Not everyone is familiar with Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833-1905), but many more have heard of Sven Hedin (1865-1952), a more popular explorer and geographer who is known, among other things, for having discovered the Loulan Kingdom for the West. However, we must remember that Hedin was von Richthofen’s student. A German geographer and traveler, von Richthofen was a pioneer in modern geography, and his research on China was unprecedented in his time. He is noted for coining the term “Silk Road.” To this day, in the German language, China’s Qilian Mountains are still called the Richthofen Mountains.

Between 1868 and 1872, von Richthofen made seven geographical expeditions within China, covering 13 of the 18 provinces at that time. Upon his return to Germany, he wrote a five-volume masterpiece titled China: Ergebnisse eigner Reisen und darauf gegründeter Studien (English: China: The results of my travels and the studies based thereon). In the community of modern Chinese geology, von Richthofen has a significant position. In 1933, one of the earliest modern Chinese geologists, Weng Wenhao, wrote: “The solid foundation of Chinese geology was actually laid by the German von Richthofen. ...Thanks to his achievements in the field, we were saved decades of work.”

Von Richthofen died in 1905, and his Ferdinand von Richthofen’s Diaries from China was published posthumously in 1907 and eventually translated into Chinese and published by Commercial Press in 2018 as part of the series Chinese Translations of World Academic Classics. The two volumes of the work present von Richthofen’s itinerary in China, and the second volume includes passages about Jinhua. He entered inland from Tiantai, traveled via Pan’an to Dongyang, and then followed the river, going through Fotang, Jinhua, and Lanxi. Providing a detailed description of the landforms and customs observed along the way, he left a historic chapter about the Jinhua of the 1870s.

During the hottest season of the year, between June 12 and August 8, 1871, von Richthofen traveled around Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangsu. Upon leaving Ningbo, his first destination was Jinhua.

After leaving Ningbo and passing through Tiantai Mountain, names familiar to those living in Jinhua appear in his notes, which include a reference to the village of Matang. At this point, von Richthofen had already entered Pan’an—in fact, the village of Matang is located in the area of the Yushan Ancient Tea Plantation—and the diary describes in detail the tea-picking scene and explains that tea cultivation is a major activity in the area, where tea plantations are vast and the soil favorable. The family he stayed with on the hill was busy with tea picking.

As a 19th-century backpacker, von Richthofen wrote that if one wants to understand the mountains of Zhejiang, he strongly recommends his reader take the road he had traveled, claiming that the route he took to explore and learn about the land was the best one he had ever experienced. He would get up at 4 o’clock every day and march from 6 or 6:30 in the morning until between 5 and 7 in the evening. In between, he would only take a two-hour lunch break. He traveled with porters and brought what could be called luxurious table settings: eggs, flour, china and glass dishes, and even a beautiful colored blanket.

Although it was extremely hard to travel through the mountains, von Richthofen did not hesitate to praise this arduous and beautiful journey. In his notes, he stressed that never on any other routes had he gained such an insight into the landscape of this region. He commented that every time he would climb a mountain, he could enjoy there the joy of the view. (English text edited by Kendra Fiddler)

李希霍芬是谁？

这个名字我们并不熟悉，但说起古楼兰的发现者、探险家斯文·赫定，大家就知道了。李希霍芬是斯文·赫定的老师，德国人，近代地质地理学界的先驱人物，其对中国的研究更是前无古人。他首创“丝绸之路”的概念，并在地图上进行了标注。至今在德语中，中国的祁连山脉仍然被命名为李希霍芬山脉。

1868年至1872年间，李希霍芬对中国进行了7次地质考察，足迹遍布当时18个行省中的13个。回国后，他写下五卷本巨著《中国——亲身旅行和据此所作研究的成果》。在近代中国地质学界，李希霍芬有着举足轻重的地位。1933年，著名地质学家翁文灏曾撰文评价：“中国地质学之巩固基础，实由德人李希霍芬氏奠之……因李氏之成就，而节省吾人十年之工作时间。”

1905年，李希霍芬去世；1907年，《李希霍芬中国旅行日记》问世。2018年，商务印书馆“汉译世界学术名著丛书”翻译出版了该书。这是厚厚的上下两本，在下册中，出现了关于金华的旅行段落。他从天台进入玉山台地，经磐安到东阳，之后沿江而下，经佛堂、金华城直至兰溪，对于沿途地貌及风土人情有较为详细的描摹，留下了19世纪70年代的一页金华风情录。

磐安群山中的艰辛穿越

那是1871年6月12日至8月8日间，在一年中最热的时候，李希霍芬进行了浙江、安徽和江苏的旅行。他从宁波出发，计划要去的第一个地方就是：金华府。

从宁波经天台山进入玉山台地，随着路线的深入，渐渐地，一些我们熟悉的地名出现了：“之后不久我们来到了一个大村庄马塘，又行10里到了另一个村庄岭口……过了塘婆岭之后，我们又向上走了700米……之后又陡然深入一条流向嵊县去的河谷。”显然已经到了磐安境内。马塘村正是玉山古茶场所在地。

书中详细描写了采茶场景。李希霍芬写道：“这里是重要的产茶区，我看到许多崭新的茶园，显然这里的土质普遍适于种茶，因此能够大面积地拓展茶园。住在岭上的一家人正忙着采茶。”他认为祖孙三代各司其职采茶制茶是“所能见到的最美的家庭场景”。这或许可以成为玉山古茶场的又一史料。

用今天的标准来看，李希霍芬是个标准的驴友：每天4点起床，从早上6点半或6点一直走到晚上5点甚至7点，中间只午休两个小时。不过，他雇了几个挑夫，也带上了堪称豪华的装备：鸡蛋、面粉，陶瓷和玻璃餐具，甚至一块漂亮的彩色毛毯。

虽然在群山之间穿越异常辛苦，但李希霍芬对这段艰苦而美丽的路途不吝赞美之词。这位19世纪的驴友写道：谁要想了解浙江的山，我强力推荐他走我走过的这条路。在其他路线上我还从未获得过像这一地区的地貌如此深刻的认识。每到一座山上都能尽情地享受远眺所带来的快乐，并能一览群山……