Zhao Rukuo

Timeline

1. 1170–1190Tiantai, Taizhou · LiangzheBorn in Tiantai, Taizhou, Liangzhe Circuit, of a close branch of the Song imperial clan. He grew up in eastern Zhejiang and began his official career around 1190, laying the groundwork for later coastal fiscal and trade posts.
2. 1190–1224Liangzhe and Fujian · ChinaFrom 1190 he moved through posts in southeastern prefectures and counties, accumulating fiscal and civil administrative experience. The Southern Song maritime trade system was already well developed in Quanzhou, Mingzhou, and elsewhere, providing the institutional setting for his later appointment as maritime trade supervisor.
3. 1224–1225Quanzhou · FujianIn 1224 he took charge of Quanzhou's maritime trade while also handling prefectural administration. He questioned merchants from Arabia, India, and elsewhere about foreign country names, customs, and goods, and comparing old maps with the Lingwai Daida, wrote the two-juan Zhu Fan Zhi around 1225.
4. c. 1225–1231Quanzhou and Linhai, Taizhou · ChinaAfter completing the Zhu Fan Zhi he continued to serve in the Fujian area, dying in 1231 and being buried at Linhai, Taizhou. His book, preserving the Indian Ocean-South China Sea communication network known to the Southern Song, became a basic source for later study of Song-Yuan overseas relations.