ABSTRACT
All the above are but interesting details compared with the comprehensive work of Xu Xiake, the assumed name of Xu Hongzu (1587-1641) (Figure 2). He is rightly regarded as the father of Chinese speleology and would perhaps have been the father of world speleology, coming as he did even before Kircher and Valvasor, if his writings had been more widely known to his successors. His book, which was written over a period up to 1640, was the first to describe karst landforms systematically. The original manuscript is in the National Library of China in Beijing, and it was first printed (in Chinese) in 1776. The book is a diary recording his travels around China, undertaken on foot and usually
alone over a period of more than 30 years. Between 1637 and 1640 he was in the karst of south and southwest China, spending 976 days there in all. The karst features described include most of the karst landforms that we recognize today, such as karren, dolines, uvalas, poljes, natural bridges, dry valleys, disappearing rivers, tower karst, blind valleys, water swallets, cave deposits, and caves themselves. His descriptions of these karst features are detailed and basically accurate. Some modern special terms in karst studies in China, such as fenglin or peak forest, originated from Xu Xiake’s descriptions.
