杜环

杜环（？—？），京兆府万年县（今陕西省西安市）人，唐朝宰相杜佑族侄。先后效力唐朝和阿拔斯哈里发国军队。

杜环可能是唐朝抵达西方最远的人，也是有历史记录最早涉足非洲的中国人。

生平

唐玄宗天宝10年（751年），杜环作为唐朝安西节度使高仙芝麾下一名军官参与了怛罗斯战役。此战唐军大败，杜环被阿拔斯哈里发国军队俘虏。被俘后经撒马尔罕前往木鹿（即今土库曼斯坦马雷），被编入哈里发军队。758年，杜环随军被调往亚俱罗（今伊拉克库法），不久又被调往摩邻国（今北非马格里布地区）与当地军队作战，途中经过耶路撒冷等地。

在长居异域期间，杜环走遍了中亚、西亚、北非、南亚的13个国家。大体相当于今天的乌兹别克斯坦、哈萨克斯坦、亚美尼亚、叙利亚、伊拉克、伊朗、吉尔吉斯坦、土库曼斯坦、埃及、摩洛哥、斯里兰卡等地。

761年，杜环等人获准回国，他随即起身从埃及到红海登船，经过今斯里兰卡等地回到广州。

著作

杜环著有《经行记》记载沿途见闻，但久已散佚。他的族叔杜佑在编纂《通典》时曾引用数个片段，使得杜环的事迹流传至今。《通典》所引《经行记》共有7处，均在卷192《边防八》和卷193《边防九》，共1775字。有学者指出，由于《经行记》原书的散佚，关于它的情况我们今天所知非常少，诸如该书何时撰写，是在游历途中还是回国之后，篇幅长短，书的全貌以及全部内容均不得而知。

《经行记》中记载最详细的国家是大食，当时处于阿拔斯王朝时期，中国典籍称之为“黑衣大食”。阿拔斯王朝国土辽阔，囊括了中亚、北非东部和地中海东岸，在西方与东罗马帝国接壤，在东方则直接与唐朝接壤。杜环记录中，大食：

郛郭之内，里阎之中，土地所生，无物不有。四方辐凑，万货丰贱。锦绣珠贝，满于市肆；驼马驴骡，充于街巷。刻石蜜为卢舍，有似中国宝轝。

还记载了其他汉人工匠：“汉匠起作画者，京兆人樊淑、刘泚；织络者，河东人乐还、吕礼。”

Du Huan (simplified Chinese: 杜环; traditional Chinese: 杜環; pinyin: Dù Huán; Wade–Giles: Tu Huan, fl. 751–762) was a Chinese travel writer born in Chang'an during the Tang dynasty.

According to his writings, he was one of a few Chinese captured in the Battle of Talas in 751, along with artisans Fan Shu and Liu Ci and fabric weavers Le Wei and Lu Li. After a long journey through the Abbasid Caliphate (the 'Lands of the Tājīk', 大食), he returned by ship to Guangzhou in 762.

Following his return, he wrote his Jingxingji (lit. 'Records of Travels'), a work which has been almost completely lost. A few extracts survived in Tongdian under volume 192 and 193, an encyclopedia compiled by his uncle, Du You (735–812). The original text was reconstructed by Chen Yunrong in 1911. In the 8th century, Du You's encyclopedia quoted Du Huan himself on Molin (North or East Africa):

We also went to Molin, southwest of Jerusalem. One could reach this country after having crossed the great desert of Sinai and having travelled 2,000 li (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 eat Gumang. 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 practise incest, and in this respect are worst of all the barbarians. 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't respect (bow) either the king of the country, nor their parents; they don't believe in supernatural 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, or could remove the worms by opening the brain.

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". 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 in Kufa,which was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate before the foundation of Baghdad. His report may have served as a guide for the embassy of Yang Liangyao in 785, who went in the opposite direction, i.e. from Guangzhou via sea to the west.