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The Mediterranean Island of Malta and Its Names in Chinese Sources

  • Miriam Castorina

This chapter aims to examine Chinese knowledge and narratives about Malta over the centuries, providing a general overview of Chinese sources citing and/or describing this island, to reconstruct a historical panorama concerning the knowledge of the island of Malta in China. To this end, the research focuses on written texts, beginning with Chinese geographical sources, followed by travel literature from the Ming-Qing period before 1866. This chapter opens with a brief discussion of the Mediterranean Sea in ancient Chinese texts, followed by a selection of Ming and Qing sources on Malta, presenting it as a land that embodies the concepts of interculturalism and transculturality. Virtually absent from Chinese sources for centuries, descriptions of Malta from both geographical works and travel accounts up to the first half of the 19th century provide an idyllic depiction of a fertile land inhabited by industrious, generous, brave, and contented people.

  • Keywords:
  • Mediterranean Sea; Malta; Chinese Travel Writing; Perception; Transcultural,
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Miriam Castorina

University of Florence, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-8384-7925

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  • Publication Year: 2024
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Chapter Information

Chapter Title

The Mediterranean Island of Malta and Its Names in Chinese Sources

Authors

Miriam Castorina

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0598-6.10

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2024

Copyright Information

© 2024 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Navigating the Mediterranean Through the Chinese Lens

Book Subtitle

Transcultural Narratives of the Sea Among Lands

Editors

Renata Vinci

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

138

Publication Year

2024

Copyright Information

© 2024 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0598-6

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0597-9

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0598-6

eISBN (epub)

979-12-215-0599-3

Series Title

Studi e saggi

Series ISSN

2704-6478

Series E-ISSN

2704-5919

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