Author Description

Chau Ju-kua, the author of the "Chu-fan-chï, i. e. "A Description of Barbarous Peoples", or "Records of Foreign Nations", deserves to be named among the most prominent writers on the ethnography and trade of his time. As throwing light on the mediaeval trade with the Far East, then in the hands of Arab or Persian merchants, his notes compete successfully with those of Marco Polo and the early Arab and Christian travellers. The authors of this volume have, therefore, endeavoured to furnish a translation, illustrated by notes derived from other sources, which it is hoped will place readers in the position to fully realize the value of this new Chinese source on an interesting historical subject. The "Chu-fan-chï", is a rare and expensive work, obtainable only as part of certain voluminous collections of reprints. For the benefit of Sinological readers, therefore, Chinese characters and passages have been frequently added, and this has increased the difficulty of printing the book, credit for which is due to the Printing Office of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg.