[1][2] A country which was named Fusang was described by the native Buddhist missionary Huishen (慧深, Huìshēn), also variously romanized as Hui Shen, Hoei-sin, and Hwai Shan.

In his record dated to AD 499 during China's Northern and Southern dynastic period,[3] he describes Fusang as a place which is located 20,000 Chinese li to the east of Dahan, and it is also located to the east of China (according to Joseph Needham, Dahan corresponds to the Buriat region of Siberia).

His descriptions are recorded in the 7th-century text Book of Liang by Yao Silian, and they describe a civilization which inhabits the Fusang country.

The American hypothesis was the most hotly debated one during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, after the 18th-century writings of Joseph de Guignes were republished and disseminated by Charles Godfrey Leland in 1875.

The first expedition returned c. 210 BC because Xu Fu claimed that a giant sea creature was blocking his men's path.

However, "... asides in the Record of the Historian imply that its leader Xu Fu had returned to China long ago and was lurking somewhere near Langya, frittering away the expedition's impressive budget.

"[5] In Chinese mythology, Fusang refers to a divine tree and an island which are both located in the East, from where the sun rises.

For instance, Wang Wei wrote a 753 farewell poem when Abe no Nakamaro (Chinese Zhao Heng 晁衡) returned to Japan, "The trees of your home are beyond Fu-sang.

Joseph Needham added that "if Kamchatka and the Kuriles may also be considered, there is no better means of identifying it at the present day.

According to some historians such as Charles Godfrey Leland and Joseph de Guignes (Le Fou-Sang des Chinois est-il l'Amérique?

[9] According to the report of Huishen to the Chinese during his visit to China, which is described in the Book of Liang:[10] Fusang is 20,000 li to the East of the country of Dàhàn (lit.

the 'Middle Kingdom').On that land, there are many Fusang plants that produce oval-shaped leaves which are similar to paulownia and edible purplish-red fruits which are like pears.

They propagated the Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised the people to relinquish their worldly attachments.