Li Daoyuan (; 466 or 472 in Zhuo County,

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

– 527) was a Chinese geographer, politician, and writer during the

Northern Wei dynasty Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an imperial dynasty of Chi ...

. He is known as the author of the '' Commentary on the Water Classic'' (''Shuijingzhu''), a monumental work on China's geography in ancient times. Li used his position as an official with business in different places to carry field investigations. He is known to have visited the area belonging to the present-day

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

, and

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

provinces.China Culture.org.
Li Daoyuan
".China Culture.org.

". Another source for his knowledge was the study of ancient geographical books he had access to, like the '' Classic of Mountains and Seas'' (''Shanhaijing'') completed by the time of the early

Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring in ...

) and the '' Water Classic'' (''Shuijing''), written by Sang Qin during the Three Kingdoms period and later commentated on by Jin dynasty writer Guo Pu. Li vastly expanded the ''Water Classic'', doing his own research and fieldwork. The original '' Water Classic'' has not survived but covered 127 rivers and streams and contained about 10,000 characters; Li's ''Commentary on the Water Classic'' discusses 1252 watercourses and contains about 300,000 characters in total. The book maps and describes the rivers and streams along with the history, geography and culture of the surrounding region.

References

527 deaths 5th-century births 6th-century Chinese writers 6th-century geographers Chinese science writers Geographers from Imperial China Northern Wei government officials Politicians from Baoding Scientists from Hebei Writers from Baoding Year of birth unknown {{China-bio-stub