Zhao Rukuo

Zhao Rukuo (; 1170–1231), also romanised as Zhao Rugua, Chau Ju-kua, or as Zhao Rushi, was a Chinese government official and writer during the Song dynasty. He wrote a two-volume book titled Zhu Fan Zhi. The book deals with the world known to the Chinese in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the first volume is a list of foreign places with descriptions of each place and the customs of its local people. The second volume is a catalog of trade goods.

Biography Zhao was a member of the Song dynasty imperial clan, an eighth-generation descendant of Emperor Taizong in the lineage through the younger brother of Emperor Zhenzong.

He was born in Tiantai County in Taizhou, Zhejiang in 1170. He began his career as a bureaucrat in 1190, and rose through the ranks. In 1224, he was appointed the supervisor of maritime trade (市舶司, ) in Quanzhou, Fujian province. He also held the posts of prefect for Quanzhou as well the southern administrator. He died in 1231 and was buried in Linhai County in Zhejiang. The countries ranged from those nearby such as Japan, to the various kingdoms in South East Asia, such as Srivijaya and Brunei, places in India, to the Islamic heartland of Arabia and Mecca, as well as countries in Africa, and as far as southern Spain.