TRAVEL CULTURE IN EASTERN JIN CHINA (317–420 AD): THE EMERGENCE OF A TRAVEL CULTURE OF LANDSCAPE APPRECIATION

•Nature tourism has its origin in Eastern Jin China (AD 317–420).•The changed social context made travel between Jiankang and Kuaiji different.•Taking office meant an important opportunity to encounter unfamiliar scenery.•The link between travel and landscape appreciation was established.

Leisure travel has a long history in imperial China that was oriented primarily around landscape encounters. This history is largely unknown in the West. This paper illustrates how the Chinese travel culture of landscape appreciation emerged in the Eastern Jin Dynasty period (AD 317–420), an era often referred to as China’s Dark Ages, through an analysis of travel writings and biographies of literati written during that period.