Angkor Wat's Chinese Visitor: Zhou Daguan's 1296 Account

In 1296, a Chinese diplomat named Zhou Daguan spent nearly a year in Angkor and wrote 'The Customs of Cambodia' — the only surviving first-hand account of daily life in the Khmer Empire at its zenith. This episode explores what Zhou saw: the grandeur of Angkor Wat after a century of Theravada Buddhist transformation, the bustling markets of Yasodharapura, the royal processions, the slave trade, and the peculiar customs he documented, from tattooing to eating raw fish. We also examine the limits of his account — what he missed, what he misunderstood, and how modern archaeology is both confirming and complicating his observations. Zhou's text is a vital but flawed window into a world that would soon fade into jungle. #ZhouDaguan #TheCustomsofCambodia #AngkorWat #Yasodharapura #KhmerEmpire #AngkorThom #TheravadaBuddhism #JayavarmanVIII #IndravarmanIII #ChineseDiplomacy #YuanDynasty #KublaiKhan #SiemReap #MedievalTravelWriting #SoutheastAsianHistory #Archaeology #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo