Zhao Rukuo
Chinese politician and author during the Song dynasty

Zhao Rukuo (simplified Chinese: 赵汝适; traditional Chinese: 趙汝适; pinyin: Zhào Rǔkuò; 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, shibosi) 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 public source identifies “Zhao Rukuo” as chinese politician and author during the Song dynasty. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Zhao, Rukuo and Chinese.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Zhao Rukuo”, the useful work is to connect “chinese politician and author during the Song dynasty” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q698817. VIAF identifies the subject as 13253762. The Library of Congress control number is no97049987. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1170, 1231, 1190 and 1224.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zhao Rukuo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.