The History of the Song (Songshi 宋史) is a very important source for the study of Southeast Asian history.
One section of that work that is particularly important is Liezhuan 列傳 [Arrayed Biographies] 248, Waiguo 外國 [Foreign Kingdoms] 5. This section contains accounts of several Southeast Asian kingdoms, namely Zhancheng, Zhenla, Pugan, Miaoli, Sanfoqi, Shepo (and Nanpi), Boni, Zhunian, and Danmeiliu. And the account of Dashi in the following section is also important.
Back in the nineteenth century, Dutch Sinologist W. P. Groenevedlt translated some of the History of the Song in his 1876 Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca Compiled from Chinese Sources, and this remains one of the only translations for some of the passages in this work.
For Zhunian there are updated translations in Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia (2009), but for important polities like Sanfoqi and Shepo, as far as I know (please correct me if I’m wrong), Groenevedlt’s translations remain the sole translations in English.
There are a couple of issues with Groenevedlt’s translation that I have big problems with. 1) He broke up the information in the History of the Song and presented it differently from the way it appears in the text.
In particular, Groenevedlt created his own categories (Sumatra, Java, etc.) and then placed information that he thought was about those places in those sections of his book.
I never like it when scholars do that. I think that it’s very important to present the information as it exists in the original text, because the original compilers had a logic for placing information in the way/order that they did, and a reader should be exposed to that.
2) Groenevedlt was wrong about what certain place names referred to, and as a result, when he broke up the text and put different parts in different sections of his book, he created a mess.
In what follows below, I present the information as it appears in the History of the Song with minimal input of my own about what things mean.
I have long wanted to create a webpage where all (or as many as possible) of the Chinese sources on Southeast Asian history can be consolidated. AI is now making that feasible, as it can translate classical Chinese very well.
The translations below are AI translations that I have gone through and checked. I will continue to check them and add to them over time. And eventually, I will compile them all in one place.
There are limits to what I can do with the free web page building software that I use, so this is not as professional as I would want it to be, however, I want to be able to move to sections quickly, to be able to easily compare the Chinese text with the English translation, and to be able to search through an entire document (either in Chinese or English), and all of that is possible here.
So, enjoy!!
Champa 占城
占城國在中國之西南，東至海，西至雲南，南至真臘國，北至驩州界。汎海南去三佛齊五日程。陸行至賓陀羅國一月程，其國隸占城焉。東去麻逸國二日程，蒲端國七日程。北至廣州，便風半月程。東北至兩浙一月程。西北至交州兩日程，陸行半月程。其地東西七百里，南北三千里。南曰施備州，西曰上源州，北曰烏里州。所統大小州三十八，不盈三萬家。其國無城郭，有百餘村，村落戶三五百，或至七百，亦有縣鎮之名。
The kingdom of Champa [Zhancheng 占城] lies to the southwest of the Middle Kingdom. To the east it reaches the sea, to the west it reaches Yunnan, to the south it reaches Zhenla, and to the north it reaches the border with Huan Prefecture [Huanzhu ]. Sailing southward across the sea, it takes five days to reach Sanfoqi 三佛齊. Travelling overland, it takes one month to reach the kingdom of Bintuoluo 賓陀羅, which is under the jurisdiction of Champa. Departing to the east, it is a two-day journey to the kingdom of Mayi 麻逸, and seven days to the kingdom of Puduan 蒲端. To the north, with favorable winds, it takes half a month to reach Guangzhou, and to the northeast, one month to reach Liangzhe 兩浙 [Zhejiang]. Travelling northwest, it is two days to Jiaozhou 交州 [northern Vietnam], or half a month overland.
The territory measures 700 leagues from east to west, and 3,000 leagues from north to south. The southern region is called Shibei Prefecture [Shibei zhou 施備州], the western region Shangyuan Prefecture [Shangyuan zhou 上源州], and the northern region Wuli Prefecture [Wuli zhou 烏里州]. The kingdom governs thirty-eight large and small prefectures, with fewer than thirty thousand households. It has no walled cities, but more than one hundred villages, each containing 300 to 500 households, some up to 700. Some of these settlements also bear the designation of county or outpost.
土地所出：箋沉香、檳榔、烏樠木、蘇木、白藤、黃蠟、吉貝花布、絲絞布、白𣯉布、藤簟、貝多葉簟、金銀鐵錠等物。五穀無麥，有秔米、粟、豆、麻子。官給種一斛，計租百斛。果實有蓮、甘蔗、蕉子、椰子。鳥獸多孔雀、犀牛。畜產多黃牛、水牛而無驢；亦有山牛，不任耕耨，但殺以祭鬼，將殺，令巫祝之曰「阿羅和及拔」，譯云「早教他託生」。民獲犀、象皆輸于王。國人多乘象或軟布兜，或於交州市馬，頗食山羊、水兕之肉。
The land produces aloeswood, betel nut, black camphor wood, sappanwood, white rattan, yellow beeswax, cotton cloth [jibei 吉貝] with floral patterns, twisted silk cloth, plain white cotton cloth, rattan mats, mats made from palm leaves, and ingots of gold, silver, and iron. Among grains, wheat is not grown, but glutinous rice, millet, beans, and sesame are cultivated. The government distributes one hu 斛 of seed, and in return, collects one hundred hu 斛 as rent. Fruits include lotus, sugarcane, bananas, and coconuts.
鳥獸多孔雀、犀牛。畜產多黃牛、水牛而無驢；亦有山牛，不任耕耨，但殺以祭鬼，將殺，令巫祝之曰「阿羅和及拔」，譯云「早教他託生」。民獲犀、象皆輸于王。國人多乘象或軟布兜，或於交州市馬，頗食山羊、水兕之肉。
There are many peacocks and rhinoceroses. Domesticated animals mainly include oxen and water buffalo, while donkeys are absent. There are also wild mountain cattle, which are not used for farming, but are instead slaughtered as sacrificial offerings to spirits. Before the slaughter, a shaman incants a spell, saying “A-luo-he-ji-ba” which is translated as “May it quickly be reincarnated.”
When people capture rhinoceroses or elephants, they present them to the king. The people of the kingdom often ride elephants, using either soft cloth slings or horses brought from Jiaozhou. Their diet includes the meat of goats and [Javan] rhinoceros [shuisi 水兕].
其風俗衣服與大食國相類。無絲蠶，以白㲲布纏其胸，垂至於足，衣衫窄袖。撮髮為髻，散垂餘髾於其後。互市無緡錢，止用金銀較量錙銖，或吉貝錦定博易之直。樂器有胡琴、笛、鼓、大鼓，樂部亦列舞人。其王腦後髽髻，散披吉貝衣，戴金花冠，七寶裝纓絡為飾，脛股皆露，躡革履，無襪。婦人亦腦後撮髻，無笄梳，其服及拜揖與男子同。王每日午坐禪椅。官屬謁見膜拜一而止，白事畢復膜拜一而退。或出遊，看象、采獵、觀漁，皆數日方還。近則乘軟布兜，遠則乘象，或乘一木杠，四人舁之，先令一人持檳榔盤前導，從者十餘輩，各執弓箭刀槍手牌等，其民望之膜拜一而止。日或一再出。每歲稻熟，王自刈一把，從者及群婦女競割之。
Their customs and clothing resemble those of the kingdom of Dashi 大食. They do not cultivate silkworms, and instead wrap their chests with plain white cotton cloth that hangs down to the feet. Their shirts have narrow sleeves. They tie their hair into topknots, letting the remaining strands fall loosely down in back. In trade, they do not use cash coins but instead weigh gold and silver to the smallest units, or determine exchange values based on cotton [jibei 吉貝] brocade.
Their musical instruments include the huqin 胡琴, flute, drum, and large drum. Musical troops include dancers. The king wears his hair in a braided topknot behind his head, drapes himself in cotton cloth, and wears a golden flowered crown adorned with tassels of the seven precious substances. His shins and thighs are exposed, and he wears leather sandals without socks. Women also wear their hair in topknots at the back of the head, without using hairpins or combs; their clothing and gestures of bowing and salutation are the same as those of men.
Each day at noon, the king sits on a meditation chair. Officials approach to make a single bow in reverence; after presenting their matters, they bow once more and withdraw. When the king goes out, whether to watch elephants, hunt, or observe fishing, he is gone for several days at a time. For nearby outings, he rides in a soft cloth sling; for longer journeys, he rides an elephant or is carried on a single wooden pole borne by four men. A person carrying a betel tray always leads the way, followed by a dozen attendants, each bearing bows, arrows, knives, spears, or hand-shields. When the people see him, they bow once in respect. He may go out repeatedly in one day. Every year, when the rice ripens, the king cuts the first handful himself, and then his attendants and groups of women compete to harvest the rest.
其王或以兄為副王，或以弟為次王。設高官凡八員，東西南北各二，分治其事，無奉祿，令其所管土俗資給之。別置文吏五十餘員，有郎中、員外、秀才之稱，分掌資儲寶貨等事，亦無資奉，但給龜魚充食及免調役而已。又有司帑廩者十二員，主軍卒者二百餘員，皆無月奉。勝兵萬餘人，月給秔米二斛，冬夏衣布各三匹至五匹。每夕，唯王升床而臥，諸臣皆寢于地蓐。親近之臣見王即胡跪作禮，稍疏遠者但拱手而已。
The king may appoint either an elder brother as deputy king or a younger brother as second king. There are eight high-ranking officials in total, two assigned to each of the cardinal directions—east, west, south, and north—who oversee the administration of their respective regions. These officials receive no state salary; instead, they are supported by the resources and customary contributions of the local populations under their jurisdiction.
In addition, more than fifty clerical officials are appointed, holding titles such as director [langzhong 郎中], assistant [yuanwai 員外], and licentiate [xiucai 秀才]. They are responsible for managing stores, treasuries, and valuable goods. They also receive no salary, but are given turtle and fish for food and are exempt from corvée labor.
There are also twelve officials assigned to manage granaries and treasuries, and over two hundred responsible for overseeing soldiers. None of them receive a monthly stipend. The army consists of more than ten thousand elite soldiers, each of whom is issued two hu 斛 of glutinous rice per month, along with three to five bolts of cloth for summer and winter clothing.
Each night, only the king sleeps on a raised bed, while all the officials sleep on mats laid directly on the ground. Ministers who are close to the king kneel on one knee in greeting; those of more distant rank simply stand with hands respectfully clasped.
其風俗，正月一日牽象周行所居之地，然後驅逐出郭，謂之逐邪。四月有遊船之戲。定十一月十五日為冬至，人皆相賀，州縣以土產物帛獻其王。每歲十二月十五日，城外縛木為塔，王及人民以衣物香藥置塔上焚之以祭天。人有疾病，旋采生藥服食。地不產茶，亦不知醞釀之法，止飲椰子酒，兼食檳榔。
In local custom, on the first day of the first lunar month, elephants are led in procession through the residential areas and then driven outside the city walls; this is called “expelling evil.” In the fourth lunar month, there is a festival featuring games with boats. The fifteenth day of the eleventh lunar month is observed as the winter solstice, during which people offer greetings to one another, and the prefectures and counties present local products and items of value to the king.
Each year on the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, a wooden structure is bound together outside the city to form a tower. The king and the people place clothing, fragrant herbs, and medicines on it and burn them as an offering to Heaven. When someone falls ill, they immediately gather fresh herbs for treatment and consume them. The land does not produce tea, nor do the people know the methods of fermentation; they drink only coconut wine and also chew betel nut.
刑禁亦設枷鎖，小過以四人拽伏於地，藤杖鞭之，二人左右更互捶扑，量其罪或五六十至一百。當死者以繩繫於樹，用梭槍舂喉而殊其首。若故殺、劫殺，令象踏之，或以鼻卷撲于地。象皆素習，將刑人，即令豢養之人以數諭之，悉能曉焉。犯姦者，男女共入牛以贖罪。負國王物者，以繩拘於荒塘，物充而後出之。
The legal system includes the use of cangues and shackles. For minor offenses, the offender is pinned to the ground by four men and whipped with rattan canes. Two men take turns striking from either side, and the number of lashes depends on the severity of the crime, ranging from fifty or sixty up to one hundred.
Those sentenced to death are tied to a tree with a rope, and a sharp-pointed lance is used to strike the throat and sever the head. In cases of intentional murder or robbery-murder, the condemned is executed by being trampled by elephants or struck to the ground by their trunks. The elephants are trained for this purpose; their keepers issue specific commands, and the elephants understand them completely.
For adultery, the man and woman must together pay with a cow/buffalo as atonement. Anyone who misappropriates royal property is tied with ropes and held at a deserted pond; only when full restitution has been made is the person released.
其國前代罕與中國通。周顯德中，其王釋利因德漫遣其臣莆訶散貢方物，有雲龍形通犀帶、菩薩石。又有薔薇水灑衣經歲香不歇，猛火油得水愈熾，皆貯以瑠璃瓶。
In earlier generations, this kingdom rarely had contact with the Middle Kingdom. During the Zhou dynasty’s Xiande era [954–959], its king, Shili Yindeman 釋利因德漫 [Śrī Indravarman], sent his official Pu Hesan 莆訶散 to offer tribute of local products. Among the items were a belt made of rhinoceros horn with a coiled dragon design, and a stone-carved bodhisattva. There was also rosewater that, when sprinkled on clothing, retained its fragrance for over a year without fading, and blazing oil that burned even more fiercely when doused with water. All of these items were stored in glass bottles.
[The rest is coming soon!!!]
Zhenla 真臘 (Cambodia to most people, but only part of it to me)
真臘國亦名占臘，其國在占城之南，東際海，西接蒲甘，南抵加羅希。其縣鎮風俗同占城，地方七千餘里。有銅臺，列銅塔二十有四、銅象八以鎮其上，象各重四千斤。其國有戰象幾二十萬，馬多而小。
The kingdom of Zhenla 真臘 is also called Zhanla 占臘. It lies to the south of Champa 占城, bordered by the sea to the east, Pugan 蒲甘 [Bagan] to the west, and Jialuoxi [Grahi] 加羅希 to the south. Its districts and outposts, and its customs, are the same as those of Champa. The territory spans more than 7,000 leagues.
There is a bronze terrace on which are arranged 24 bronze towers and 8 bronze elephants stationed atop it, each elephant weighing 4,000 catties. The country possesses nearly 200,000 war elephants and many horses, though the horses are small.
政和六年十二月，遣進奏使奉化郎將鳩摩僧哥、副使安化郎將摩君明稽田/思等十四人來貢，賜以朝服。僧哥言：「萬里遠國，仰投聖化，尚拘卉服，未稱區區嚮慕之誠，願許服所賜。」詔從之，仍以其事付史館，書諸策。明年三月辭去。宣和二年，又遣郎將摩臘、摩禿防來，朝廷官封其王與占城等。建炎三年，以郊恩授其王金裒賓深檢校司徒，加食邑，遂定為常制。
In the twelfth lunar month of the sixth year of the Zhenghe era [1116/17], it sent an envoy led by Fenghua Commandant Jiumosengge 鳩摩僧哥 [Kumarasanga] and deputy envoy Anhua Commandant Mojunmingjisi 摩君明稽田/思 and 14 others to offer tribute. They were granted court robes. [Kumara]sanga said:
“We are a kingdom from ten thousand leagues away, yet we revere and look up to the sacred moral transforming influence [of the Emperor]. Still wearing grass garments, we have yet to express the sincerity of our humble admiration. We earnestly request permission to wear the garments Your Majesty has bestowed.”
A decree granted their request, and the matter was submitted to the Historiography Institute to be recorded in the official annals.
明年三月辭去。宣和二年，又遣郎將摩臘、摩禿防來，朝廷官封其王與占城等。建炎三年，以郊恩授其王金裒賓深檢校司徒，加食邑，遂定為常制。
In the third lunar month of the following year [1117], the mission took leave.
In the second year of the Xuanhe era [1120], another mission was sent led by Commandants Mola 摩臘 and Motufang 摩禿防. The imperial court conferred official titles upon their king, equal to those granted to the kings of Champa and others.
In the third year of the Jianyan era [1129], as an extension of the benevolence of the Southern Suburban Sacrifice, it was ordered that its king Jinpou Binshen 金裒賓深 be appointed Acting Minister of Education and granted an increase in tax-grant fiefdom. From that point forward, this practice was established as a regular system.
其屬邑有真里富，在西南隅，東南接波斯蘭，西南與登流眉為鄰。所部有六十餘聚落。慶元六年，其國主立二十年矣，遣使奉表貢方物及馴象二。詔優其報賜，以海道遠涉，後毋再入貢。
Its vassal settlements include Zhenlifu 真里富, located in the southwestern corner; to the southeast it borders Bosilan 波斯蘭, and to the southwest it neighbors Dengliumei 登流眉. The territory comprises over sixty settlements.
Pugan 蒲甘 (Bagan)
蒲甘國，崇寧五年，遣使入貢，詔禮秩視注輦。尚書省言：「注輦役屬三佛齊，故熙寧中敕書以大背紙，緘以匣襆，今蒲甘乃大國王，不可下視附庸小國。欲如大食、交阯諸國禮，凡制詔並書以白背金花綾紙，貯以間金鍍管籥，用錦絹夾襆緘封以往。」從之。
The kingdom of Pugan 蒲甘. In the fifth year of the Chongning era [1106], it sent envoys to present tribute. A decree was issued stating that the ceremonial treatment should be equal to that accorded to Zhunian 注輦.
The Department of State Affairs [Shangshu sheng 尚書省] submitted a memorial saying:
注輦役屬三佛齊，故熙寧中敕書以大背紙，緘以匣襆，今蒲甘乃大國王，不可下視附庸小國。欲如大食、交阯諸國禮，凡制詔並書以白背金花綾紙，貯以間金鍍管籥，用錦絹夾襆緘封以往。」
“Zhunian is subordinate to Sanfoqi 三佛齊, and during the Xining era [1068–1077], edicts were written on large coarse paper and sealed in boxes wrapped in cloth. But Pugan is a major royal kingdom and should not be treated as a subordinate vassal state.
We recommend it be treated in the same manner as the kingdoms of Dashi 大食 and Jiaozhi 交阯 [Vietnam). All imperial edicts should be written on white-backed gold-flowered damask paper, stored in a gilded locked container, and sealed with embroidered silk wrappings.”
This recommendation was approved and followed.
Miaoli 邈黎 (no idea)
邈黎國，元祐四年，般次冷移、四抹粟迷等賫于闐國黑汗王并本國王表章來。有司以其國未嘗入貢，請視于闐條式。從之。
The Miaoli 邈黎 kingdom. In the fourth year of the Yuanyou era [1089], Banci Lingyi(般次冷移 and Simo Sumi 四抹粟迷 brought letters from both the Heihan King 黑汗王 of the kingdom of Yutian [Khotan] 于闐 and from their own king.
The relevant authorities noted that this kingdom had never before offered tribute and thus requested that it be treated according to the precedent for Khotan. This was approved.
Sanfoqi 三佛齊 (Srivijaya at Palembang to most people, Kambuja to me)
三佛齊國，蓋南蠻之別種，與占城為隣，居真臘、闍婆之間，所管十五州。土產紅藤、紫礦、箋沉香、檳榔、椰子。無緡錢，土俗以金銀貿易諸物。四時之氣，多熱少寒，冬無霜雪。人用香油塗身。其地無麥，有米及青白豆，鷄魚鵝鴨頗類中土。有花酒、椰子酒、檳榔酒、蜜酒，皆非麴糵所醞，飲之亦醉。樂有小琴、小鼓，崐崙奴踏曲為樂。國中文字用梵書，以其王指環為印，亦有中國文字，上章表即用焉。累甓為城，周數十里，用椰葉覆屋。人民散居城外，不輸租賦，有所征伐，隨時調發，立酋長率領，皆自備兵器粮糗。汎海使風二十日至廣州。其王號詹卑，其國居人多蒲姓。唐天祐元年貢物，授其使都蕃長蒲訶栗立寧遠將軍。
The kingdom of Sanfoqi 三佛齊 is a separate branch of the southern barbarians and neighbors Champa. It is located between Zhenla 真臘 and Shepo 闍婆, and governs fifteen regions.
Its local products include red rattan, purple mineral, fine aloeswood, betel nuts, and coconuts. They do not use stringed copper coins; the local custom is to trade goods using gold and silver.
The climate is hot in all seasons, with little cold; there is no frost or snow in winter. People anoint their bodies with fragrant oils. The land does not produce wheat, but it has rice as well as green and white beans. Chickens, fish, geese, and ducks are much like those of the Central Lands.
They have flower wine, coconut wine, betel wine, and honey wine. None are brewed with yeast or fermentation starters, yet drinking them still causes intoxication.
For music, they use small zithers and small drums, and Kunlun slaves perform stepping dances and songs for entertainment.
In the kingdom, for writing they use the Fan script [Fanshu 梵書, indicates and Indic script]. The king uses a signet ring as a seal. Chinese writing is also known, and Chinese characters are used for formal memorials.
Cities are enclosed by walls made of stacked bricks and extend for several dozen leagues in circumference. Houses are roofed with coconut leaves. People live scattered outside the city and are not subject to taxes or corvée labor. When military campaigns arise, troops are levied as needed; chieftains are appointed to lead them, and each person prepares his own weapons and provisions.
Traveling by sea with a favorable wind, one can reach Guangzhou in twenty days.
The king holds the title Zhanbei 詹卑. Many people residing inside the kingdom have the surname Pu 蒲. In the first year of the Tang Tianyou era [904 CE], they offered tribute. Their envoy, Pu Heli 蒲訶栗, was appointed Chief of the Foreign Tribes [Dufanzhang 都蕃長] and General Who Pacifies the Distant [Ningyuan Jiangjun 寧遠將軍].
建隆元年九月，其王悉利胡大霞里檀遣使李遮帝來朝貢。二年夏，又遣使蒲蔑貢方物。是冬，其王室利烏耶遣使茶野伽、副使嘉末吒朝貢。其國號生留，王李犀林男迷日來亦遣使同至貢方物。三年春，室利烏耶又遣使李麗林、副使李鵶末、判官吒吒璧等來貢，迴，賜以白犛牛尾、白甆器、銀器、錦線鞍轡二副。開寶四年，遣使李何末以水晶、火油來貢。五年，又來貢。七年，又貢象牙、乳香、薔薇水、萬歲棗、褊桃、白沙糖、水晶指環、瑠璃瓶、珊瑚樹。八年，又遣使蒲陁漢等貢方物，賜以冠帶、器幣。
In the ninth lunar month of the first year of the Jianlong era [960], its king, Xili Hudaxialitan 悉利胡大霞里檀, dispatched the envoy, Li Zhedi 李遮帝, to the court to present tribute.
In the summer of the second year [961], envoy Pu Mie was also dispatched to present local goods as tribute. That winter, the king, Shili Wuye 室利烏耶, sent envoy Chayeqia 茶野伽 and deputy envoy Jiamozha 嘉末吒 to present tribute. Their kingdom is called Shengliu 生留.
Mirilai 迷日來, the son of the king, Lixilin 李犀林, also sent envoys that arrived at the same time to present local goods as tribute.
In the spring of the third year [962], Shili Wuye again dispatched envoys Li Lilin 李麗林, deputy Li Yamo 李鵶末, and adjudicator Zhazhabi 吒吒璧, to present tribute. On their return, they were granted gifts including white yak tails, white porcelain vessels, silverware, and two sets of brocade-decorated saddles and bridles.
In the fourth year of the Kaibao reign [971], envoy Li Hemo 李何末 was sent and presented crystal and petroleum as tribute.
In the fifth year [972], another mission arrived to offer tribute.
In the seventh year [974], tribute was again presented, including elephant ivory, frankincense, rose water, longevity dates, flat peaches, white granulated sugar, crystal rings, glass bottles, and coral branches.
In the eighth year [975], envoys including Putuohan 蒲陁漢 and others brought tribute goods and were rewarded with court caps and belts, vessels, and coinage.
太平興國五年，其王夏池遣使茶龍眉來。是年，潮州言，三佛齊國蕃商李甫誨乘舶船載香藥、犀角、象牙至海口，會風勢不便，飄船六十日至潮州，其香藥悉送廣州。八年，其王遐至遣使蒲押陁羅來貢水晶佛、錦布、犀牙、香藥。雍熙二年，舶主金花茶以方物來獻。端拱元年，遣使蒲押陀黎貢方物。淳化三年冬，廣州上言：「蒲押陀黎前年自京迴，聞本國為闍婆所侵，住南海凡一年，今春乘舶至占城，偶風信不利，復還。乞降詔諭本國。」從之。
In the fifth year of the Taiping Xingguo era [980], its king, Xiachi 夏池, sent the envoy Cha Longmei 茶龍眉.
In the same year, officials in Chaozhou reported that a foreign merchant [fanshang 蕃商] from the kingdom of Sanfoqi, Li Fuhui 李甫誨, had arrived by ship carrying aromatics, rhinoceros horn, and elephant ivory. Due to unfavorable winds, his vessel drifted for sixty days before reaching Chaozhou. All the aromatic were then forwarded to Guangzhou.
In the eighth year [983], the king, Xiazhi 遐至, sent envoy Pu Yatuoluo 蒲押陁羅 to present tribute, including a crystal Buddha, brocade cloth, rhinoceros tusks, and aromatics.
In the second year of the Yongxi era [985], a shipmaster [bozhu 舶主] named Jin Huacha 金花茶 brought tribute goods.
In the first year of the Duangong era [988], envoy Pu Yatuoli 蒲押陀黎 was sent to offer tribute goods.
In the third year of the Chunhua era [992), during the winter, Guangzhou officials reported: “Pu Yatuoli, after returning from the capital two years ago, heard that his home country had been invaded by Shepo 闍婆. He remained in Nanhai for over a year. This spring, he sailed to Champa, but because the seasonal winds were unfavorable, he returned again. He now respectfully requests that an imperial edict be issued to his home country.” This request was granted.
咸平六年，其王思離咮囉無尼佛麻調華遣使李加排、副使無陁李南悲來貢，且言本國建佛寺以祝聖壽，願賜名及鐘。上嘉其意，詔以「承天萬壽」為寺額，并鑄鐘以賜，授加排歸德將軍，無陁李南悲懷化將軍。大中祥符元年，其王思離麻囉皮遣使李眉地、副使蒲婆藍、判官麻河勿來貢，許赴泰山陪位于朝覲壇，遣賜甚厚。天禧元年，其王霞遲蘇勿吒蒲迷遣使蒲謀西等奉金字表，貢真珠、象牙、梵夾經、崐崙奴，詔許謁會靈觀，游太清寺、金明池。及還，賜其國詔書、禮物以慰奬之。
In the sixth year of the Xianping era [1003], the king Sili Zhuluowunifomadiaohua 思離咮囉無尼佛麻調華 sent envoy Li Jiapai 李加排 and deputy envoys Wutuolinanbei 無陁李南悲 to present tribute. They also reported that their country had constructed a Buddhist temple to pray for the emperor’s long life, and requested an official name for the temple along with a bell. The emperor appreciated their sincerity and issued a decree granting the temple the name “Receiving Heaven and Ten Thousand Years of Longevity” [Chengtian Wanshou 承天萬壽] and ordered a bell to be cast and bestowed upon them. [Li] Jiapai was given the title General Who Returns to Virtue [Guide jiangjun 歸德將軍), and Wutuolinanbei was granted the title General Who Embraces Moral Transformation [Huaihua jiangjun 懷化將軍].
In the first year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era [1008], its king, Sili Maluopi 思離麻囉皮, sent envoy Li Meidi 李眉地, deputy envoy Pubolan 蒲婆藍, and adjudicator Mahewu 麻河勿 to present tribute. They were permitted to participate in the imperial pilgrimage to Mount Tai and were received with lavish gifts.
In the first year of the Tianxi era [1017], its king Xiachi Suwuzhapumi 霞遲蘇勿吒蒲迷 sent envoy Pu Mouxi 蒲謀西 and others, bearing a memorial written in gold characters. They offered pearls, ivory, palm-leaf Buddhist scriptures [fanlai jing 梵夾經], and Kunlun slaves. An imperial edict permitted them to visit the Huiling Temple, the Taiqing Temple, and the Jinming Pond. Upon their departure, the emperor issued a letter to their country and granted them gifts in recognition and encouragement.
天聖六年八月，其王室離疊華遣使蒲押陀羅歇及副使、判官亞加盧等來貢方物。舊制遠國使人貢，賜以間金塗銀帶，時特以渾金帶賜之。
熙寧十年，使大首領地華伽囉來，以為保順慕化大將軍，賜詔寵之，曰：「吾以聲教覆露方域，不限遠邇，苟知夫忠義而來者，莫不錫之華爵，耀以美名，以寵異其國。爾悅慕皇化，浮海貢琛，吾用汝嘉，併超等秩，以昭忠義之勸。」元豐中，使至者再，率以白金、真珠、婆律薰陸香備方物。廣州受表入言，俟報，乃護至闕下。天子念其道里遙遠，每優賜遣歸。二年，賜錢六萬四千緡、銀一萬五百兩，官其使群陀畢羅為寧遠將軍，官陀旁亞里為保順郎將。畢羅乞買金帶、白金器物，及僧紫衣、師號、牒，皆如所請給之。
In the eighth lunar month of the sixth year of the Tiansheng era [1028], its king, Shili Diehua 室離疊華, sent envoy Pu Yatuoluoxie 蒲押陀羅歇, along with a deputy envoy and adjudicator named Yakalu 亞加盧, and others, to present tribute goods.
According to established protocol, when envoys from distant countries presented tribute, they were customarily granted a belt with silver plating and inlaid gold. On this occasion, however, a belt made entirely of solid gold was specially bestowed.
In the tenth year of the Xining reign (1077 CE), the head chieftan [Dashouling 大首領] Dihuajialuo 地華伽囉 came as an envoy. He was granted the title “Great General Who Protects and Submits and Admires Moral Transformation” [Baoshun muhua da jianghun 保順慕化大將軍], and an imperial edict was issued in his honor, stating:
“I extend my enlightening teachings far and wide, without limiting them by distance. All who recognize loyalty and righteousness and come to me are granted illustrious titles and honored with fine names, so that their kingdoms may be marked with distinction. You have admired and embraced my august transformations, crossed the seas to offer precious tribute. I appreciate your sincerity and elevate your rank beyond the norm, to make manifest the encouragement of loyalty and righteousness.”
During the Yuanfeng era [1078–1085], envoys arrived twice. They regularly brought tribute goods such as refined silver, pearls, and fragrant resins including borneol and olibanum.
The tribute memorial was received in Guangzhou and submitted to the court. After a reply was prepared, the envoys were escorted to the capital. The emperor, mindful of the long distances they had travelled, always granted generous gifts before sending them home.
In the second year [1079], the emperor bestowed 64,000 strings of cash and 10,500 taels of silver. Envoy Quntuobiluo 群陀畢羅 was appointed “General Who Pacifies the Distant” [Ningyuan jianghun 寧遠將軍], and Tuopangyali 陀旁亞里 was appointed “Commandant Who Protects and Submits” [Baoxun langjun 保順郎將].
Biluo 畢羅 requested to purchase a gold belt, silver vessels, a purple robe for a monk, a Buddhist teacher’s title, and certification documents. All were granted as requested.
五年，廣州南蕃綱首以其主管國事國王之女唐字書，寄龍腦及布與提舉市舶孫迥，迥不敢受，言於朝。詔令估直輸之官，悉市帛以報。
In the fifth year [1082; other sources say that this was in 1088/89] the head of Southern Barbarian Tribute Transport [Nanfan gangshou 南蕃綱首] in Guangzhou brought a letter written in Tang script from the overseer of state affairs, the king’s daughter, and sent with it borneol and cloth to the Superintendent of the Maritime Trade Office, Sun Jiong. Jiong did not dare to accept them and reported the matter to the court. An imperial edict ordered that their value be assessed and transferred to government custody, and that brocade be purchased in return as a token of thanks.
五年，遣使皮襪、副使胡仙、判官地華加羅來，入見，以金蓮花貯真珠、龍腦撒殿。官皮襪為懷遠將軍、胡仙加羅為郎將。加羅還至雍丘病死，賻以絹五十匹。
In the fifth year [1082; other sources say that this was in 1088/89], envoy Piwa 皮襪, deputy envoy Huxian 胡仙, and adjudicator Dihuajialuo 地華加羅 were sent. Upon entering for audience, they scattered pearls and dragon-brain incense (borneol) from a golden lotus blossom in the palace hall.
Piwa was granted the title General Who Cherishes the Distant [Huaiyuan jianghun 懷遠將軍], and Huxian and [Dihua]Jialuo were appointed as a Commandant [langjiang郎將]. [Dihua]Jialuo fell ill and died in Yongqiu on his return journey, and was [posthumously] gifted fifty bolts of silk.
六年，又以其使薩打華滿為將軍，副使羅悉沙文、判官悉理沙文為郎將。紹聖中，再入貢。紹興二十六年，其王悉利麻霞囉陀遣使入貢。帝曰：「遠人向化，嘉其誠耳，非利乎方物也。」其王復以珠獻宰臣秦檜，時檜已死，詔償其直而收之。淳熙五年，復遣使貢方物，詔免赴闕，館於泉州。
In the sixth year [1083, envoy Sadahuaman 薩打華滿 was appointed as General, and deputy envoy Luoxishawen 羅悉沙文 and adjudicator Xili Shawen 悉理沙文 were both granted the title of Commandant.
During the Shaosheng era [1094–1097], they again came twice to offer tribute.
In the 26th year of the Shaoxing era [1156], its king, Xili Maxialuotuo 悉利麻霞囉陀, sent envoys to present tribute. The emperor remarked, “These distant people turn toward our moral transformation. What I appreciate is their sincerity, not the value of their tribute goods.”
The king also offered pearls as a gift to the chief minister Qin Hui, but by that time Qin Hui had already died. An imperial edict ordered that the value of the pearls be compensated and that they be accepted into state holdings.
In the 5th year of the Chunxi era [1178], envoys were again sent with tribute goods. The emperor issued an edict excusing them from appearing at the capital, and instead had them hosted in Quanzhou.
Shepo/Nanpi 闍婆/南毗 (island Java to most people, Lake Songkhla region to me)
闍婆國在南海中。其國東至海一月，汎海半月至崑崙國；西至海四十五日，南至海三日，汎海五日至大食國；北至海四日，西北汎海十五日至勃泥國，又十五日至三佛齊國，又七日至古邏國，又七日至柴曆亭，抵交阯，達廣州。
The kingdom of Shepo 闍婆 is located in the South Sea. To its east, it is one month to the sea; sailing from there for half a month one reaches the kingdom of Kunlun 崑崙. To the west, it is forty-five days to the sea. To the south, it is three days to the sea; sailing from there for five days one reaches the kingdom of Dashi 大食. To the north, it is four days to the sea; sailing northwest from there for fifteen days one reaches the kingdom of Boni 勃泥. Also, it is fifteen days to the kingdom of Sanfoqi 三佛齊, and seven days to the kingdom of Guluo 古邏, and seven days to Chailiting 柴曆亭. One can reach Jiaozhi 交阯 and arrive at Guangzhou 廣州.
其地平坦，宜種植，產稻、麻、粟、豆，無麥。民輸十一之租，煮海為鹽。多魚、鱉、鷄、鴨、山羊，兼椎牛以食。果實有木瓜、椰子、蕉子、蔗、芋。出金銀、犀牙、箋沉檀香、茴香、胡椒、檳榔、硫黃、紅花、蘇木。亦務蠶織，有薄絹、絲絞、吉貝布。剪銀葉為錢博易，官以粟一斛二斗博金一錢。
The land is flat and suitable for cultivation, producing rice, hemp, millet, and beans, but no wheat. The people pay a tax of one-tenth, and they boil seawater to make salt. There is an abundance of fish, turtles, chickens, ducks, and mountain goats, and they also slaughter cattle for food. Fruits include papaya, coconut, banana, sugarcane, and taro. The land yields gold, silver, rhinoceros horn, aloeswood, sandalwood, star anise, pepper, betel nut, sulfur, safflower, and sappanwood. They also engage in sericulture and weaving, producing fine silk gauze, twisted silk, and kapok cloth [jibei 吉貝, Old Malay, kapas, from Sanskrit, karpāsa]. They cut silver leaves to use as currency in trade; the government exchanges one qian 錢 of platinum/silver [? bojin 博金] for one hu 斛 and two dou 斗 of millet.
室宇壯麗，飾以金碧。中國賈人至者，待以賓館，飲食豐潔。地不產茶。其酒出於椰子及蝦蝚丹樹，蝦蝚丹樹華人未嘗見；或以桄榔、檳榔釀成，亦甚香美。不設刑禁，雜犯罪者隨輕重出黃金以贖，惟寇盜者殺之。
Their buildings are grand and decorated with gold and jade. When merchants from China arrive, they are accommodated in guest houses and provided with clean and abundant food and drink. Tea is not produced in this land. Their liquor is made from coconuts and the sap of the xiaroudan 蝦蝚丹 tree, a tree unknown to Chinese people [Huaren 華人]. They also brew fragrant and delicious liquor from sago and betel. There are no formal laws or punishments; for various crimes, the guilty pay ransoms in gold according to the severity of the offense. Only thieves and bandits are punished with death.
其王椎髻，戴金鈴，衣錦袍，躡革履，坐方牀，官吏日謁，三拜而退，出入乘象或腰輿，壯士五七百人執兵器以從。國人見王皆坐，俟其過乃起。以王子三人為副王。官有落佶連四人，共治國事，如中國宰相，無月奉，隨時量給土產諸物。次有文吏三百餘員，目為秀才，掌文簿，總計財貨。又有卑官殆千員，分主城池、帑廩及軍卒。其領兵者每半歲給金十兩，勝兵三萬，每半歲亦給金有差。
The king wears his hair in a chignon and adorns it with golden bells. He wears a brocade robe and leather shoes, and sits upon a square couch. Officials pay their respects to him daily, bowing three times before withdrawing. For outings, he rides either an elephant or a palanquin, accompanied by five to seven hundred strong men armed with weapons.
When the people of the kingdom see the king, they remain seated and only rise once he has passed. Three of the king’s sons are appointed as deputy kings.
There are four officials called luojilian 落佶連 [Old Javanese: rakryan] who jointly handle the affairs of state, similar to prime ministers in China. They do not receive a fixed monthly salary but are instead provided local products as needed.
Next are over three hundred clerical officials that can be seen as licentiates [xiucai 秀才]. They are in charge of records and the overall accounting of wealth and goods.
There are also nearly a thousand lower-ranking officials responsible for managing cities, granaries, and military troops.
Each military commander receives ten taels of gold every six months. The elite force numbers thirty thousand, and they too are given gold every six months, in varying amounts.
土俗婚聘無媒妁，但納黃金於女家以娶之。五月遊船，十月遊山，有山馬可乘跨，或乘軟兜。樂有橫笛、鼓板，亦能舞。土人被髮，其衣裝纏胸以下至於膝。疾病不服藥，但禱神求佛。其俗有名而無姓。方言謂真珠為「沒爹蝦羅」，謂牙為「家囉」，謂香為「崑燉盧林」，謂犀為「低密」。
According to local customs, marriages and betrothals are conducted without matchmakers; one simply offers gold to the woman’s family in order to marry her.
In the fifth month, people go on boat excursions; in the tenth month, they travel through the mountains. There are mountain ponies that can be ridden, or one may ride in a soft palanquin.
Their music includes transverse flutes and wooden drums, and they also know how to dance.
The local people wear their hair loose. Their clothing wraps from the chest down to the knees.
When ill, they do not take medicine but instead pray to spirits and Buddhas.
In their custom, people have given names but no family names.
In the local language, pearls are called modiexialuo 沒爹蝦羅 [Old Malay/Javanese, Mutiara, from Sanskrit], ivory is called jialuo 家囉, incense is called kundunlulin 崑燉盧林 [from Sanskrit, kunduru, frankincense], and rhinoceros is called dimi 低密.
[Note: The eleventh-century work entitled Miscellaneous Records of Literary Brightness (Wenchang zalu 文昌雜錄)” by Pang Yuanying 龐元英 contains a variation of this passage. It mentions the following:
闍婆國方言謂真珠為沒爹蝦囉，謂牙為家凌，謂玳瑁為家囉，謂香為崑燉盧麻，謂犀為低密云。
“In the local language of Shepo, pearls are called modiexialuo 沒爹蝦羅 [Old Malay/Javanese, Mutiara, from Sanskrit], ivory is called jialing 家凌 [Old Malay/Javanese: gading], tortoise shell is called jialuo 家囉 [Old Malay, karah, in pĕnyu karah, tortoise-shell turtle], incense is called kundunluma 崑燉盧麻 [from Sanskrit, kunduru, frankincense] and rhinoceros is called dimi 低密.
The one term that remains a mystery to me is “dimi” for rhinoceros. The only term close that I have been able to find is in Austroasiatic languages on the mainland, like Bahnaric, which has “rmiːh.” However, this term does not seem to be present in the Aslian languages on the Malay Peninsula.]
先是，宋元嘉十二年，遣使朝貢，後絕。淳化三年十二月，其王穆羅茶遣使陀湛、副使蒲亞里、判官李陁那假澄等來朝貢。陁湛云中國有真主，本國乃修朝貢之禮。國王貢象牙、真珠、綉花銷金及綉絲絞、雜色絲絞、吉貝織雜色絞布、檀香、玳瑁檳榔盤、犀裝劍、金銀裝劍、藤織花簟、白鸚鵡、七寶飾檀香亭子，其使別貢玳瑁、龍腦、丁香、藤織花簟。
Previously, in the twelfth year of the Yuanjia era of the [Liu] Song dynasty [435], it sent envoys to offer tribute, but relations were later severed.
In the twelfth lunar month of the third year of the Chunhua era [992], its king, Muluocha 穆羅茶 [ma(ha)raja?], dispatched an envoy named Tuozhan 陀湛, vice-envoy Pu Yali 蒲亞里, and administrative assistant Li Tuona Jiacheng 李陁那假澄 [or Li Tuona & Jiachen], among others, to come and offer tribute.
Tuozhan stated: “Since the Middle Kingdom has a true sovereign, our kingdom now resumes the rites of tribute.”
The king offered tribute items including elephant tusks, pearls, gold-embroidered and floral silk fabrics, twisted silk, variegated twisted silk, cotton cloth [jibei 吉貝] woven in variegated colors, sandalwood, tortoiseshell areca nut trays, swords decorated with rhinoceros horn, swords ornamented with gold and silver, flower-patterned rattan mats, white parrots, and a sandalwood pavilion decorated with the seven precious substances.
The envoys also separately presented tribute items, including tortoiseshell, borneol, cloves, and flower-patterned rattan mats.
先是，朝貢使汎舶船六十日至明州定海縣，掌市舶監察御史張肅先驛奏其使飾服之狀與嘗來入貢波斯相類。譯者言云：今主舶大商毛旭者，建溪人，數往來本國，因假其鄉導來朝貢。又言其國王一號曰夏至馬囉夜，王妃曰落肩娑婆利，本國亦署置僚屬。又其方言目舶主為「葧荷」，主妻曰「葧荷比尼贖」。其船中婦人名眉珠，椎髻，無首飾，以蠻布纏身，顏色青黑，言語不能曉，拜亦如男子膜拜；一子，項戴金連鎖子，手有金鈎，以帛帶縈之，名阿嚕。其國與三佛齊有讎怨，互相攻戰。本國山多猴，不畏人，呼以霄霄之聲即出，或投以果實，則其大猴二先至，土人謂之猴王、猴夫人，食畢，羣猴食其餘。使既至，上令有司優待；久之使還，賜金幣甚厚，仍賜良馬戎具，以從其請。其使云：隣國名婆羅門，有善法察人情，人欲相危害者皆先知之。
Previously, the tribute envoys sailed by large ship and arrived at Dinghai District in Mingzhou after sixty days at sea. The official in charge of supervising maritime trade, the Censor Zhang Su, submitted a report in advance describing the attire and appearance of the envoys, noting that they resembled those who had previously come to offer tribute from Persia [Bosi 波斯].
The interpreter stated: “The current principal maritime merchant is Mao Xu, a native of Jianxi, who has frequently traveled to our kingdom. It is through his guidance that we have come to present tribute.”
He also said that the king of their kingdom is also known by the title Xiazhi Malaye 夏至馬囉夜 [Haji Ma(ha)raja], and the queen is called Luojian Suopoli 落肩娑婆利 [Rakyan. . .]. The kingdom has its own officials and administrative system.
In their local language, the shipmaster is called boh 葧荷 [from Old Malay/Javanese pĕrahu/prau?], and the shipmaster’s wife is called bohe bini shu 葧荷比尼贖 [Old Malay, bini, wife].
A woman on the ship named Meizhu 眉珠 wore her hair in a chignon, without any head ornaments, and wrapped herself in coarse tribal cloth. Her skin was dark blue-black, she could not speak a language that could be understood, and her way of bowing was the same the prostrations of the men.
There was also a child named Alu 阿嚕, who wore a golden chain around his neck and had golden hooks on his hands, wrapped with silk bands.
Their kingdom is in a feud with Sanfoqi 三佛齊, and they frequently engage in mutual attacks and warfare.
The mountains in their homeland are full of monkeys that are unafraid of humans. When called out to with the sound “xiaoxiao,” they appear. If fruits are thrown, the two largest monkeys arrive first. The locals call them the Monkey King and Monkey Queen, and once they have eaten, the rest of the troop feeds on the leftovers.
When the envoys arrived, the emperor ordered officials to treat them with generous hospitality. After a long stay, the envoys returned home, receiving lavish gifts of gold, silk, and even fine horses and military equipment in accordance with their requests.
The envoys also stated: “There is a neighboring country called Poluomen 婆羅門 [Brahmin], whose people have an uncanny ability to perceive others’ intentions. If anyone harbors ill intent toward another, they always detect it in advance.”
大觀三年六月，遣使入貢，詔禮之如交阯。
又有摩逸國，太平興國七年，載寶貨至廣州海岸。
建炎三年，以南郊恩制授闍婆國主懷遠軍節度、琳州管內觀察處置等使、金紫光祿大夫、檢校司空、使持節琳州諸軍事、琳州刺使、兼御史大夫、上柱國、闍婆國王、食邑二千四百戶、實封一千戶；悉里地茶蘭固野可特授檢校司徒，加食邑實封。紹興二年，復加食邑五百戶，實封二百戶。
In the third year of the Daguan era [1109], an envoy was dispatched to offer tribute. A decree was issued to treat them with the same ceremonial courtesy as was accorded to Jiaozhi 交阯 [Vietnam.
There was also the kingdom of Moyi 摩逸, which, in the seventh year of the Taiping Xingguo era [982], transported precious goods to the coast of Guangzhou.
In the third year of the Jianyan era [1129], as an extension of the benevolence of the Southern Suburban Sacrifice, it was ordered that the ruler of the kingdom of Shepo was granted the titles of Commander of the Huaiyuan Army, Inspector and Administrator of Linzhou and its subordinate territories, Grand Master for Glorious Happiness with Golden and Purple Insignia, Acting Minister of Works, Commissioner Bearing Credentials for All Military Affairs in Linzhou, Governor of Linzhou, Grand Councilor of the Censorate, Senior Pillar of the State, and King of Shepo. He was also granted a fief of 2,400 households, with 1,000 as actual allotment.
Xili Dicha Langgeyeke 悉里地茶蘭固野可 [Sri. . .] was specially granted the title of Nominal Minister of Education, along with an additional fief and actual allotment.
In the second year of the Shaoxing era [1132], a further 500 households were added to the fief, with 200 households as actual allotment.
南毗國在大海之西南，由三佛齊風颿月餘可至。其國王每巡行，先期遣兵百餘人持水灑地上，以防颶風揚沙塵；列鼎百以進食，日一易之，置翰林官供王飲食。俗喜戰鬥，習刀矟，善射。鑿雜白銀為錢。產真珠、番布。其國最遠，番舶罕到。時羅巴智力干父子，其種類也，居泉之城南，自是，舶舟多至其國矣。
The kingdom of Nanpi 南毗 lies to the southwest across the great sea; from Sanfoqi, it can be reached by sailing with the winds for over a month.
Whenever the king of this country goes on inspection tours, he first sends over a hundred soldiers ahead of him to sprinkle water on the ground, in order to guard against whirlwinds stirring up sand and dust.
Hundreds of cauldrons are lined up to prepare food, which is replaced daily. Officials of the Hanlin [Imperial Academy] are assigned to serve the king’s meals.
The people of this kingdom delight in warfare. They are skilled with swords and spears, and are adept at archery.
俗喜戰鬥，習刀矟，善射。鑿雜白銀為錢。產真珠、番布。其國最遠，番舶罕到。時羅巴智力干父子，其種類也，居泉之城南，自是，舶舟多至其國矣。
They mint currency by alloying white silver of various kinds.
The kingdom produces pearls and foreign cloth [fanbu 番布].
As it is the most distant country, foreign ships rarely reach it.
At one time, a man named Luobazhi Ligan 羅巴智力干 and his son, belonging to the same [ethnic] group, resided south of the city of Quan[zhou]. From that point on, many seafaring vessels journeyed to their kingdom.
Boni 勃泥 (northwest Borneo, some think Brunei)
勃泥國在西南大海中，去闍婆四十五日程，去三佛齊四十日程，去占城與摩逸各三十日程，皆計順風為則。
The kingdom of Boni 勃泥 lies in the southwestern sea. It is forty-five days’ journey from Shepo 闍婆, forty days from Sanfoqi 三佛齊, and thirty days from both Champa 占城 and Moyi 摩逸, all calculated based on favorable winds.
其國以版為城，城中居者萬餘人，所統十四州。其王所居屋覆以貝多葉，民舍覆以草。在王左右者為大人。王坐繩床，若出，即大布單坐其上，眾舁之，名曰阮囊。戰鬥者則持刀被甲，甲以銅鑄，狀若大筒，穿之於身，護其腹背。
The kingdom uses wooden planks to form its city walls, and over ten thousand people live within the city. It governs fourteen provinces. The king’s residence is roofed with palm leaves, while the houses of the common people are thatched with grass.
Those who stand beside the king are referred to as great men. The king sits on a rope bed, and when he goes out, a large piece of cloth is spread and he sits on top while the people carry him; this is called a ruannang 阮囊.
Those who go into battle wield swords and wear armor. The armor is cast from bronze, shaped like a large cylinder, worn over the body, and protects the chest and back.
其地無麥，有麻稻，又有羊及鷄魚，無蠶絲，用吉貝花織成布。飲椰子酒。昏聘之資，先以椰子酒，檳榔次之，指環又次之，然後以吉貝布，或量出金銀成其禮。喪葬亦有棺斂，以竹為轝，載棄山中，二月始耕則祀之，凡七年則不復祀矣。以十二月七日為歲節。地熱，多風雨。國人宴會，鳴鼓、吹笛、擊鈸，歌舞為樂。無器皿，以竹編貝多葉為器盛食，食訖棄之。其國鄰於底門國，有藥樹，取其根煎為膏，服之及塗其體，兵刃所傷皆不死。前代未嘗朝貢，故史籍不載。
The land does not produce wheat, but has hemp and rice. It also has goats, chickens, and fish. There are no silkworms or silk; instead, cloth is woven from cotton fibers [jibei hua 吉貝花]. They drink coconut wine.
For marriage and betrothal, the bride-price begins with coconut wine, followed by betel nuts, then rings, and finally cotton cloth; gold or silver may also be given depending on means to complete the ceremony.
For funerals, coffins are used, and the body is placed on a bamboo bier and carried into the mountains to be abandoned. When ploughing begins in the second month, a sacrifice is offered to the deceased. After seven years, no further offerings are made.
The New Year festival is held on the seventh day of the twelfth month. The climate is hot, with frequent wind and rain.
When the people feast, they beat drums, blow flutes, clash cymbals, and sing and dance for enjoyment. They have no conventional utensils; instead, they use containers woven from bamboo and palm leaves to hold food, which they discard after eating.
This kingdom borders the kingdom of Dimen 底門. There is a medicinal tree there, whose root is boiled into a paste; when ingested or applied to the body, wounds from weapons do not result in death.
In earlier generations, this kingdom never sent tribute, and thus it was not recorded in historical documents.
太平興國二年，其王向打遣使施弩、副使蒲亞里、判官哥心等賫表貢大片龍腦一家底、第二等八家底、第三等十一家底、米龍腦二十家底、蒼龍腦二十家底，凡一家底並二十兩；龍腦版五、玳瑁殼一百、檀香三橛、象牙六珠。表云：「為皇帝千萬歲壽，望不責小國微薄之禮。」其表以數重小囊緘封之，非中國紙，類木皮而薄，瑩滑，色微綠，長數尺，闊寸餘，橫卷之僅可盈握。其字細小，橫讀之，以華言譯之，云：「勃泥國王向打稽首拜，皇帝萬歲萬歲萬萬歲，願皇帝萬歲壽，今遣使進貢。向打聞有朝廷，無路得到。昨有商人蒲盧歇船泊水口，差人迎到州，言自中朝來，比詣闍婆國，遇猛風破其船，不得去。此時聞自中國來，國人皆大喜，即造舶船，令蒲盧歇導達入朝貢，所遣使人只願平善見皇帝。每年令人入朝貢，每年修貢，慮風吹至占城界，望皇帝詔占城，令有向打船到，不要留。臣本國別無異物，乞皇帝勿怪。」其表文如是。詔館其使於禮賓院，優賜以遣之。
In the second year of the Taiping Xingguo era [977], the king Xiangda 向打 sent the envoy Shenu 施弩, vice-envoy Pu Yali 蒲亞里, and administrative assistant Gexin 哥心, bearing a memorial and tribute consisting of:
– 1 kati [Old Malay/Javanese, jiadi 家底] of large-grade borneol,
– 8 kati of second-grade borneol,
– 11 kati of third-grade borneol,
– 20 kati of rice-type borneol,
– 20 kati of dark-colored borneol.
Each kati weighs 20 taels.
– 5 borneol slabs,
– 100 tortoiseshells,
– 3 pieces of sandalwood,
– 6 pieces of elephant ivory.
The memorial stated:
“We offer this in celebration of the emperor’s ten-thousand-year reign. We hope the emperor will not fault our small kingdom for such meagre offerings.”
The memorial was sealed in several layers of small pouches. It was not written on the Middle Kingdom’s paper, but rather on a material resembling tree bark, thin, smooth, and glossy, with a faint green color. It was several feet long, a little over an inch wide, rolled horizontally and could fit in the palm of the hand. The characters were tiny and read horizontally. The text, translated into Chinese [Huayan 華言], read:
“Xiangda, King of Boni, bows and prostrates himself. Long live the Emperor—ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years! May the Emperor live ten thousand years in longevity. I now send envoys to offer tribute.
I, Xiangda, have heard of the imperial court, but there was no route to reach it. Recently, a merchant named Pu Luoxie 蒲盧歇 docked his ship at the river mouth. I sent men to meet him at the prefecture. He said he had come from the central court, and while travelling to Shepo, his ship was wrecked by fierce winds and could go no farther.
At that time, upon hearing he came from the Middle Kingdom, the people of my country rejoiced. We built a ship and had Pu Luoxie lead the way to present tribute at court. The envoy I sent simply wishes to peacefully see the Emperor. I wish to send people annually to pay tribute. Every year, I shall continue the tribute.
But I fear the wind will drive our ships to the coast of Champa. I beg the Emperor to issue a decree to Champa, instructing them not to detain any ships from Xiangda that arrive there.
My kingdom has no rare treasures. I beg the Emperor not to take offense.”
This was the full content of the memorial.
A decree was issued to house the envoys at the Court of State Ceremonial and they were generously granted gifts and sent off.
元豐五年二月，其王錫理麻喏復遣使貢方物，其使乞從泉州乘海舶歸國，從之。
In the second lunar month of the fifth year of the Yuanfeng era 1082, the king Xilimanena 錫理麻喏 [Sri. . .] again sent envoys to offer local products in tribute. His envoys requested permission to return home by taking a sea vessel from Quanzhou, and this was granted.
Zhunian 注輦 (Chola, but it's more complex than that)
注輦國東距海五里，西至天竺千五百里，南至羅蘭二千五百里，北至頓田三千里，自古不通中國，水行至廣州約四十一萬一千四百里。
The kingdom of Zhunian 注輦 lies five leagues east to the sea. It is 1,500 leagues west to Tianzhu 天竺 [India], 2,500 leagues south to Luolan 羅蘭 [Sri Lanka, see below], and 3,000 leagues north to Duntian 頓田.
Since ancient times, it had no contact with the Middle Kingdom. The water route to Guangzhou covers approximately 411,400 leagues.
其國有城七重，高七尺，南北十二里，東西七里。每城相去百步，凡四城用塼，二城用土，最中城以木為之，皆植花果雜木。其第一至第三皆民居，環以小河；第四城四侍郎居之；第五城主之四子居之；第六城為佛寺，百僧居之；第七城即主之所居，室四百餘區。
The kingdom possesses a city enclosed by seven concentric walls, each standing seven chi 尺 high. The city extends twelve leagues from north to south and seven leagues from east to west, with a distance of one hundred paces separating each wall. Of these, four walls are constructed of brick, two of earth, and the innermost of wood. All are lined with a mixture of flowering and fruit-bearing trees. The outermost three walls enclose the residences of the common people, which are surrounded by small canals. Within the fourth wall live the four Vice Ministers [Shilang 侍郎], while the fifth wall encloses the quarters of the ruler’s four sons. The sixth wall contains a Buddhist temple, where a hundred monks reside. At the center, enclosed by the seventh and innermost wall, stands the ruler’s residence, comprising more than four hundred residences.
所統有三十一部落，其西十二，曰只都尼、施亞盧尼、羅琶離鱉琶移、布林琶布尼、古檀布林蒲登、故里、娑輪岑、本蹄揭蹄、閻黎池離、郍部尼、遮古林、亞里者林；其南八，曰無雅加黎麻藍、眉古黎苦低、舍里尼、密多羅摩、伽藍蒲登、蒙伽林伽藍、琶里琶離遊、亞林池蒙伽藍；其北十二，曰撥囉耶、無沒離江、注林、加里蒙伽藍、漆結麻藍、楃折蒙伽藍、皮林伽藍、浦稜和藍、堡琶來、田注禼、盧婆囉、迷蒙伽藍。
The realm governs a total of 31 settlements. To the west, there are twelve, named: Zhiduni 只都尼, Shiyaluni 施亞盧尼, Luopalibiepaiyi 羅琶離鱉琶移, Bulinpabuni 布林琶布尼, Gutanbulinpudeng 古檀布林蒲登 […puram], Guli 故里, Suoluncen 娑輪岑, Bentijieti 本蹄揭蹄, Yanlichili 閻黎池離, Nabuni 郍部尼, Zhegulin 遮古林, and Yalizhelin 亞里者林.
To the south, there are eight, named: Wuyajialimalan 無雅加黎麻藍, Meigulikudi 眉古黎苦低, Shelini 舍里尼, Miduoluomo 密多羅摩, Jialanpudeng 伽藍蒲登 […puram], Mengjialin Jialan 蒙伽林伽藍 [Mangalam. . .], Palipaliyou 琶里琶離遊, and Yalinchi Mengjialan 亞林池蒙伽藍 [. . . mangalam].
To the north, there are twelve, named: Boluoye 撥囉耶, Wumolijiang 無沒離江, Zhulin 注林, Jialin Mengjialan 加里蒙伽藍 [. . . mangalam], Qijiemalan 漆結麻藍, Wozhe Mengjialan 楃折蒙伽藍 [. . . mangalam], Pi Linjialan 皮林伽藍 [. . . mangalam], Pu Linghelan 浦稜和藍 [. . . mangalam], Baopalai 堡琶來, Tianzhuli 田注禼, Luopoluo 盧婆囉, and Mi Mengjialan 迷蒙伽藍 [. . . mangalam].
今國主相傳三世矣。民有罪，即命侍郎一員處治之，輕者縶於木格，笞五十至一百；重者即斬，或以象踐殺之。其宴，則國主與四侍郎膜拜于階，遂共坐作樂歌舞，不飲酒，而食肉。俗衣布。亦有餅餌。掌饌執事用婦人。其嫁娶，先用金銀指環使媒婦至女家，後二日，會男家親族，約以土田、生畜、檳榔酒等，稱其有無為禮；女家復以金銀指環、越諾布及女所服錦衣遺婿。若男欲離女則不取聘財，女却男則倍償之。
The current ruler of the polity has inherited the throne through three generations. When a commoner commits a crime, the king appoints one of the vice ministers [shilang 侍郎] to handle the case. For minor offenses, the offender is confined in a wooden frame and flogged with fifty to one hundred strokes. For more serious offenses, the punishment is execution, either by beheading or by trampling under elephants.
During banquets, the ruler and the four vice ministers bow together at the steps, then sit together to enjoy music and dancing. They do not drink wine but do eat meat. By custom they wear cloth garments, and there are pastries and sweets. Women are employed to prepare and serve meals.
其嫁娶，先用金銀指環使媒婦至女家，後二日，會男家親族，約以土田、生畜、檳榔酒等，稱其有無為禮；女家復以金銀指環、越諾布及女所服錦衣遺婿。若男欲離女則不取聘財，女却男則倍償之。
For marriage customs, the groom’s family first sends a female matchmaker to the bride’s home with gold and silver rings. Two days later, the groom’s relatives assemble and negotiate the marriage gift, which may include land, livestock, betel nut, and wine, which they determine based on what is proper. In return, the bride’s family gives the groom gold and silver rings, Yuenuo 越諾 cloth, and brocade garments worn by the bride.
If the man wishes to end the marriage, he does not reclaim the bridewealth. If the woman rejects the man, however, she must repay double.
其兵陣，用象居前，小牌次之，梭槍次之，長刀又次之，弓矢在後，四侍郎分領其眾。國東南約二千五百里有悉蘭池國，或相侵伐。
In battle formations, war elephants are positioned at the front, followed by troops with small shields, then those with thrusting spears, then long sabers, and archers in the rear. The four vice ministers each command a portion of the forces. About 2,500 li to the southeast of the kingdom lies the country of Xilanchi, with which there are occasional raids and military conflicts.
地產真珠、象牙、珊瑚、頗黎、檳榔、豆蔻、吉貝布。獸有山羊、黃牛。禽有山鷄、鸚鵡。果有餘甘、藤羅、千年棗、椰子、甘羅、崑崙梅、婆羅密等。花有白末利、散絲、蛇臍、佛桑、麗秋、青黃碧娑羅、瑤蓮、蟬紫、水蕉之類。五穀有綠豆、黑豆、麥、稻。地宜竹。
The land produces pearls, ivory, coral, crystal [polished quartz], betel nut, cardamom, and cotton [jibei 吉貝] cloth. Among animals, there are mountain goats and oxen. Birds include junglefowl and parrots. Fruits include myrobalan, vine grapes, thousand-year jujube, coconuts, ganluo 甘羅, Kunlun plum, and jackfruit. Flowers include white jasmine, scattered thread flowers, sheqi 蛇臍, hibiscus, liqiu 麗秋 blossoms, blue, yellow, and green sal, jade lotus, cicada-purple blossoms, and water plantains. The grains grown are mung beans, black beans, wheat, and rice. The land is also well suited for bamboo.
自昔未嘗朝貢。大中祥符八年九月，其國主羅茶羅乍遣進奉使侍郎娑里三文、副使蒲恕、判官翁勿、防援官亞勒加等奉表來貢。三文等以盤奉真珠、碧玻璃升殿，布於御坐前，降殿再拜，譯者導其言曰：「願以表遠人慕化之誠。」其國主表曰：
臣羅茶羅乍言，昨遇𦨴舶船商人到本國告稱：鉅宋之有天下也，二帝開基，聖人繼統，登封太岳，禮祀汾陰，至德升聞，上穹眷命。臣昌期斯遇，吉語幸聞，輒傾就日之誠，仰露朝天之款。
Since ancient times, [this kingdom] has never sent tribute to the court. In the ninth lunar month of the eighth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era [1015], its ruler, Luochaluozha 羅茶羅乍 [Rajaraja], dispatched an envoy to present tribute. The envoy, Vice Minister Suolisanwen 娑里三文, along with Deputy Envoy Pu Shu 蒲恕, administrative assistant Wengwu 翁勿, and Defense Officer Yalejia 亞勒加, submitted a memorial and brought tribute.
Sanwen and the others ascended the steps to the audience hall, presenting a tray of pearls and green glass, which they laid out before the imperial throne. They then descended the steps and bowed twice. The interpreter conveyed their words, saying: “We humbly offer this memorial as a token of a distant people admiring and yearning for your moral transformation.”
The memorial from the ruler of their polity stated:
臣羅茶羅乍言，昨遇𦨴舶船商人到本國告稱：鉅宋之有天下也，二帝開基，聖人繼統，登封太岳，禮祀汾陰，至德升聞，上穹眷命。臣昌期斯遇，吉語幸聞，輒傾就日之誠，仰露朝天之款。
“Your servant, Rajaraja, states that recently, merchants aboard a large vessel arrived in my kingdom and reported, saying:
‘The Great Song now possesses the All Under Heaven. Two Emperors laid the foundation of the dynasty, and a sage sovereign has succeeded the mandate. He has ascended Mount Tai to perform the Feng sacrifice, and offered ritual sacrifices at Fenyin, such that his supreme virtue is proclaimed above and the High Heaven has entrusted him with its mandate.’
Your servant, blessed to live in this prosperous age, has been fortunate to hear such auspicious words. I now earnestly incline myself toward the radiance of the sun, and await with admiration for the court’s celestial benevolence.
臣伏聞人君之御統也，無遠不臻；臣子之推誠也，有道則服。伏惟皇帝陛下功超邃古，道建大中。衣裳垂而德合乾坤，劍戟鑄而範圍區宇。神武不殺，人文化成。廓明明之德以臨御下民，懷翼翼之心以昭事上帝。至仁不傷於行葦，大信爰及於淵魚。故得天鑒孔彰，帝文有赫，顯今古未聞之事，保家邦大定之基。
Your servant has humbly heard that when a sovereign rules with true authority, no place is too distant to come under his influence; and when ministers offer their loyalty with sincerity, they willingly submit to the Way wherever it is found.
I respectfully consider that His Majesty the Emperor has achievements that surpass those of remote antiquity, and a Way that establishes the utmost centrality and harmony. By resting the sleeves of his robes, he brings harmony to Heaven and Earth, and with swords and halberds forged, order is brought to all realms. He governs through divine might without resorting to killing, and brings transformation through moral transformation rather than force.
He manifests brilliant virtue to rule over the common people, and harbors a reverent heart in serving the Lord-on-High [Shangdi 上帝]. His perfect benevolence causes no harm even to a reed in its path; his great trustworthiness extends even to the fish in the deepest waters.
Thus, Heaven’s insight shines clearly upon him, and the emperor’s virtue blazes in splendor. He accomplishes deeds unheard of in ancient or modern times, and secures the great foundation of peace and stability for his family and his realm.
竊念臣微類醯鷄，賤如芻狗，世居夷落，地遠華風，虛荷燭幽，曾無執贄。今者竊聽歌頌，普及遐陬。恨年屬於桑榆，阻躬陳於玉帛。矧滄溟之曠絕，在跋涉以稍艱。是敢傾倒赤心，遙瞻丹闕。任土作貢，同螻蟻之慕膻；委質事君，比葵藿之向日。謹遣專使等五十二人，奉土物來貢，凡真珠衫帽各一、真珠二萬一千一百兩、象牙六十株、乳香六十斤。
三文等又獻珠六千六百兩、香藥三千三百斤。
I humbly reflect that your servant is as insignificant as a vinegar fly, as lowly as a straw dog. For generations, we have lived in the lands of the barbarians, far removed from the Efflorescent way [Huafeng 華風]. Though dwelling in darkness, we have unworthily benefited from the light that reaches even the remotest corners. Yet we have never once been privileged with an audience.
Now, having secretly heard the praises sung of the emperor, which have spread even to distant corner, I regret that my years already approach the twilight of life and that I am prevented by age and distance from personally appearing with silks and jade at the imperial court. Moreover, the vastness of the ocean and the hardships of the journey make direct travel difficult.
Thus, I dare to pour out my loyal heart and gaze from afar toward the Vermilion Palace. I offer the humble products of my land, as insects are drawn to fragrance, or as sunflowers turn to the sun in faithful devotion. I have respectfully dispatched fifty-two envoys, bearing local goods in tribute: one pearl-embroidered robe and one pearl cap, 21,100 taels of pearls, 60 elephant tusks, and 60 catties of frankincense.
Sanwen and the others further present 6,600 taels of pearls and 3,300 catties of aromatic medicines.”
初，羅茶羅乍既聞商船言，且曰十年來海無風濤，古老傳云如此則中國有聖人，故遣三文等入貢。三文離本國，舟行七十七晝夜，歷郍勿丹山、娑里西蘭山至占賓國。又行六十一晝夜，歷伊麻羅里山至古羅國。國有古羅山，因名焉。又行七十一晝夜，歷加八山、占不牢山、舟寶龍山至三佛齊國。又行十八晝夜，度蠻山水口，歷天竺山，至賓頭狼山，望東西王母塚，距舟所將百里。又行二十晝夜，度羊山、九星山至廣州之琵琶洲。離本國凡千一百五十日至廣州焉。詔閤門祗候史祐之館伴，凡宴賜恩例同龜茲使。其年承天節，三文等請於啟聖禪院會僧以祝聖壽。明年使回，降詔羅茶羅乍，賜物甚厚。
At first, when Rajaraja heard the accounts of the merchants, he said, “For the past ten years, the sea has had no storms or waves. The elders say that when this happens, it means that there is a sage ruling the Middle Kingdom.” Therefore, he sent Sanwen and the others to present tribute.
Sanwen departed his country and traveled by sea for 77 days and nights, passing Mount Nawudan 郍勿丹, Mount Suolixilan 娑里西蘭, and arriving at the kingdom of Zhanbin 占賓. From there, he continued for another 61 days and nights, passing Mount Yimaluoli 伊麻羅里山 and arriving at the kingdom of Guluo 古羅, named after Mount Guluo within its territory.
He then journeyed for 71 more days and nights, passing Mount Jiaba 加八, Mount Zhanbulao 占不牢, and Mount Zhoubaolong 舟寶龍, reaching the kingdom of Sanfoqi 三佛齊. Afterward, he traveled 18 more days and nights, crossing the Mount Man 蠻 estuary, passing Mount Tianzhu 天竺, and arriving at Mount Bintoulang 賓頭狼. Looking to the east was visible the tomb the Queen Mother of the West [Xiwangmu 西王母], which lay approximately one hundred leagues from the sailing route.
He continued for another 20 days and nights, crossing Mount Yang 羊 and Mount Jiuxing 九星, eventually arriving at Pipa Island [Pipa zhou 琵琶洲] in Guangzhou. In total, the journey from his homeland to Guangzhou took one thousand one hundred and fifty days.
A court edict assigned Audience Gate Usher Shi Youzhi 史祐之 to host and accompany the delegation. They were granted banquets and gifts according to the same protocol used for envoys from Qiuci 龜茲 [Kucha].
That year, on the occasion of the emperor’s birthday [Chengtian jie 承天節], Sanwen and his companions requested to assemble monks at the Qisheng Zen Monastery [Qisheng chanyuan 啟聖禪院] to offer prayers for the emperor’s longevity. The following year, when the envoys returned, an imperial edict was issued to Rajaraja, and he was granted especially generous gifts.
天禧四年，又遣使琶攔得麻烈呧奉方物入貢，至廣州病死。守臣以其表聞。詔廣州宴犒從者，厚賜以遣之。
In the fourth year of the Tianxi era [1020], an envoy named Palandemaliedi 琶攔得麻烈呧 was again sent to present local tribute goods. However, upon reaching Guangzhou, he fell ill and died. The provincial governor reported the memorial he had brought. The court issued a decree instructing Guangzhou to provide a banquet and rewards to the members of the mission, and to send them back with generous gifts.
明道二年十月，其王尸離囉茶印𬽲囉注囉遣使蒲押陁離等以泥金表進真珠衫帽及真珠一百五兩、象牙百株，西染院副使、閤門通事舍人符惟忠假鴻臚少卿押伴。蒲押陁離自言數朝貢，而海風破船不達，願將上等珠就龍牀腳撒殿，頂戴瞻禮，以申嚮慕之心。乃奉銀盤升殿，跪撒珠於御榻下而退。景祐元年二月，以蒲押陁離為金紫光祿大夫、懷化將軍，還本國。
In the tenth month of the second year of the Mingdao era [1033], the king Shili Luochayintaluozhuluo 尸離囉茶印𬽲囉注囉 [Sri Rajendrachola] sent an envoy, Pu Yatuoli 蒲押陁離, along with others, to present a memorial written in gold-dusted script, and to offer tribute consisting of a pearl-embroidered robe and cap, 105 taels of pearls, and one hundred elephant tusks. The vice commissioner of the West Dyeing Office and Secretary and Interpreter for the Office of Audience Ceremonies Fu Weizhong 符惟忠 was temporarily appointed as acting assistant director of the Court of Diplomatic Reception to serve as their escort.
Pu Yatuoli stated that he had attempted to send tribute several times in the past, but sea winds had wrecked their ships and prevented arrival. He requested to scatter his finest pearls at the foot of the imperial throne as an expression of his sincere reverence and admiration. He was granted permission to ascend the audience hall carrying a silver tray, where he knelt and scattered the pearls beneath the imperial seat, then withdrew.
In the second lunar month of the first year of the Jingyou era [1034], Pu Yatuoli was granted the honorary titles of grand master for splendid happiness with the golden-purple ribbon and general who cherishes transformation, and was sent back to his kingdom.
熙寧十年，國王地華加羅遣使奇囉囉、副使南卑琶打、判官麻圖華羅等二十七人來獻踠豆珠、麻珠、瑠璃大洗盤、白梅花腦、錦花、犀牙、乳香、瓶香、薔薇水、金蓮花、木香、阿魏、鵬砂、丁香。使副以真珠、龍腦登陛，跪而散之，謂之 撒殿。既降，詔遣御藥宣勞之，以為懷化將軍、保順郎將，各賜衣服器幣有差；答賜其王錢八萬一千八百緡、銀五萬二千兩。
In the tenth year of the Xining era [1077], the king Dihuajialuo 地華加羅 [Devakula/Devakala?] dispatched envoy Qiluoluo 奇囉囉, with deputy envoy Nanbeipada 南卑琶打, adjudicator Matuhualuo 麻圖華羅, and a total of twenty-seven persons to present tribute.
The tribute items included: twisted mung-bean beads, hemp beads, large glazed glass basins, white plum-blossom camphor, brocade flowers, rhinoceros tusks, frankincense, bottled incense, rosewater, golden lotus flowers, agarwood, asafoetida, borax, and cloves.
The main and deputy envoys ascended the steps of the court carrying pearls and borneol, and knelt to scatter them, an act referred to as scattering in the hall [sandian 撒殿].
After they descended, an imperial medical official was dispatched to greet and commend them. They were granted the titles of general who cherishes moral transformation and commandant who protects and submits, and were each awarded garments, vessels, and coinage in various grades.
In return, their king was granted 81,800 strings of cash and 52,000 taels of silver.
Danmeiliu 丹眉流 (looks to me like somewhere near Ratchaburi)
丹眉流國，東至占臘五十程，南至羅越水路十五程，西至西天三十五程，北至程良六十程，東北至羅斛二十五程，東南至闍婆四十五程，西南至程若十五程，西北至洛華二十五程，東北至廣州一百三十五程。
The kingdom of Danmeiliu 眉流, to the east it is fifty stages to Zhanla 占臘, fifteen stages south by water to Luoyue 羅越, thirty-five stages west to Xitian 西天, and sixty stages north to Chengliang 程良. It is twenty-five stages northeast to Luohu 羅斛, forty-five stages southeast to Shepo 闍婆, fifteen stages southwest to Chengruo 程若, twenty-five stages northwest to Lohua 洛華, and one hundred thirty-five stages northeast to Guangzhou 廣州.
其俗以版為屋；跣足，衣布，無紳帶，以白紵纏其首；貿易以金銀。其主所居，廣袤五里，無城郭；出則乘象車，亦有小駟。地出犀、象、鍮石、紫草、蘇木諸藥。四時炎熱，無雪霜。未嘗至中國。
According to local customs, they use wooden planks to build their houses. They go barefoot, wear cloth garments, and do not use sashes or belts, but wrap their heads with white ramie cloth. They conduct trade using gold and silver.
The ruler’s residence spans five leagues in width and length, and has no city walls. When he goes out, he rides in an elephant-drawn carriage, though there are also small horse-drawn chariots.
The land produces rhinoceroses, elephants, brass, purple gromwell, sappanwood, and various medicinal substances.
The climate is hot throughout all seasons, with no snow or frost.
They had never visited China.
咸平四年，國主多須機遣使打吉馬、副使打臘、判官皮泥等九人來貢木香千斤、鍮鑞各百斤、胡黃連三十五斤、紫草百斤、紅氊一合、花布四段、蘇木萬斤、象牙六十一株。召見崇德殿，賜以冠帶服物。及還，又賜多須機詔書以敦奬之。
In the fourth year of the Xiangping era [1001], the ruler Duo Xuji 多須機 sent an envoy Da Jima 打吉馬, vice-envoy Da La 打臘, administrative assistant Pi Ni 皮泥, and six others, a total of nine people, to offer tribute.
The tribute consisted of:
– 1,000 catties of agarwood,
– 100 catties each of brass and tin,
– 35 catties of Indian barberry,
– 100 catties of purple gromwell,
– 1 bundle of red felt,
– 4 bolts of patterned cloth,
– 10,000 catties of sappanwood,
– 61 tusks of elephant ivory.
They were received in audience at the Chongde Hall, where they were granted official caps, belts, and robes.
Upon their return, a rescript was also bestowed upon Duo Xuji to express imperial encouragement and favor.
Dashi 大食
Coming soon
Well, there is another point to say that say that Sanfoqi, is Cambodia or at least not Sumantra. There is very little sense that Bagan, a very inland city is subordinate to Palembang, Sumantra that far in the ocean in the 11th-12th century. Absolutely no way. Also, from Harris translation,of Zhao Rugua’s “Zhu Fanzhi”, Pugan (Bagan) is stated to be a dependency of Zhenla. A few questions, how much do the Chineses wrote about Bagan? And since it is getting more and more evidences that Sanfoqi is Cambodia, or at least not Sumatra, has that cause any shift on the study of medieval maritime southeast Asia? At least for the mainland kingdoms, I believed archaeology and epigraphy will take precedence over Chinese records, but as I can understand it, contemporary evidences are more scarce on the islands or at least, the Muslim world has less interests in the previous Hindu-Buddhist states.
Ah ha!! Yes, that statement in the account of Pugan/Bagan jumped out at me too. I’m planning to write on that, but also, that is why it is important to look at “everything,” because there are lots of little details like that which pop up in unexpected places, and that is also why doing research in the digital age is a completely different ball game, as those hidden details can easily be discovered through search.
That said, the statement “is a vassal of” does not always mean exactly that. What it indicates is that there was some kind of relationship, which the Chinese understood as a sovereign-vassal relationship, but which we can interpret differently through our understanding of the larger context. With Sanfoqi and Chola, you can get a sense of what that relationship was in the previous post, where I comment on the section on Sanfoqi.
In short, Sanfoqi/Kambuja and Shepo/Java/Jawa [right across the Gulf of Thailand on the Malay Peninsula] were rivals, and in the late tenth century, Shepo attacked Sanfoqi. Chola then attacked the Shepo area. After that a relationship between “Chola” and Sanfoqi was established. Was it really a relationship between two polities or was it the case that some of the Chola people simply stayed in the region and acted more or less autonomously, claiming to be representatives of Chola when they went to China to present tribute? I’m not sure, but this is the context where the “Chola is a vassal of Sanfoqi” statement needs to be understood. There was for a time a relationship between Sanfoqi and people from the Chola kingdom. A Chola/Tamil man was in charge of trade and was called the “lord of the land” of Sanfoqi. This is how, in Chinese eyes, “Chola was a vassal of Sanfoqi.”
As for the issue of my research causing any shift. . . That will NEVER happen. Let me explain why through another example. In the field of premodern Vietnamese history, the leading scholar wrote a book back in the 80s which talked about the “Hung kings,” the supposed first rulers of “Vietnam.” Like “Srivijaya,” this is a topic which everyone knows is problematic, however people just more or less went along with it. The above book, meanwhile, mentions that they might be “mythic” but the author nonetheless goes on to try to link the stories to archaeology and argues that the stories and archaeology point to a Vietnamese identity that predated the period of Chinese rule and which endured through 1,000 years of Chinese control. . .
I published an article 15 years ago where I document ways in which we can clearly see that the story about these kings was created in the “medieval period” (14th-15th centuries). After that, the leading scholar published a survey of Vietnamese history, and how did he deal with the Hung kings? He completely avoided the topic. Poof! These figures that were so important for his first book suddenly disappeared from Vietnamese history. 🙂
“Srivijaya,” meanwhile, is like an industry. For example, from 2009-2019, there was a “Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre” in Singapore that had all the money, all the resources, all the brain power, and yet. . . like people had done with the Hung kings, everyone just kept following the same extremely problematic story.
Are people in that world, some of whom have spent their entire careers writing about how “Srivijaya was a great maritime polity at Palembang,” suddenly going to say “Oh, oops!! We were wrong. Let’s change course!” No, that is never going to happen. Like the senior scholar, they are going to avoid the topic entirely. Most of the people out there are in their late 50s or older and there is no upcoming generation that I’m aware of. They will “ride it out” through the twilight of their careers.
A big part of this has to do with pride, but it also has to do with how people do scholarship. I followed up on one of your previous comments by looking at Vickery’s Funan article. In that article, he dissects some of Coedes’s scholarship, and then I followed up on what he wrote by looking at what Coedes had written and looking at the inscriptions, etc. I even tried to translate an Old Khmer inscription that was cited by looking it up here (http://sealang.net/oldkhmer/text.htm) and using this dictionary (http://sealang.net/oldkhmer/). Although this is beyond my realm of expertise, I was able to accomplish enough to feel confident that Vickery was right, as I could see exactly what he was arguing and how he was making that argument (based on what evidence).
This is what I always do. I look at what a scholar said, and then I look at what s/he cited, and then I look at that (and if it’s a chain of citations, I follow it to the source). As I was following up on what Vickery wrote, it dawned on me that this is also what he did. He had followed up on Coedes and Jacques, etc. by tracing the pieces of their argument to their sources, etc. and examining their logic.
In my mind, this is the obvious and only way to do scholarship, however very very very few people actually do this. Instead, like I wrote in a previous post, people will just say “Wolters said A, and therefore. . .” But if you actually follow the citations in Wolters (or anyone), and/or map out his logic, you find that it’s not “A” at all. And once you see that, then you are forced to try to figure out what it might be (and that’s when the real fun begins). This, however, is precisely what the majority of scholars out there never do (and in many cases, don’t have the linguistic ability to do), and hence, it is why problematic history just gets repeated over and over.
A long time ago when I was a graduate student, a senior historian of Southeast Asian history said to me “Don’t be like Michael Vickery. He just finds problems with everyone’s scholarship.” At the time, I had no idea what this scholar was referring to. Now I can see. The “problem” was that Vickery did what so many historians don’t do (including the historian who told me not to do what Vickery did). He followed the citations and saw that people were wrong. That was a “problem” because what Vickery either did not realize or didn’t care about (probably the latter) is that academia can be more of a club than a profession, and as such, it can follow club rules more than professional norms. Further, I think that there is a correlation with linguistic ability: the fewer the scholars who have linguistic abilities the stronger the club adherence, and vice versa, the more the scholars who have linguistic abilities the stronger the professionalism.
In the case of say Chinese religion (the name Robert Campany came up in a comment recently), there are a lot of linguistically competent scholars, and it is highly professional. In the case of premodern Southeast Asian history, there have been far too few scholars with strong linguistic abilities, hence the club has dominated, and I can guarantee you that the members of the club will never ever acknowledge anything I say, regardless of the evidence that I present, as what I have discovered shows that many people have been fundamentally wrong their entire careers, and people are not going to be able to accept or admit that.
So, that is part of the reason why I will put translations online here, so that curious people outside of the club can look at the sources for themselves and make their own decisions. The other part of the reason is simply because it is fun!! I love going though historical materials and seeing what they have to say.
Finally, scholars love vagueness because it makes their life easy (“well the evidence for Srivijaya is problematic, but I’m going to proceed anyway and talk about. . .”). If there ever is a response to what I wrote, I guarantee you that it will attempt to keep everything vague (“Well, maybe there were two Sanfoqi’s. . .” etc.). However, the more I look at all of this, the more evidence I see, and the clearer it gets. There is little vagueness, and definitely not at the level of knowing what and where Sanfoqi was.
About the Hung Kings is it possible that their existence is rooted in fact but then those facts were somewhat embellished or distorted? Chu used Xiong not as a name but as a title given to the ruler much like Hung vuong is used, I find it hard to believe this could be mere phonetic coincidence.
I got this excerpt from Defining Chu : Image and Reality in Ancient China
According to both the Shiji and bronze inscriptions, the Chu ruling house belonged to the Mi xing.15 The matter has been complicated, however, by the fact that “Xiong” appears in the initial position in the names of Chu rulers, both in the Shiji and (according to most analysts) in bronze inscriptions.16 It has been suggested that Xiong was the lineage (shi) name of the main branch of the Chu ruling house.17 There are, however, no known examples of the main lineage of a territorial state having a shi name.18 Some other explanation of Xiong, therefore, must be sought. The most reasonable one is that it was an early Chu leadership title (for the head of state, clan, or both), perhaps deriving from a sacrificial role involving wine.19 If this were the case, however, for most of Chu history its kings had at least two titles, because the northern title “king” (wang) was adopted, temporarily in Western Zhou times and permanently from the late eighth century on.20 This is not inconceivable, because “Xiong” always appears with a personal name (ming) and “Wang” with a posthumous name (shi). We may have here, then, parallel usage of indigenous and northern titles, but with different functions.
This is from The Birth of Vietnam
According to a recent Vietnamese study, the name Hung derives from an Austroasiatic title of chieftainship that has persisted up to the present time in the languages of Mon-Khmer-speaking peoples living in the mountains of Southeast Asia, as well as in Muong, the upland sister language of Vietnamese
The 雄 in the Hung kings and the 熊 in Chu are different, purely coincidental 🤣 雄 comes from Nanyue zhi which changed Lac to Hung because the writer felt that the soil there is fertile and the qi is strong (hung, hung means strong). So therefore it changed the name of the lac to hung. You can’t prove 雄 comes from 熊, other than that they sound similar in modern readings. You are another ultranationalist 😉 Accept what is yours 😋
You answered yourself why 雄 appears in Vietnamese texts – the semantic. People in China already had Vuong as a title what is the need for Hung? It’s not a name so how can their be dual usage of ruling titles as it was with Hung Kings and it’s written off as a coincidence? So how do you prove Hung Kings was copied? What makes this theory a coincidence but not yours?
As Cool man has pointed out, the problem is that there is no evidence for the term “hùng” in ancient times. Here is where it comes from:
The Shuijing zhu 水經注 (compiled in the 3rd century), cites an earlier work, the Jiaozhou waiyu ji 交州外域記曰 (compiled sometime before the 3rd-century Shuijing zhu), as follows:
交趾昔未有郡縣之時, 土地有雒田, 其田從潮水上下, 民墾食其, 名為雒民. 設雒王雒侯主諸郡縣. 縣多為雒將. 雒將銅印青綬
In ancient times, before Jiaozhi had commanderies and counties, the land had luo/lạc fields. These fields followed the rise and fall of the tides. The people cultivated and lived off them, and were called luo/lạc people. A luo/lạc king and luo/lạc marquises were established to govern over the various regions. Most of the counties were ruled by luo/lạc generals. The luo/lạc generals bore copper seals with green ribbons.
Then the Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (900s) cites the Nanyue zhi 南越志 (400s), as follows:
交趾之地,頗為膏腴,從民居之,始知播植.厥土惟黑壤.厥氣惟雄.故今稱其田為雄田,其民為雄民.有君長,亦曰雄王;有輔佐焉,亦曰雄侯.分其地以為雄將
The land of Jiaozhi was quite fertile. When people began to settle there, they came to know how to cultivate and plant. Its soil was all black earth, and its atmosphere was robust and vigorous. Therefore, even now its fields are called xiong/hùng fields, and its people xiong/hùng people. There was a ruler, also called a xiong/hùng king; and there were assistants, also called xiong/hùng marquises. The land was divided and assigned to xiong/hùng generals.
The Nanyue zhi obviously copied the earlier Jiaozhou waiyu ji or perhaps the Shuijing zhu and changed the “strange” term lạc into a term that made sense. That is not a surprising thing for a later scholar to do.
Then, several centuries after that, the term “hùng vương” appears in the Lĩnh Nam chích quái 嶺南摭怪, and if we examine that work closely, we can see that there are many signs of borrowing/adaptation of information from Chinese texts. I wrote about that a long time ago here: https://www.academia.edu/3554295/The_Biography_of_the_H%E1%BB%93ng_B%C3%A0ng_Clan_as_a_Medieval_Vietnamese_Invented_Tradition
There is, therefore, no evidence for anything “hùng” in early history. On the other land, “lạc” is a term that appears in more texts than the Shuijing zhu/Jiaozhou waiyuji. That term did come from some non-Sinitic source. Therefore, if there was evidence that “lạc” was important in the Chu kingdom, then that would be something to investigate, but that’s not the case.
The Chu kingdom is super interesting, and what is amazing about ancient China is that archaeologists keep finding (parts of) texts in ancient tombs. Those discoveries, however, have made the Chu kingdom seem less distinct from the Chinese world than people previously believed. Here is a study about that:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-chinese-history/article/chu-identity-as-seen-from-its-manuscripts-a-reevaluation/F613B0456B641581DFE04E8B5C011CBC
At this point, archaeological, linguistic, and genetic evidence is all pointing to a north-south movement of (Austroasiatic-speaking) agriculturalists into the area of what is now Vietnam in the BC period (I need to check the dates, but I feel like somewhere around 2,000 BC is an important date for this). You can see this, for instance:
https://www.academia.edu/125196974/Refuting_the_Vieto_Katuic_Hypothesis_Reconsidering_Ethnohistorical_Linguistic_Scenarios
Yes, Ngo Si Lien also talked about a north-south movement of a ruling elite, but the information in the DVSKTT appears 3500 years later (!!!) and there is nothing in between that can demonstrate the transmission of knowledge across that time period, and the term he used (hùng) clearly is not an original/indigenous term, and finally, there is clear evidence of parts of the Hồng Bàng story coming Tang-Song Chinese texts. . .
As a result, if you want to understand early Vietnamese history, you can’t rely on texts like the Lĩnh Nam chích quái and DVSKTT. Your best bet is to look at the archaeology, as well as the archaeology of neighboring areas like the Dien kingdom in Yunnan. That’s where you can perhaps find some connections.
I will try to explain it like this, as the mainstream narrative says Vietnam was ‘conquered by the Chinese’ so there must exist at least two main groups in northern Vietnam – the Baiyue and the colonisers but according to this narrative Vietnamese ‘ethnic consciousness’ runs through the Baiyue group
From all the literature I saw the Baiyue were uniformly Tai speakers and you have written pieces showing that imperial Vietnamese were cluless as to what bronze drums were associating them with those they deemed savages, coincidentally Tai speaking groups so Vietnamese cannot be the Baiyue. Similarly Vietnamese is not a Sinitic language so how could an Austroasiatic language manage to become the dominant tongue in Vietnam? My theory is that the colonisers were not just a vague ‘Chinese’ people that is akin to saying Europeans colonised Vietnam. Just as it was the French that colonised Vietnam I think it was specifically Chu people that formed the bulk of the colonisers in Vietnam settling predominantly in Thanh Hoa and it is these Chu people where the Austroasiatic language came from
So if we establish there were two main groups the Chu and Baiyue existing within northern Vietnam it’s easy to understand why textual inconsistencies occur. After Yue state collapsed the ruling class dispersed to various new places one of which was the RRD, Lac is one of the conjectured surnames or maybe it was a lineage name of the Yue state rulers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_(state)#Rulers_of_Yue_family_tree)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goujian) and that’s how you get Lac Kings appearing in the RRD. When the early Chinese texts made records on Vietnam it was the time when the Baiyue were the frame of reference. Later when Chu people came to dominate northern Vietnam Hung appears as Chu people insert their own figures over the Baiyue. As for plagiarism it’s too provocative to imply Vietnamese historians and writers copied from Chinese sources, if they had access to Chinese texts then so too would everyone else and they can be easily exposed within the scholar circles.
I read the Liu Yi story and believe it was originally a migration story originating from Chu people but became a hidden allegoric vestige within the new love story that it became known as. Liu Yi is from Dongting Lake and eventually settles in Nanjing, the story basically centres around Dongting Lake. The Jingchuan in the story during Tang was called Jingzhou and there is a Jingzhou in Hubei coincidentally the former capital of Chu so to me the author of Liu Yi has localised the story to northern China and his personal hometown in Gansu since Jingchuan is very close to Longxi and appears randomly. Yang from Jingyang can mean the south face of a mountain and Hubei is south to the Jing Mountains so breaking it down every part of the story can be linked to the regions core to Chu. If Vietnamese are descended from Chu people then it’s completely reasonable that the same motifs appear in both stories
Thanks for all of the detailed responses. I can tell you right now though that I don’t think we are ever going to see eye to eye because you clearly identify distinct “peoples” far the past, and I don’t see that at all, nor do the historians today who focus on those early periods see such clear distinctions either. No serious historian, for instance, thinks that the Baiyue were a distinct group who spoke a single language. The name literally implies a group of diverse peoples for which there is no logic to unite them together other than the fact that they are different from the Huaxia people. You can read Erica Brindley’s “Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier” for more on that view of the past.
Also, I’m sorry, but I just don’t have the time right now to go digging into that stuff. I wrote about all of that many years ago, and right now I’m deep in over my head investigating other things. One last thing I will say though is that you are really going to have a difficult time to convince anyone if you can’t show/prove how ideas could be transmitted over hundreds or thousands of years without evidence of writing. Look at other societies. Where else do we have proof of ideas suddenly appearing in a foreign language in a society that are the actual stories of things that that society experienced hundreds or thousands of years earlier? If you can find such an example (I’m unaware of any), then look at how this is proven. How do people show that such ideas were transmitted over hundreds or thousands of years? In the case of the Hong Bang story, the introduction in the Linh nam chich quai looks down on the fact that this information had previously only been passed down orally (I can’t remember if that comes through in the translations, but it’s very clear in the Han original). To that person, oral transmission was something inferior to writing (which was, by the way, a very common idea among the elite in East Asia, and you see it in Vietnam right up into the early twentieth century). So, in such a world, how did that information get transmitted over like 2,000 years? You can’t convince anyone by just saying that it did. You have to prove that. And, whatever you find, has to be able to counter the clear evidence of textual borrowing in the Linh nam chich quai. Until you can do that, you’re not going to be able to change my mind (or probably anyone else’s).
Last comment – “plagiarism” is a concept I have never used, and I don’t know of any historian who uses it either. People in medieval East Asia could create stories by incorporating bits and pieces from other writings, but I don’t think anyone calls that “plagiarism.” The Hong Bang story is not history. And until the 20th century, no member of the Vietnamese elite ever saw it as such. They all said “well, this is not really believable, but I’m going to include it here anyway.” Check the comments of everyone from Ngo Si Lien to Ngo Thi Si to Truong Vinh Ky, etc. It’s a story, and like many other stories created in medieval East Asia, it included some elements from other stories. This wasn’t considered “plagiarism.” That concept didn’t exist. It was just one of the ways that stories were written.
I read the paper from Mr Yuri Pines before and I feel like is reaching, he acknowledges himself:
When we speak of “Chu identity,” we should distinguish among cultural identities of distinct social strata in the state of Chu. The highest segment of Chu hereditary aristocracy, represented among others by the occupants of Baoshan, Wangshan, and Geling tombs, were members of the royal clan, whose ancestors for generations served the Chu kings. These men were strongly attached to the state of Chu, and it is natural that their identity was Chu focused. It is furthermore likely (albeit cannot be proven beyond doubt) that local identity was strong among the commoners, whose destiny was also intrinsically linked to their ancestral state.96 But the intermediate group, viz. the shi, who were the producers and the major consumers of philosophical and historical texts discovered in the Chu tombs, remained less Chu-oriented than either top aristocrats above or commoners below. Their very career pattern which led many (most?) of them to seek employment outside their native state was conducive toward formation of the outlook that prioritized the whole over its parts, All-under-Heaven over an individual state, common culture over local customs
The Guodian artifacts he analysed to write the paper came from the tomb of what is thought to be a royal tutor so we don’t know if that gentleman was even a Chu person to begin with. Also I’m guessing he doesn’t have any interest in Vietnamese history because if he had simply compared the relation between imperial Vietnam and China he would have seen all the same arguments he made of Chu and Zhou applied there. Imperial Vietnamese too saw themselves as inextricable participants in the Chinese cultural sphere but Vietnamese
and Chinese are not the same people, what separated Chu from Zhou and Vietnam from China was that neither accepted the imposition of northern political domination I don’t why he ignores that Chu rulers literally used the Vuong title which is an open rejection of the Zhou world order, the symbolism of adopting Vuong is that Chu believed there were now two parallel Sons of Heaven each ruling their own domain within the same ‘realm’
just as Vietnamese used Emperor but still believed they existed within the same northern-southern binary, how much more distinct consciousness can there be?
For the archaeology
The little-known port of Lach-truong in the province of Thanh-hoa is the location where thirty years ago we brought to light predominantly vaulted brick tombs, some dating back to the third century B.C. but the majority datable during the first three centuries A.D. The funerary deposits comprised ceramics, bronze objects, coins, some remains of iron, gold, silver, and traces of wood and lacquer. Among the funerary ceramics may be noted the presence of a whitish or cream-coloured glazed ware which is of major importance because its provenance may be established— Ch’ang-sha and other sites in China being the source of this evidently imported ware
Certain archaeological aspects and magico-religious implications connected with the form of tombs in the Lach-truong complex exhibit affinities with those of Ch’u:
Close examination of some of the relics and the tomb structure as well leads inescapably into considering the Lach-truong culture as a ramification of the Ch’u culture.
Dian Kingdom was established by Chu people and precisely why we should trust in Vietnamese historical records, the entirety of South China was dominated by the Chu that’s why Xich Qui was said to have stretched from Dongting Lake to East China Sea, Central Vietnam, Sichuan. With every passing year modern research continues to vindicate every word Vietnamese historians wrote
Oh no that’s cool, your focus is on non Vietnamese histories these days so I leave you to it but I want to put some final comments to clear things up. I never set out to change your mind, more like try and convince you to deep dive this stuff since you know Chinese language and Vietnamese history, it’s too tedious for me having to look up all these Chinese words LOL
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In my opinion the Baiyue were a distinct people, they are all remnants of Yue state that dispersed along coastal south China forming various new polities. Just as the Huaxia people spread throughout north China during Zhou forming the various states with their own cultural patterns like Yan state chided for following barbarian customs doesn’t mean they were a diverse people. Having said that, when I mentioned Baiyue in the RRD I was only referring to the Lac Viets not the entire Baiyue family of people so while I don’t know if the Lac Viets spoke the exact same language as the other members of Baiyue the Baiyue definitely spoke languages all falling within the broader Tai family.
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I read in passing Indians never recorded any history so isn’t everything about them from an outside perspective? I don’t have any interest about that region of the world though so don’t know
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Vietnamese historians were products of their time, it was impossible for them to verify if the Hung Kings existed or not but we in the 21st century can in roundabout ways but anyway I want to thank you for taking the time to give responses even if we didn’t agree. It was much appreciated and good luck on the things you’re working on
Thanks for understanding!!
That field of early history is pretty dynamic, because you have people from different fields – genetic science, linguistics, archaeology, etc. – all active, and those are all fields which I don’t have sufficient knowledge about, so it takes a lot of work to try to 1) figure out what the current state of knowledge is and 2) what it actually means. And I haven’t paid much attention for a few years, so I’m definitely out of touch.
This article on the “The Ðông Sơn Speech Community: Evidence for Vietic” is one that I did read a while back. I think it’s good in that the author tries hard to look at the evidence in as neutral a manner as possible:
https://www.academia.edu/75108023/The_%C3%90%C3%B4ng_S%C6%A1n_Speech_Community_Evidence_for_Vietic
Hi Prof. Kelly. Just out of coincidence, I have encountered a Vietnamese website which gathers and authors (from 2017 to 2024) multiple hundreds of semi-scientific articles (due to the way they are written and cited) about many topics surrounding “The origin of Tộc Việt”. My amateur eyes at first glance have seen a fair amount of flawed logic from a few of those articles. And as there is an article directly refuting a paper of yours (Hong Bang story:), I have decided to write some notes on that article and send it to you. In the future, you may have some time to take a look at the article and my annotations. I guess the point is that please find it amusing that your research still have some impacts, although the impacts are probably not in the form that you would like 🙂 Anyway, thank you.
P.S: The authors of the website have also published an e-book about the grand topic. I believe I have encountered a / many future Tran Ngoc Them 2.0
Thanks for the comment!!
I showed your comment to ChatGPT and asked it to find the website you are referring to. It initially determined that it must be https://tocviet.vn/, “Tóc Việt” (Viet Hair). . . 🙂 And I said, no, that’s not it, try again, and then it suggested this site: https://luocsutocviet.com/. It looks like this might be it.
I haven’t really been paying attention to this topic recently, so I’m happy to see that people are still discussing it. It used to be the case that a lot of discussion took place on Facebook, but after FB eliminated “notes” (why did they do that?), that largely disappeared.
When it comes to Viet origins, the belief I’ve always held is that people should be free to think whatever they want, schools should be free to teach whatever they want, but the “experts” should have an understanding of what is most likely to be true. In other words, if you’re a history prof at VNU, you should have an understanding of the sources, what an “invented tradition” is, what the theories of nationalism teach us, the ways that modern nations have been created and the ways that they use an imagined past to give legitimacy to the nation, etc.
But as for what people teach in say high schools, sure, go ahead and teach them that the Hung kings established the nation. And if you want to create a “Lac Viet theme park,” do it! It’s important to create a sense of community. Because if you don’t do that, you end up where the US is now, with a generation of young people hating their country and the entire Western tradition. That doesn’t work well.
That said, at this point, I feel like the universities in Vietnam are pretty inactive (as is the case with much of the rest of the world), so I have no idea what profs there know or don’t know. But obviously there is activity on this site, which is good to see!! In just skimming through some of the articles, the one thing I see is that, as has long been the case, people “cherry-pick,” that is, they cite information that fits what they want to say, but to do good scholarship, you have to recognize all of the information that is out there, including the information that doesn’t fit what you want to say, and then you have to deal with that. But this isn’t “professional,” so, let them fight it out with each other. 🙂
In the end, I’m much happier seeing “amateurs” actively trying to make arguments about the past (and criticizing me in the process) rather than seeing “professionals” doing nothing. So, thanks for mentioning this. I’ll start looking at what people are saying.
Yeah, the Chinese courts called everyone vassals, even if the Steppe Nomads had more power over them. I know Bagan was unlikely to be under the direct control of Angkor at time. The “tributes” may just be “symbolic” or more likely annual “state gifts” just like what Annam sent to Angkor and Angkor occasionally sent to China. I also thought, when I read the Harris passage on Zhenla, that maybe it was actually a Mon frontier city-states/mandalas that sent these so-called “tributes” and the Chinese thought they are from Bagan.
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Yet, for “Sri Vijaya”, Bagan supposedly sent it to Sumantra. That’s almost no way. Maybe one of the Mon cities sent it to one of Sumatran vassals in the Malay Peninsular. That’s also very unlikely. Bagan almost have no reason to fear SriVijaya navy. They have their ways to trade with India and China. The Mon cities would prefer to sent it to the Chola or Khmer or Shepo navy in 1100 and they would not have say “But Pugan is a major royal kingdom and should not be treated as a subordinate vassal state.”
Could you please tell me what you are referring to here: Yet, for “Sri Vijaya”, Bagan supposedly sent it to Sumantra. I’m aware of information that talk about a connection between Piao and Shepo, but I’m not sure if this is what you are referring to or something else that I’m not aware of. Thanks!
I was referencing if we went by Coedes model of “Sanfoqi” being “Srivijaya” being “Sumatra” and as in your translation, the Chinese think Bagan is under Sanfoqi. If this is true, why would Bagan had anything to afraid of Sumatra. Their coastal Mon cities may have been, but they could have better pay tributes to Chola or Khmer or Shepo (if it was really currently Malaysia). However, Angkor certainly able to threaten Bagan or at least their outlying mandalas. Other “tributes” and “state gifts” are mentioned somewhere in Vickery’s paper on Champa, as one Jayavarman epigraphy, and Harris compilations in “The Empire Looks Down” where one Vietnamese paper suggested that some “tributes” to China by Angkor is sent via Jiaozhou.
I still think there is a point to be made of Shepo being Java. The main subject in the description is the ocean, and what the text does is give the distances across dry land to arrive at the sea shore. Clearly, Shepo was surrounded by water. The distance between Shepo and western Borneo/Boni also serves as an indication as to the whereabouts of Shepo.
Not a club member
Thank you for the comment! I have written a long response here because I think the point you brought up is one that other people will also think about as well.
As I wrote about this once before, you cannot find any place in Southeast Asia where all of the information in that passage will be accurate for. Some of the information in that passage is erroneous, so we just have to accept that wherever we try to place it, there will be some details that don’t fit. What we have to try to do is to find a place where the least number of details don’t fit, and where the greatest amount of evidence from other sources supports. I have come to conclude that the middle of the Malay Peninsula fits those criteria.
1) Logic – why would anyone record the distance overland for crossing an island in the four directions? Why wouldn’t people just sail along the coast?
2) Let’s look at the directions/distances. There are two versions of the distances, one in the Zhufan zhi and one in the History of the Song. The Zhufan zhi version is more likely the original, but either way, let’s look at them.
East to sea: 1 day (Zhufan zhi) or 1 month (History of the Song), and sailing from there for half a month you reach Kunlun (a reference to the area of Con Dao/Pulo Condor)
West to the sea: 45 days
South to sea: 3 days to the sea, 5 days crossing the sea to “Dashi” (we have a Vietnamese later account of the journey from Songkhla to Kedah in 5 days)
North to the sea: To the north, it is four days to the sea; sailing northwest from there for fifteen days one reaches the kingdom of Boni (yes, this doesn’t make sense for the Malay Peninsula, but numbers and directions are the two types of information that are the most often divergent – Was it 1 day to the east or 1 month to the east? Was Boni to the northwest or the northeast?)
Again, if we want to accept that the northwest to Boni is correct, then we have to conclude that reaching Kunlun to the east is incorrect as Kunlun was an unequivocal reference to the area of the southeastern tip of the Indochinese Peninsula (it’s in many other sources, and I discuss some of those in my working paper) and you didn’t reach it by sailing east from the east coast of island Java.
These two statements cannot both be correct (that is why I said that you cannot get all of the details in this passage to fit any place in Southeast Asia). So, we have to test each as a hypothesis to see which the evidence in other sources supports. I have done that, and as you will see from the information below, it has led me to conclude that it is the reference to Boni that is incorrect, not the reference to Kunlun that is incorrect. Also, I should note in passing that Kunlun was a much more well-known location to Chinese than Boni. Every mariner had to pass by Kunlun, but there is very little evidence of Chinese mariners visiting Boni.
If this was island Java, where would this be describing? I think the “1 day to the east” in the Zhufan zhi makes the most sense (I don’t see Chinese sources mentioning places so far inland [1 month inland], and I don’t see any such places serving as a major trade hub, as was the case with Shepo), so if that was on island Java, where would that be? And from there, why would you travel all the way overland to get to the west? By contrast, if it was 30 days to the east, then that would be someplace in the center of Java, and again, in the age of water travel, why would people journey overland in the four directions?
As people have long been aware, the Malay Peninsula has many rivers, so an actual overland travel time was limited (the Vietnamese who went from Songkhla to Kedah in 5 days only traveled overland for 1 day, the other 4 were on rivers). How would this have worked on Java?
3) Apparently the highest concentration of Tang dynasty ceramics in Southeast Asia have been found on each side of the Malay Peninsula right where I say Shepo was located (can’t remember where that is mentioned, but it’s in a work by Derek Heng if I remember correctly). That makes perfect sense if we see Shepo in that area.
4) The reference to “Dashi” (basically a reference to people from the Middle East, or places to the west of Southern India). The reference to crossing the sea for “5 days” from the South to Dashi makes the most sense for the area of the Malay Peninsula because Lamri at the northern tip of Sumatra was a congregation point for mariners.
It wasn’t actually “Dashi” the place, but in fact, if you read works like the Lingwai daida, we can see that Dashi wasn’t really “a place,” but instead, was a term to refer to various types of people from areas far to the West. If you wanted to trade with them, you could do it in northern Sumatra, where they congregated.
5) It has long been pointed out that in Arabic accounts (that is, accounts by people who came from “Dashi”), we see that they did not go to island Java, not that is until Ibn Battuta does in the fourteenth century, and that’s when you get mention of “2 Javas” with the appearance of a new term “mul-Jawa.”
6) Meanwhile, in Arabic accounts we find repeated references to the “islands of Jaba” ruled by a Maharaja, and this place is, to them, up in the area of the middle of the Malay Peninsula and northern Sumatra. Kedah, for instance, is a part of “Jaba” to them.
7) In many places where Shepo is mentioned, the itineraries and distances mentioned do not make sense for island Java, but they do make sense if we see Shepo in the middle of the Malay Peninsula. These are too many to mention, but I think I have some of that in the working paper I published. To me, this is actually among the most important information but I haven’t compiled it all into one place (yet).
8) Scholars who work on the mainland all point out that in the Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai worlds there is a term/concept of “Jawa/Java/Jaba” that does not refer to island Java, but instead, to the Malay world.
9) Scholars who work on the area of Pattani, Kelantan, etc. can see that there is a “Jawi” identity there, but they can’t figure out where that comes from. One of my colleagues who works on that area says that the locals refer to themselves as “Jawi” and to the people on the island of Java as “Jawo.”
10) I’m not as sure about this, but I had a colleague from Orissa who said that for people there, “Jawa” is how they refer to island Southeast Asia, and I have read that in some places in the Arab world, this is the same.
11) As I’ve been arguing, the world of Chinese knowledge for much of early history was limited to the area of the Gulf of Thailand (and there are so many details that show this, as I’ve been explaining). That started to change around the thirteenth century, and in the 1225 Zhufan zhi, we can find some information about island Java.
However, from that account it is also clear that this was new information. It’s author, Zhao Rukuo, did not travel to Southeast Asia. He compiled his text from earlier texts and information that he obtained from mariners. That text mentions a place called “Sujitan” which we can tell from the geographic information was on island Java but it is clear that Zhao Rukuo did not know where it was, however there is one detail that he found out, which is that the money that they use there is called “Shepo gold.” At which point, Zhao Rukuo writes, “Ah, from this we can see that this must be part of Shepo.” I think I wrote about this in the working paper too.
From this point onward, and especially following the Mongol attack on island Java, you get confusion in Chinese sources for a while as they have “2 Javas” (as in the case of Ibn Battuta). This is because it is only in this later period that Chinese knowledge starts to extend to that part of the region, and in the case of Ibn Battuta, he travels past Java up through the Philippines, an itinerary that you do not see in earlier accounts. Instead, in earlier Arabic accounts, if someone journeys through the region, they go to Kedah, Tioman Island, and then Qmar (Cambodia).
The term “Java” appears on inscriptions in island Java. However, the same (or a very similar) term was clearly associated with the area of the middle of the Malay Peninsula. Was there an original “Java” on island Java that somehow extended its influence up to the Malay Peninsula? Or did a place on the Malay Peninsula called “Java” extend its influence southward? Or was it just a coincidence that the same, or a very similar, name appeared in these two places?
I have no idea, but at this point, having seen all of the evidence that I have seen, it is totally obvious to me that there were “2 Javas” in Southeast Asia, and that there is no way that anyone is going to be able to persuade me that the Shepo that Chinese talk about in the Tang and Song was island Java. That is simply impossible as there is far too much evidence that counters that idea.
But yes, as you rightly point out, that one phrase about Boni being to the northwest would make sense for Java, but that’s the only piece of information that makes sense for island Java, and if one character in that phrase was different (if the “west” in “northwest” was “east”), then that statement would support Shepo on the Malay Peninsula.
Similarly, it is easy to see how 1 day 一日 could be written in error as 1 month 一月.
Changing a single character makes all the difference in these cases, and what is more, the changes that were made (or could have been made in the case of “northwest”) are very predictable/obvious errors. By contrast, there is no similarly easy “scribal error” that we can identify that would explain why Kunlun is supposed to be to the east if that was a reference to island Java.
In the end, I never build an argument on a single number or a single direction or anything like that, although I try to understand what the most plausible interpretation of a passage might be, and in this case, it seems the most plausible to me that the “northwest” should be “northeast.” That said, I would never try to build an argument on a single point like that.
I accept that there can be contradictory information in a passage that we will never be able to resolve by just talking about the text. Therefore, we have to look at “surrounding evidence,” and that surrounding evidence (such as in the points that I have listed above) overwhelmingly supports the idea that Shepo was on the Malay Peninsula.
1 logic If you assume an inland administrative center removed from the coasts and accept that Chinese historiographers not always do what modern historians want them to, then we could accept that the information deals with the extent/territorial size of Shepo.
Kunlun guo is the land of the Kunlun, whoever these are. I cannot say much about Arabic accounts. Most of the early versions came down in copies from the 12th/13th centuries, and like you, I do not trust translations.
Actually, what is unique about the information about Shepo is that it is clearly not talking about territorial size. It’s talking about connectivity across and from its territory. This is unique.
Look at Champa and Zhenla vs Shepo and Zhunian/Chola in the History of the Song. We see two ways of talking about territorial expanse with Champa and Zhenla, but the information in the section on Shepo and Zhunian/Chola is different. It’s not about territorial expanse. It’s about how this place connects to other places.
That said, we can see further that Shepo has information about crossing its territory and reaching places from the different extremes of its territory. This is entirely unique in the Chinese sources on Southeast Asia. I haven’t found any other place that is treated in this way. Shepo was clearly in a very central location, and that place on the Malay Peninsula fits that perfectly.
Champa: To the east it reaches the sea, to the west it reaches Yunnan, to the south it reaches Zhenla, and to the north it reaches the border with Huan Prefecture [Huanzhu ].
Zhenla: The territory spans more than 7,000 leagues.
Shepo: To its east, it is one month [or 1 day] to the sea; sailing from there for half a month one reaches the kingdom of Kunlun 崑崙. To the west, it is forty-five days to the sea. To the south, it is three days to the sea; sailing from there for five days one reaches the kingdom of Dashi 大食. To the north, it is four days to the sea sailing northwest from there for fifteen days one reaches the kingdom of Boni 勃泥. Also, it is fifteen days to the kingdom of Sanfoqi 三佛齊, and seven days to the kingdom of Guluo 古邏, and seven days to Chailiting 柴曆亭. One can reach Jiaozhi 交阯 and arrive at Guangzhou 廣州.
Zhunian/Chola: The kingdom of Zhunian 注輦 lies five leagues east to the sea. It is 1,500 leagues west to Tianzhu 天竺 [India], 2,500 leagues south to Luolan 羅蘭 [Sri Lanka, see below], and 3,000 leagues north to Duntian 頓田.
Hi sir. Just wondering what can you say about this Moyi 摩逸. This has been usually referred to as the earliest reference to a precolonial Philippine polity of Mait in Mindoro. However, Johannes L. Kurz’s paper, “Preliminary Thoughts on Mayi and Moyi in Pre-modern Chinese Records” refutes this. What’s your thoughts on that?
I also noticed Mayi was spelled as 麻逸 especially in the Zhufan Zhi. Wonder then if this Mayi 麻逸 is altogether different from the earlier Moyi 摩逸.
I haven’t looked at this closely, but in general, it was common for lesser-known places to be written in different (but similar) ways. These should be the same place.
Thanks for the comment/question!
In the above passage, Moyi is referred to in relation to the kingdom of Boni, like this: “The kingdom of Boni 勃泥 lies in the southwestern sea. It is forty-five days’ journey from Shepo 闍婆, forty days from Sanfoqi 三佛齊, and thirty days from both Champa 占城 and Moyi 摩逸, all calculated based on favorable winds.”
I think everyone agrees that Zhancheng=Champa=a place on the coast of what is now Vietnam. I also think there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that Boni was on the west coast of Borneo. Where were Shepo and Sanfoqi? I think I have provided sufficient evidence to show that they were in the area of the center of the Malay Peninsula and southern coast of Cambodia, respectively, but the “traditional” view is that this refers to island Java and the southern end of Sumatra.
Then we get to the numbers. We can’t base an argument on the numbers because it’s clear from various cases that the numbers like these in the sources are unreliable. All we can really do is to understand that it was possible to go from A to B, and to look at those numbers as “possible indicators” of distance.
Putting aside all of that for the moment, let’s ask ourselves how Chinese got to the west coast of Borneo. We can’t tell from the above passage, but in the earliest navigational texts that appear (in I think the early 1600s), we see that they cross over to Borneo from the southern end of the Malay Peninsula and then go up the coast.
In other words, they didn’t cross the sea from the Vietnam coast, and then didn’t sail directly to Borneo from China across the South China Sea.
Taking all of that into consideration, the only way that we can get Moyi to be in the Philippines from the above passage is if the Cham were sailing directly across to the northern end of Borneo and then continuing onward.
Then we need to ask ourselves, if that was possible, why did the Chinese never seem to do that?
Linguists argue that Cham-language speakers migrated to the Vietnam coast from Borneo in the early centuries AD. Did they cross directly over? If so, did they somehow maintain that ability and continue to do so for the centuries that followed while others did not?
Yes, archaeologists have found objects in the Philippines that link to the Cham world, and there is an obvious connection between a place called “Puduan” in the Chinese sources and Champa, but I think the information about distance there is that it was 2 days from Champa. . .
So, the textual information is insufficient to say for sure, but the big mystery for me is whether or not the Cham could cross over directly between Champa and the island of Borneo. If that can be demonstrated with more certainty than some archaeological artifacts, then that would make the above information clearer.