The geographical knowledge of the Chinese from the 10th to the 13th century seems to have extended as far as the countries on Northern African coast, Sicily and also other European islands. Chau-Ju-Kua _??__??__??_ author of the famous Chu-fan-chi “Book of foreign peoples and countries”, mentioned the country “Pi-ja-ye of Ta-shih (the Arabs)” which had a good coral fishery. Concerning this country, Hirth and Rockhill refer to it as “a transcription of Arabic Ifrikiya, Africa, but applied by the Arabs to that part of it which included the present Tunnis and Tripoli”.
This identification, however, does not seem quite convincing. The wirter thinks that the country of Pi-ja-ye may be Bijâya (Bougie) which is situated on the Mediterranean coast, 175 kilometers east of Algiers.
Besides, he maintains that the knowledge of the Chinese about the coral fishing in the Mediterranean Sea seems considerably older than the time of Chau-Ju-Kua.

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