Guo Shoujing
Scarborough Shoal is named after a British merchant ship, the 'Scarborough' which was wrecked on the feature on 12 September 1748. A number of countries have made historic claims of the use of Scarborough Shoal. China has claimed that a 1279 Yuan dynasty map and subsequent surveys by the royal astronomer Guo Shoujing carried out during Kublai Khan's reign established that Scarborough Shoal were used since the thirteenth century by Chinese fishermen. However, no such 1279 map has been released by China to the public. In an article from 18 February 1980, the Beijing Review claimed that Guo Shoujing built an observatory in the Paracel Islands, not Scarborough Shoal. Given that Guo's observatories were huge constructions, it is unlikely that either story is true.