费信，字公晓，号玉峰松岩生，明吴郡昆山人，洪武二十一年（1388年）生。年十，其兄为太仓卫戍兵，然而不久死亡。因而年十四，代兄参军。年少好学，因家贫常借书阅读，又自学通阿拉伯文。永乐七年（1409年）二十二岁。永乐、宣德年间曾任翻译官随三宝太监郑和四次下西洋：

第一次 永乐七年（1409年）

第二次 永乐十年（1412年）

第三次 永乐十三年（1415年）

第四次 明宣德五年（1430年）

费信在正统元年（1436年）著《星槎胜览》上下卷，纪录下西洋时所见所闻各国风土人情，上卷占城国、交栏山、暹逻国、爪哇国、旧港、满刺加国、木骨都束等二十二国是亲身经历，下卷多从《岛夷志略》摘录。

费信著《星槎胜览》、马欢著《瀛涯胜览》和巩珍著《西洋番国志》是关于郑和下西洋的第一手资料，他们都先后随郑和访问西洋各国。

除了《星槎胜览》费信还著有《天心纪行录》一卷，已失。

费信岛

为了纪念航海家费信，南沙群岛中有一岛名为费信岛。

Fei Xin (simplified Chinese: 费信; traditional Chinese: 費信; c. 1385/1388 - after 1436) was a member of the military personnel of the fleet of the Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He, known as the author of a book about the countries visited by Chinese ships.

Biography

Little is known about Fei Xin's life. His family originated from Kunshan, in today's Jiangsu Province. Based on other dates mentioned by him, it is likely that he was born in the 17th year of the Hongwu era (1385), although some authors' calculation give 1388 as the date of his birth. He taught himself the Arabic language.

According to what Fei Xin says in the preface to his book, his family was poor. His older brother was called up to serve at the nearby Taicang garrison, but soon died, and young Fei Xin took his place, in or after 1398. J.J.L. Duyvendak speculated that the Fei brothers had been conscripted as a punishment for some political or other offense of their father or grandfather; there is no actual proof of that, but Fei Xin's later biographer, Roderich Ptak, thought that that wasn't impossible.

While a soldier, he managed to find time for study. Taicang being the lower-Yangtze base of the Zheng He fleet, Fei Xin ended up sailing with the fleet to the South-East Asia and the Indian Ocean four times.

Fei Xin is primarily known as the author of the book Xingcha Shenglan (Description of the Starry Raft; preface dated 1436), in which he recorded what he had seen on his 4 voyages to the southern seas. There are no known mentions of his activities at later dates than 1436, and there is no information about the actual date of his death either.

According to Ptak, there is no reliable information about Fei Xin's religion. Ptak believes that it is unlikely that Fei Xin was a Muslim, like Ma Huan or Zheng He himself. Fei Xin did conclude his book with the description of Mecca, but this may have been just an emulation of Ma Huan's book's layout.

Fei Xin's book exists in a number of different Ming-era editions. It has been studied by many Chinese and foreign historians. The first English translation of his book was made by William Woodville Rockhill, and published in the T'oung Pao in 1914-1915. The most recent translation, based on a draft by J.V.G. Mills, was edited and annotated by Roderich Ptak (1996).