The History of Cambodia You Never Knew About
As I have been writing for years now, there is a place name in Chinese sources, Sanfoqi 三佛齊, which, for the past 100+ years, scholars have thought indicated a place…
The Extremely Modern Knowledge of a “Traditional” Vietnamese Scholar
There is a general narrative about modern Vietnamese history which states that at the beginning of the twentieth century, the traditionally-trained educated elite failed to adapt to the changes of…
Locating Zhenla
Update: No, I'm wrong in this post. I didn't realize people can cover so much distance in a month. To get from Champa to say Sambor Prei Kuk in that…
Intermarriage in Early Cambodia and Indian Colonies in the East
I recently translated the section on Zhenla, a polity that appears to have existed in the area of what is now Cambodia and southern Vietnam, in the History of the…
Conquest and Religious Change in Early Cambodia
Hey kids!! Let’s draw a picture by connecting the dots!!The Treatise on the Success and Obstructions in the Spread of the Dharma (Fayun tongsai zhi 法運通塞志) in Zhipan’s 志磐 (ca.…
Should Anyone Formally Study History Anymore?
A kind reader asked me if I would recommend pursuing the path of studying history. . . And I don’t have an answer, but I have certain thoughts. So, I’ll…
Zhenla was “Cambodian”????!!!!!
A confession: the history of early maritime Southeast Asia is not my field. I just stumbled into it starting about five years ago.Yes, before that time, I had at times…
The Lost Water Route between Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat
Five years ago, I listened to a colleague at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Johannes Kurz, give a presentation on how problematic the scholarship on “Srivijaya” is, and in particular, how problematic…
“Men of Head Hunting Tribes Have Left Brunei”
In March of 1881, Charles Cameron Lees, the British governor and consul general of Labuan, a British territory off the northwest coast of Borneo, received a letter from the Sultan…
Did Funan Have a Cham King?
I have recently been examining a fourth-century text Daoist text, the Grand Clarity Scripture of Divine Elixir Made from Liquid Gold (Taiqing jinye shendan jing 太清金液神丹經) attributed to Ge Hong…