Record of Cambodia's Land & Customs

In AD 1296 Zhou Daguan, a member of a Chinese diplomatic mission from the Mongolian emperor Timur Khan to Cambodia, spent almost one year in the capital city known today as Angkor. He recorded in detail the country's landscape, flora, fauna, and its people's social life. This is the only surviving written record that enables us to have a glimpse into the life in Cambodia at the end of the 13th century. This English publication is a direct translation from one of the original ancient Chinese editions of Zhou's record by a Cambodian and a Chinese who have a deep knowledge of the culture and the geography of both Cambodia and China. The book helps to clarify many unidentified places, dignitary titles, plant and animal names, etc., that have remained unresolved for so long. Reading this book, is like travelling through time from Wenzhou (China) across the South China Sea, up the Mekong River into Cambodia, through Tonle Sap River and Tonle Sap Lake into the great walled city of Angkor Thom, where life in the ancient city comes alive in vivid detail. With the help of this book, interested visitors to Angkor will be able to enjoy identifying different ancient structures relating to the various aspects of social life described by Zhou and to the many carvings on bas-reliefs of different monuments that can still be seen today.