Xu Xiake (1587~1641) was a descriptive Ming Chinese travel writer and geographer noted for his bravery and humility.
徐霞客(1587~1641)，地理学家、旅行家和文学家，以勇敢谦逊著称。
He visited southwestern China extensively for years.
他花了很多年在西南地区考察。
With an ancestry in Jiangxi, he was born Xu Hongzu, as the second son of Xu Yu'an and Wang Ruren.
徐霞客祖籍江西，名宏祖，徐豫庵和王孺人的第二个儿子。
It was often commented that it was his mother's encouragement to travel that shaped Xu's predilections.
人们常说是他母亲的鼓励形成了徐霞客的爱好。
His sobriquet is Zhenzhi.
徐霞客字振之。
Xiake was an alternate sobriquet given to him by his friend Chen Jiru and it means “one who is in the sunset clouds".
霞客是他的朋友陈继儒给他的取的号，意思是“日落时的彩霞中的人”。
His other friend, Huang Daozhou, also gave Xu an alternate sobriquef: Xiayi, meaning “untrammelled in the sunset clouds”.
他的另外一个朋友黄道周也给他取了个号:霞逸，意思是“在日落时的彩霞中无拘无束”。
Xu Xiake, after 30 years of traveling, wrote many travel diaries on famous mountains and other places, with a total of 600 000 characters.
徐霞客游历30年，写了60万字的游记。
After his death, these diaries were compiled into a book called The Travel Diaries of Xa Xiake.
他去世后，这些游记经后人整理成书，就是著名的《徐霞客游记》。
The book is mainly about his observation during his travel from 1613 to 1639 and provides detailed records of geography, hydrology, geology, and plants.
《徐霞客游记》主要记述了他在1613年至1639年游历期间的观察结果，提供了有关地理学、水文学、地质学和植物的详细记录。
The book is highly accomplished in both geography and literature.
《徐霞客游记》既是地理名著又是文学佳作。
As a literary work, the book vividly portrays the landscapes amid narration, hence imbuing it with a strong real-life flavor. Through applying dynamic description and personification, the travel diaries were more delicate and paid more attention to details than did their predecessors, boasting a high artistic and aesthetic value.
作为文学作品，《徐霞客游记》于叙事过程中穿插生动的风景描写，具有强烈的现实意味，使用了动态的描述和象征，比原来的同类作品更加精致、更注意细节，具有很高的艺术价值和审美价值。
Besides, a large glossary and rich rhetoric techniques were employed to express the author's feelings.
而且，作者为了表情达意应用了大量的术语和修辞技巧。
While recording his travel experiences in his diaries, Xu Xiake also related the lives and customs of local people as well as the distribution of ethnic minority groups, which was seldom seen in official history.
在记录旅游经历的同时，徐霞客还记下了少数民族的分布情况以及当地人民的生活和习俗，这些在正史里是很难见到的。
Hence, this book is also valuable in the study of history and nationalities.
所以《徐霞客游记》对研究历史和民族也很有价值。
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