Extremely unusually for those times, Xu’s mother was fully literate, and she encouraged her son to read voraciously from his father’s amply stocked library. But at the age of 15, Xu failed the imperial examinations, which were seen as a steppingstone to a respected position in the hierarchy. Initially disappointed, he seemed set to follow in his father’s fo滿點吐息,otsteps as a farmer and merchant. Then wanderlust took hold.
他在纪行里写下那時妈妈對他说的话：“At home you’re like a fenced-in chicken or a harnessed pony. Go travel and show me paintings of the scenery you see.（岂令儿以藩中雉、辕下驹坐困為？第遊胜景，归袖圖逐一示我。）”
明代贸易勾當频仍，交通發财，可是徐霞客却只喜好走路觀光。他长得十分高峻，有人形容他 “as nimble as an ape and sturdy as an ox（捷如青猿，健如黄犊）”。
钱谦益也很诗意地形容過他遊览的状况——“drifting with the water, floating with the wind（随水飘流，與云同遊）”。
He strode to every province in China, taking in bustling cities such as Nanjing; the alpine scenery of Huangshan; West Lake, in Hangzhou; and Songshan Lake, in Dongguan; as well as Wuyishan, etc.
Xu was mugged on more than one occasion, frequently laid low by disease, swindled by unscrupulous landlords and traders, and often wandered for miles away from his route, having been misdirected or simply lost his bearings. Short of funds, he once traded a poetry recitation for a basket of mushrooms; on another occasion, he was reduced to bartering his clothes for food.
Entrance fees to famous grottoes were guaranteed to put Xu in a foul mood, likewise charges levied for using the rope ladders or bridges that led to them.
His 600,000-word youji, or travelogue, which was eventually published in 1776, some 135 years after his death, is packed with a wealth of detail. Xu’s learning and keen powers of observation led him to co妹妹ent knowledgeably on geography, hydrology, geology and botany.
They continued on their journey along the Hexi Corridor and reached Shangdu in Inner Mongolia (the su妹妹er palace of Kublai Khan) in 1275 AD. Kublai Khan gave them a hospitable reception there and took them to Dadu (now Beijing).
Marco Polo's odyssey spawned one of the world's first best sellers. Medieval audiences couldn’t get enough of Polo’s fascinating accounts of faraway lands, turning his book into a runaway success.