Talk:Xuanzang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of WikiProject China, a project to improve all China-related articles. If you would like to help improve this and other China-related articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. (add comments)
華	This article is maintained by the Chinese history workgroup.
More information about this article... High This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject India, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of India-related topics. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. (add comments)
	This article is maintained by the Indian history workgroup.
More information about this article... Mid This article has been rated as mid-importance on the importance scale by the India project.

WikiProject Echo has identified Xuanzang as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the French language Wikipedia.

Contents 1 South India 2 Title 3 Year of Birth 4 A map? 5 Why has this article been given a "low importance" rating?

[edit] South India

Xuanzang travelled as far as Kanchipuram in South India. He visited the famous stupas and monasteries at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda. The article is silent about these visits. Can it be added?

[edit] Title

Why is his name written as Xuan Zang and not Xuanzang (currently just a redirect)? The one-word version is two or three times more popular (Google), and it doesn't mislead ppl into thinking that Xuan is his surname or Zang is. --Menchi 11:42 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Err, I usually write it Xuanzang too .. can't be bothered looking at the history atm but i think maybe someone else came and moved it, or I moved it at some point. The book on which I based the article had the space, so if I was the originator that could have been why. OK to move it if you like!

--prat

Deleted the redir and moved. Also replaced all references to "Xuan Zang" to "Xuanzang" in this article using MS Word auto-find.

--Menchi 01:42 30 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Deleted Xuanzang's revision history was:

• 14:28 27 Jun 2003 . . Pratyeka (#REDIRECTXuan Zang)

--Menchi 00:51 2 Jul 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Year of Birth

Some sources give 599, others 600. Here it is 602. Do we have any authority here? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kdammers (talk • contribs) 10 July 2005.

As it is, it's even contradicting; the article states "Xuanzang [...] (602-644/664) [...] was born near Luoyang, Henan in 599". There's obviously something wrong here. If there isn't any proof on the date we should just write "born between 599 and 602, died in 644 or 664". Any thoughts? --Εξαίρετος (msg) 21:19, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks John Hill for the reference. --Εξαίρετος (msg) 12:38, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A map?

To improve the article, a map of the journey would be of great help, I think: the list of cities, mountains and rivers Xuanzang crossed can be confusing, especially to those unfamiliar with the geography of the area. The article describes in depth his journey, so I guess someone with good skills could draw a map useful enough. --Εξαίρετος (msg) 12:38, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why has this article been given a "low importance" rating?

What possible justification can be given for rating this article of "low importance" (i.e. "Subject is peripheral knowledge, possibly trivial"?) See the "WikiProject China" box above and click on "show" to see what this rating and how it compares to other, higher, ratings.

Xuanzang is one of world history's most famous travellers and his book of travels and his Biography contain so much historical information on the many countries he travelled through that they are by far the most important documents on this period for many places in Central and South Asia.

Moreover, he was one of the greatest and most prolific translators of Buddhist texts into Chinese and was a major influence on all who followed him, and on the development of Chinese Buddhism in general. He is also important for the influence he had on the development of later Chinese literature notably the enduring and important Ming novel Journey to the West with it's world-famous character, Monkey, based on the life of the great pilgrim himself.

Please, I strongly urge that the "importance rating" of this article be considerably upgraded.

Sincerely, John Hill 02:57, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

The importance ratings are necessarily subjective. To improve their validity, discussion is encouraged. I suggest you bring up your points at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject China and see what others think. --Ideogram 04:52, 21 February 2007 (UTC)