THE CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 429 



wrote. In a gigantic compilation of the works of earlier authors under- 

 taken during the reign of Yunglo (hence termed the Yung-lo-ta-tien), 

 the MS. of which was presented to the throne in 1407, is preserved " au 

 account ofthe countries fringing the Chinese border "((7/m-/fm-c/a/i), writ- 

 ten by Ohao Ju-kua, who was inspector of foreign trade in Fakien during 

 the Sung dynasty. As the author speaks of the time of Mohammed 

 " as twenty-nine generations, or six or seven hundred years ago," his 

 work would seem to have been written during the first half of the thir- 

 teenth century; but as he mentions a tribute mission sent by the Arabs 

 to China in the K'aihsi period (1205 to 1208), probably later than the lat- 

 ter date. The compilation was, however, considered too extensive and the 

 printing was never completed, though the more important works relat- 

 ing to periods preceding the Yiian dynasty were re-edited and published 

 by the Emperor Chienlung. One of these was Chao Ju-kua's work. It 

 contains much valuable information regarding the Arab trade of the 

 twelfth century, and, as it takes Chii'anchou (Chinchew) as the starting- 

 point from which all voyages start and distances are computed, it ap- 

 pears to support Klaproth's identification of Marco Polo's Zaitun with 

 that town. From this work it is evident that a large and valuable 

 trade was carried on between China and Brni in Borneo, with Chancli^Sng, 

 comprising a portion of Cochin China, with Cambodja (ChSnla), with 

 Java [She-po), with San-po-cli% which another Chinese work, the Ying- 

 hai-shSng-lan, states to be another name of Palembang {Po-lin-pang) 

 in Sumatra — at which latter place the products of China and coun- 

 tries south of it were stored up for barter with Arab traders for the 

 goods of Europe, India, West Asia, and Africa — and with Lambri, on 

 the northwest coast of the same island. Occasionally Chinchew junks 

 proceeded onward to Coilom, a well-known sea-port (the present Quilou) 

 on the coast of Malabar, which is described under the name of Lam pi; 

 but as a rule it would seem that the trade westward was in the hands 

 of the Arabs, and Chao Ju-kua mentions, indeed, incidentally that a 

 family from Malabar was established in the southern suburb of Chin- 

 chew itself. From this point the goods were carried to Guzerat {'•Hu- 

 c¥a-la), as part of the country of Lampi, and thence to the Arab colony 

 in Zanzibar {ts^engpa, Cantonese ts'-ang pat-W-ang par). Porcelain is dis- 

 tinctly mentioned among the principal articles carried away from China 

 by the vessels to each of these ports and to Ceylon. * The correctness 

 of this author's statements has lately been confirmed in a striking man- 

 ner. Sir John Kirk, during his residence in Zanzibar as consul-general, 

 formed a collection of ancient Chinese celadon porcelain, some of the 

 specimens having been dug up from ruins, mixed with Chinese coins of 

 the Sung dynasty. 



Indeed it seems very probable that porcelain was sent at least as far 

 west as India in the tenth century, or even earlier ; for commercial rela- 



* Hirtli : op., cit, pp. 45 et seq. 



