Peter Goullart (Russian:Пётр Гуляр) (1901 - June 5, 1978)^[1] was a Russian-born traveler, explorer and author, who is best known for a number of books describing the life and customs of various peoples living in remote parts ofEast andSoutheast Asia.

Peter Goullart
Пётр Гуляр
Photo of Peter Goullart in China from his bookForgotten Kingdom
Born	1901 Russian Empire
Died	June 5, 1978(1978-06-05) (aged 76–77) Singapore
Notable work	Forgotten Kingdom

Goullart was born inRussia in 1901 into a well-educated family, and spent his youth inMoscow andParis. He was interested in theOrient from an early age. AfterBolshevik Revolution he fled toChina and eventually settled inShanghai in 1924. He perfected his Chinese and worked as a tour guide for Western tourists and businesspeople, accompanying them on their trips throughout East and South-East Asia. During this time he developed an interest inDaoism and in exploring the remote mountainous areas of Western China.

In 1939 following theJapanese invasion of China, Goullart secured an appointment as a representative of theChinese Industrial Cooperatives (an agency of theKuomintang Government), first in what is now westernSichuan, then in 1942 in the ancient city ofLijiang, in the North-Western corner of Yunnan Province.

He lived in Lijiang for over eight years at the time when it was an important transit stop on the vital trading and supply route fromIndia to China duringWorld War II.^[2] Goullart documented life and customs of inhabitants of this remote region, in particular,Nakhi People, in his first book,Forgotten Kingdom.^[3]

In 1949 shortly after thecommunist takeover, Goullart left Lijiang on a chartered plane to Kunming together with the botanist and explorerJoseph Rock. He left China and then lived and worked inSingapore, and continued to write about his travels throughout Southeast Asia. All his books were written and published in English. He died in the house of his friend Desmond Neill in Singapore on June 5, 1978.^[4]

• Goullart, P., Report on the industrial cooperatives of Likiang, Yunnan, 1945.
• Goullart, P.,Forgotten Kingdom, J. Murray, 1955.
• Goullart, P., Princes of the Black Bone. Life on the Tibetan Borderlands, J. Murray, 1959. (published in the US as Land of the lamas: Adventures in secret Tibet, Dutton, 1959)
• Goullart, P., The Monastery of Jade Mountain, J. Murray, 1961.
• Goullart, P., River of the White Lily: Life in Sarawak (Malaysian heritage series), J. Murray, 1965.