Zhao Rugua

Zhao Rugua

Zhao Rugua[1][2] (Chinese: 趙汝适; pinyin: Zhao Rugua, alternatively Chau Ju-Kua or Chou Ju-kua) (11701228) was a customs inspector at the city of Quanzhou during the late Song dynasty who wrote a two-volume book called Zhufan Zhi (諸蕃志, or Chu-fan-chi, literally "Description of the Barbarous Peoples" [3] or "Records of Foreign Peoples", "Gazetteer of Foreigners" [4][dead link]) around 1225 CE. The first volume is a catalog of foreign places, with a description of each place, customs of the local people, and trade goods produced. In this gazetteer, he described places such as the famed Lighthouse of Alexandria. The second volume is a catalog of trade goods.

Many entries of Zhufan Zhi take information from an older work from 1178, Ling-wai-tai-ta by another geographer, Chou Ch’u-fei.

See also

References

  1. ^ Friedrich Hirth and W.W. Rockhill (translators), CHAU-JU-KUA: His work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the twelfth and thirteenth Centuries, entitled chu-fan-chi (Cheng-Wen Publishing Company, 1967).
  2. ^ CHAU-JU-KUA: His work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the twelfth and thirteenth Centuries, entitled chu-fan-chi (scanned version in PDF format)
  3. ^ Old Chinese Book Tells of the World 800 Years Ago; Chau-Ju-Kua's Chronicles of the Twelfth Century, Now First Translated, Give a "Description of Barbarous Peoples" Picked Up by This Noted Inspector of Foreign Trade and Descendant of Emperors.
  4. ^ The Emperor's Giraffe by Samuel M. Wilson