History of studying the Chinese xylograph of illustrated tributaries of the august Qing dynasty

The author of this article undertakes a summary review of the scientific literature written in various regions of the world and devoted to the study of an outstanding Chinese writing of the mideighteenth century - the xylograph of Huang qing zhi gong tu. The author analyzes the materials on this monument, published in China, Russia and Western countries, and establishes a range of key issues raised by its researchers. Poorly studied or unstudied aspects of the monument are identified. The author also characterizes the prospects for further study of this woodblock print. Special attention is paid to the search for the translations of its fragments into foreign languages. The undertaken review of the world studies of the xylograph has shown that it is currently understudied. In Russia, this xylograph is known, but has not received adequate attention of the scholars. There are few publications on it available in the European languages, and usually they are not addressing this literary work directly. Special publications refer to the topics directly related to the history of contacts between specific states or nations and China. The xylograph is best studied by Chinese scholars, but some topics still remain unexplored.