汪大渊
Many entries of the "Zhu Fan Zhi" take information from other older works, such as Zhu Yu's "Pingzhou Ketan" (萍洲可談) from 1116, Duan Chengshi's 9th century "Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang", and other works. In particular it borrowed heavily from the 1178 work "Lingwai Daida" by another geographer, Zhou Qufei (). However, a significant part of the book came from information Zhao gathered from foreign and Chinese traders. As he himself had not travelled overseas, the information he collected is necessarily secondhand, unlike other works such as "Daoyi Zhilüe" written by Wang Dayuan of the Yuan Dynasty who had travelled overseas to observe other countries at firsthand. Nevertheless, the book contains valuable information on various countries and traded products of the 13th century to modern scholars.