略论中国人对澳洲的早期认识

在欧洲人看来，澳洲是他们发现的。其实根据中国史籍记载，早在唐宋时期，中国人就对澳洲有所认识。最初中国人对澳洲的知识是通过与马来人和阿拉伯人的接触得来的，其中难免掺杂了道听途说的成分。随着海外交通的发展，中国人对澳洲的认识也从模糊到逐渐清晰。宋元时期，中国帆船远航澳洲海岸，与澳洲发生了直接的接触，对当地风土人情有了较为翔实的记载。史实表明，尽管郑和下西洋未到过澳洲，但是在郑和之前的遥远时代，中国人早已航抵澳洲大陆

The Early Records of Australia in Ancient Chinese Documents

The Europeans maintained that Australia had been discovered by them. Some ancient Chinese documents, however, show that the Chinese during the Tang and Song Dynasties had known Australia. In the beginning the Chinese gained some knowledge of it through the Malays and the Arabs, which accounts for some hearsay contained in the record. With the overseas contact increased, the Chinese began to know more and more about that continent.During the Song and Yuan Dynasties,Chinese junks arrived at the shore of Australia. As a result the local conditions and customs of Australia were recorded in some Chinese documents. It shows that though Zheng He's fleet hadn't been to the coast of Australia ,the Chinese people had set foot on it at a much earlier time.