In 1800 (the 5th year of the reign of Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty), Li Dingyuan, an officer in the Qing court, was sent to Ryukyu as a deputy imperial title-conferring envoy to accompany Zhao Wenkai. Li’s Records of the Imperial Title-Conferring Envoys to Ryukyu (Shi Liu Qiu Ji) recorded his voyage to Ryukyu in the form of a journal, in which he noted Diaoyu Yu, Chiwei Yu and other islands.
What we use here is a printed edition published by Zhuyitang Press, Shanghai, during the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1875-1908) of the Qing Dynasty, which is now part of the Continuation of Ryukyu Materials housed by China’s National Library.