Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of the Tourgouth Tartars, in the years 1712, 13, 14, and 15

Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of the Tourgouth Tartars, in the years 1712, 13, 14, and 15 is a record of the travel to Kalmykia, written by Tulišen, a Manchu official of the Qing Dynasty.

It was written in both Manchu and Chinese. The title is:

in Manchu: Lakcaha jecen de takūraha babe ejehe bithe (The book of the account of the process of having been to a distant region as an ambassador)
in Chinese: Yiyulu (異域錄 yi4 yu4 lu4) (Record of foreign regions)

The English title Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of the Tourgouth Tartars, in the years 1712, 13, 14, and 15, by the Chinese Ambassador, and published by the Emperor's Authority, at Peking. is of Sir Staunton's translation in 1821. Although the Chinese version is more popular, the Manchu version offers higher quality information.

In 1712 Kangxi Emperor sent Tulišen and other emissaries to Kalmykia to convey the imperial edict to Ayuki Khan of the Torghuud. They left Beijing, crossed Mongolia and then entered Russia. In order to avoid J��n Ghar, they travelled through the Russia Empire to Saratov and entered into Ayuki's Torghuud state (Turgūt gurun in Manchu). Having accomplished the mission, they returned to Beijing in 1715. Tulišen reported to the Emperor in both Manchu and Chinese. With the Emperor's permission, he published the book by editing these reports and private notes.

The formal purpose of this mission was to negotiate over the return of Ayuki's nephew Arabjur to Kalmykia. As a Buddhist, he made a pilgrimage to Tibet but was unable to return to Kalmykia because of J��n Ghar's obstruction. Another purpose was to reconnoiter expanding Russia. In fact, the book is mostly devoted to the description of Russia. Some Russians suspected that they the emissaries secretly encouraged the Torghuud to return to their homeland as Ayuki's great-grandson Ubasi did later.