Zhao Rugua

Who was Zhao Rugua?

Zhao Rugua was a customs inspector at the city of Quanzhou during the late Song dynasty who wrote a two-volume book called Zhufan Zhi, literally "Description of the Barbarous Peoples" or "Records of Foreign Peoples", "Gazetteer of Foreigners" 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, Lingwai Daida by another geographer, Zhou Qufei.

Zhao wrote on the origin of Frankincense being traded into China:

"Ruxiang or xunluxiang comes from the three Dashi countries of Murbat, Shihr, and Dhofar, from the depths of the remotest mountains. The tree which yields this drug may generally be compared to the pine tree. Its trunk is notched with a hatchet, upon which the resin flows out, and, when hardened, turns into incense, which is gathered and made into lumps. It is transported on elephants to the Dashi, who then load it upon their ships to exchange it for other commodities in Sanfoqi. This is the reason why it is commonly collected at and known as a product of Sanfoqi."