Celebrating its 400th birthday this year is a travel guide which turned out to be the Lonely Planet of its day, serving as an introduction to a couple of score of Nanjing’s scenic spots. As for it being the world’s oldest, we’ll get to that later.
今年庆祝其诞生 400 周年的一本旅游指南，后来成为了当时的《孤独星球》，介绍了南京的几十个景点。至于它是世界上最古老的，我们稍后再说。
In 1623, Ming Dynasty calligrapher and painter, Zhu Zhifan, compiled 40 Nanjing scenic spots with accompanying poetry and invited Lu Shoubai to paint pictures to go with them.
1623年，明代书画家朱之璠编撰了南京名胜四十处并附诗，并邀请卢寿白作画配图。
That book became “Jinling in Pictures & Song” (金陵图咏), a unique Nanjing travel guide that is now 400 years old.
该书后来成为至今已有400年历史的独特的南京旅游指南《金陵图咏》。
The book depicts various scenes of Nanjing’s then downtown; shops, restaurants, teahouses, pawnshops, bookstores, banks, antique shops, handicraft workshops, etc.
书中描绘了当时南京闹市的种种景象；商店、餐馆、茶馆、当铺、书店、银行、古玩店、手工作坊等。
Then there are government offices, temples, private residences, divination halls, theatres and so on. The streets and alleys are seen to be crisscrossing, full of traffic. It’s a bustling scene, not entirely unlike today.
然后还有衙门、寺庙、私人住宅、卜筮堂、戏楼等。街道、小巷纵横交错，车水马龙。那场面热闹非凡，和今天没什么两样。
More than a thousand different people can also be identified in “Jinling in Pictures & Song”, in addition to as many as 109 shop signs featured therein.
《图画金陵》中还可以辨认出千余位不同人物，其中的招牌多达109个。
As to whether or not it’s genuine, historians believe so. They point to similarities with “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”, a hand-scroll painting that captured daily life in the then-capital, Bianjing, a work also thought of as China’s Mona Lisa.
至于是否真实，历史学家认为是这样。他们指出了与《清明上河图》的相似之处，这是一幅捕捉当时首都汴京日常生活的手卷画，这幅作品也被认为是中国的蒙娜丽莎。
But that work dates from 500 years previous. Nevertheless, Wu Xiaotie, an expert on Nanjing literature and history, has pointed out the accuracies in the guide book, particularly in regard to the Nanjing City Wall.
但这项工作的历史可以追溯到 500 年前。不过，南京文史专家吴小铁指出了该指南的准确性，特别是有关南京城墙的内容。
For example, “Zhongfu Qingyun” (钟阜晴云) refers to the section of the city wall from Zhongshan Gate to Taiping Gate today, while the city gate depicted is clearly today’s Zhongshan Men. Xuanwu Lake also makes an appearance.
例如，“钟阜晴云”指的是今天的中山门到太平门这段城墙，而所描绘的城门显然就是今天的中山门。玄武湖也出现了。
Professor Luo Xiaoxiang from the School of History of Nanjing University believes that “Jinling in Pictures & Song” showcases Nanjing as one of the great places in history, as Nanjing Daily reports.
据《南京日报》报道，南京大学历史学院罗晓祥教授认为，《图画金陵》展现了南京作为历史上的伟大地方之一。
And as for it being the oldest in the world, not quite, by quite a margin. That title goes to “Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam” (Pilgrimage to the Holy Land), written by Bernhard von Breydenbach and illustrated by Erhard Reiwich. Published in 1486, the guide is housed, away from light, in the British Museum.
至于它是世界上最古老的国家，则不完全是，远远领先。该标题为“Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam”（前往圣地朝圣），由 Bernhard von Breydenbach 撰写，Erhard Reiwich 负责插画。该指南出版于 1486 年，避光保存在大英博物馆中。
