Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-dbm8p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-01T17:19:33.377Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dissolving Hegemony or Changing Trade Pattern? Images of Srivijaya in the Chinese Sources of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

So Kee-Long
So Kee-Long
Affiliation:
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The history of Srivijaya has been one of the most controversial subjects in premodern Southeast Asian history. Among the crucial issues in relation to this subject are the timing and cause of its decline and, in particular, to what extent changes in trade patterns contributed to such a development. Recent scholarship, largely derived from new interpretations of the epigraphical and archaeological findings in Southeast Asia, has contributed much to advance our understanding of this ancient empire. Yet, information available in those sources is still far from adequate to make a conclusive historical judgment. It is thus imperative to re-examine Chinese accounts of Srivijaya in the light of this new scholarship.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , September 1998 , pp. 295 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1 Coedès, George, Sriwijaya: History, Religion and Language of an Early Malay Polity (Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1992)Google Scholar; Wheatley, Paul, The Golden Khersonese: Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before A.D. 1500 (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1961)Google Scholar; Wolters, O.W., “Studying Srivijaya”, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 52,2 (1979): 1–32Google Scholar; Tibbetts, G.R., A Study of the Arabic Texts Containing Material on Southeast Asia (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979)Google Scholar. For a new reading of the local inscriptions, see Kulke, Hermann, “‘Kadatuan Srivijaya’ — Empire or Kraton of Srivijaya? A Reassessment of the Epigraphical Evidence”, Bulletin de l'Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient 80,1 (1993): 161–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a discussion of the diverse usage and derivations of these Chinese and Arabic terminology, see Tibbetts, , Arabic Texts, pp. 100–118Google Scholar.

2 Coedès, Sriwijaya; Wolters, “Studying Srivijaya”; Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Bin Nik Abd. Rahman, , “The Kingdom of Srivijaya as Socio-political and Cultural Entity”, in The Southeast Asian Port and Polity, ed. Kathirithamby-Wells, J. and Villiers, J. (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1990), pp. 61–82Google Scholar; Tarling, Nicholas, ed., Cambridge History of Southeast Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), vol. 1Google Scholar. On the importance of foreign trade in the rise of Srivijaya, see Wolters, O.W., Early Indonesian Commerce: A Study of the Origins of Srivijaya (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967)Google Scholar.

3 Wolters, O.W., “A Note on the Capital of Srivijaya during the eleventh century”, Artibus Asiae, supp. 23,1 (1969): 225–39Google Scholar; Manguin, Pierre-Yves, “Palembang and Sriwijaya: An Early Malay Harbour-city Reconsidered”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 66,1 (1993): 23–46Google Scholar.

4 Tarling, , Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, 1, p. 200Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., p. 201.

6 Ibid., 1, pp. 201–202.

7 Ibid., p. 202; Shuhaimi, , “Kingdom of Srivijaya”, pp. 65–66Google Scholar.

8 Shuhaimi, , “Kingdom of Srivijaya”, pp. 67–73Google Scholar.

9 Tarling, , Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, 1, pp. 207–208Google Scholar.

10 For the content of this important inscription, see Sastri, Nilakanta, History of Sri Vijaya (Madras: University of Madras, 1949), pp. 79–85Google Scholar.

11 Hall, Kenneth, Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press, 1985), pp. 195–99Google Scholar.

12 Hall, Kenneth and Whitmore, John, “Southeast Asian Trade and the Isthmian Struggle, 1000–1200 A.D.”, in Hall, K. and Whitmore, J., eds., Explorations in Early Southeast Asian History: The Origins of Southeast Asian Statecraft (Ann Arbor: Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia, no. 11, University of Michigan, 1976), pp. 306–313Google Scholar; Hall, , Maritime Trade, pp. 197–202Google Scholar.

13 Tarling, , Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, 1, pp. 207–215Google Scholar. For a recent study of the clove trade in Java, see Ptak, Roderich, “China and the Trade in Cloves, circa 960–1435”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 113, 1 (1993): 1–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Hall, , Maritime Trade, pp. 209–214Google Scholar; Shuhaimi, , “Kingdom of Srivijaya”, pp. 78–79Google Scholar.

15 Wolters, , The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History (London: Lund Humpries, 1970), p. 42Google Scholar; Hall, , Maritime Trade, pp. 193–97Google Scholar. Wolters recently revised his view that Chinese had begun to frequent Southeast Asia 200 years before 1100. See Wolters, O.W., “Restudying Some Chinese Writings on Sriwijaya”, Indonesia 42 (1986): 35–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar. While there is no doubt that Chinese merchants, especially from Fujian, did venture to Southeast Asia from the middle of the tenth century, I still hold that such undertakings did not develop into an established practice until around or shortly after the middle of the eleventh century. Detailed discussion will be provided in Kee-long, So, Prosperity, Institutions, and Rationality in Maritime China: The Regional Pattern of South Fukien, 946–1368, ch. 2Google Scholar, forthcoming.

16 There is an extensive literature on the Chinese export ceramics in Southeast Asia during this period. For instance, see Roxas-Lim, Aurora, The Evidence of Ceramics as an Aid in Understanding the Pattern of Trade in the Philippines and Southeast Asia (Bangkok: Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, 1987), pp. 6–10Google Scholar. For the uses of Chinese ceramics in different localities in Southeast Asia, see Adhytman, Sumarah, Antique Ceramics Found in Indonesia, Various Uses and Origins (Jakarta: Ceramic Society of Indonesia, 1990), pp. 18–22, 34–48Google Scholar. For a general account of the export ceramics industry in southern Fujian, see Kee-long, So, “The Trade Ceramics Industry in South Fukien during the Sung”, Journal of Sung & Yuan Studies 24 (1994): 1–19Google Scholar.

17 Hall, , Maritime Trade, pp. 209–214Google Scholar.

18 Tibbetts, , Arabic Texts, pp. 43–54. 100–128Google Scholar. See in particular those passages on Srivijaya by ‘Aja’ib al-Hind (c.1000), Mukhtasar al-‘Aja’ib (c.1000), Biruni (973–1048), Marwazi (c.1120), Idrisi (d.1165), Ibn Sa'id (d.1274).

19 Wolters, , “Capital of Srivijaya”, pp. 235–36Google Scholar.

20 Lin Tianwei has compiled a comprehensive, though not necessarily complete, list of tributary missions from Srivijaya to the Song court. See Tianwei, Lin, Songdai xiangyao maoyi shigao (Hongkong: Zhongguo xueshe, 1960), pp. 174–212Google Scholar. Lin's list is more comprehensive than Wolters' but I still failed to find much information relevant to the internal situation of Srivijayan politics. Such a relationship can always be expected in foreign policy theoretically. To clearly establish a correlation in a constant pattern, e.g., more frequent missions reflect crisis, would be more difficult.

21 Wolters, O.W., “A Few and Miscellaneous pi-chi Jottings on Early Indonesia”, Indonesia 36 (1983): 49–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Earlier attempts in this regard may be traced back to Groeneveldt, W.P.'s Historical Notes on Indonesia and Malaya Compiled from Chinese Sources (originally published in the Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen 39, in 1880Google Scholar; reprinted in Jakarta by C.V. Bhratara, 1960). These are, however, no longer of much use.

22 Wolters, , “pi-chi Jottings”, p. 56Google Scholar.

23 Ibid., p. 55. Words and phrases in brackets are from Hirth, H. and Rockhill, W.W., Chau Ju-kua: His Work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the twelfth and thirteenth Centuries, entitled Chu-fan-chih (St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1911), p. 64, n.7Google Scholar. Passages in italic are my own translations. For the original text, see Yu, Zhu, Pingzhou ketan (SKQS ed.), 2: 5a/bGoogle Scholar.

24 This is Wolters' translation. See his “pi-chi Jottings”, p. 56. Qufei, Zhou, Lingwai daida (SKQS ed.) 2: 13a/bGoogle Scholar.

25 Wolters, , “pi-chi Jottings”, pp. 56–57Google Scholar.

26 Hirth, and Rockhill, , Chau Ju-kua, pp. 60–62Google Scholar.

27 Ibid., p. 62. See also Rugua, Zhao, Zhufanzhi jiaozhu, ann. by Feng Zhengjun (Taibei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1970), pp. 15–17Google Scholar.

28 Yuanjing, Chen, Shilin guangji (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1990), 8:48aGoogle Scholar. For a discussion about the author and the date of publication of the book, see the foreword written by Wu Daojing for the 1963 Zhonghua shuju edition. Morita Kenji gives a detailed examination of the extant Yuan, Ming and Japanese editions of this work in his “Jirin kôki no shohanbon ni tsuite”, in Sôdai no chishikijin, ed. kai, Sôshi kenkyû (Tokyo: Kyûko shoin, 1993), pp. 287–316Google Scholar.

29 Tinggui, Ye, Nanfan xiangluGoogle Scholar, quoted in Jing, Chen, Xinzuan xiangpu (congshu, Shiyuan ed.), 1: 9bGoogle Scholar. See also Wolters, , Early Indonesian Commerce, p. 107Google Scholar. For Ye's compilation of this treatise, see Hisanori, Wada, “Nanban kôroku to shohanshi to no kankei”, Ocha no mizu joshidaigaku jinbun kagaku kiyô 15 (1962): 133–51Google Scholar.

30 Yanwei, Zhao, Yunlu manchao (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1996), 5, p. 88Google Scholar.

31 Wolters, , Early Indonesian Commerce, pp. 95–127Google Scholar.

32 Wheatley, Paul, “Geographical Notes on Some Commodities involved in Sung Maritime Trade”, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 32,2 (1959): 119Google Scholar.

33 Tinggui, Ye, Nanfan xiangluGoogle Scholar, quoted in Jing, Chen, Xinzuan xiangpu, 1: 4bGoogle Scholar.

34 Hirth, and Rockhill, , Chao Ju-kua, pp. 61, 193–97, 201, and 211Google Scholar.

35 Tinggui, Ye, Nanfan xiangluGoogle Scholar, quoted in Jing, Chen, Xinzuan xiangpu, 1: 3bGoogle Scholar. For a general account of camphor being imported into China, see Toon, Han Wai, “Notes on Bornean Camphor Imported into China”, trans. Kee-long, So, Brunei Museum Journal 6,1 (1985): 1–31Google Scholar.

36 Jitsuzô, Kuwabara, Hojukô no jiseki (Tokyo: Kazama Shobô, 1935), pp. 52–53Google Scholar. For the original text, see Zhufan zhi jiaozhu, p. 49.

37 Kee-long, So, “Economic Developments of South Fukien, 964–1276” (Ph.D. dissertation, Australian National University, 1982), pp. 133–34Google Scholar.

38 Zhiqi, Lin, Zhuozhai wenji (SKQS ed.), 15: 12a/bGoogle Scholar. Partially cited in Li Donghua, 1986, 170, but just to demonstrate that there were many foreign residents in Quanzhou. See also Clark, Hugh, Community, Trade, and Networks: Southern Fujian Province from the Third to the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 127–29 and n. 37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

39 Hugh Clark has argued that the later account of Zhao should override that of Lin, an argument I do not accept. See his “Muslims and Hindus in the Culture and Morphology of Quanzhou from the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century”, Journal of World History 6,1 (1995): 54–63Google Scholar.

40 To To, , Song shi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977), 433: 12861Google Scholar.

41 Song huiyao jigao, fanyi, 4: 75a. Fujian tongzhi, 1867, 90: 14b.

42 Yanwei, Zhao, Yunlu manchao, 5: 88Google Scholar. For putchuk, see Wheatley, , “Geographical Notes”, p. 62Google Scholar.

43 In contrast, by the early fourteenth century, most became dependencies of Danmaling (Tambralinga) instead. See bianzuan weiyuanhui, Guangzhoushi difangzhi ed., Yuan Dade Nanhai zhi canben (Guangzhou: Renmin chubenshe, 1991), p. 46Google Scholar. The section on foreign countries given in this Yuan gazetteer of Guangzhou noted 11 major polities under whose jurisdictions certain numbers of dependent countries are listed. These polities and their respective numbers of dependencies (in brackets) are given as the following: (1) Vietnam [2]; (2) Champa [71]; (3) Chenla [5]; (4) Siam [1]; (5) Danmaling (Tambralinga?) [12, including Foluoan and Pengfeng]; (6) Srivijaya [17]; (7) Brunei [9]; (8) Dangzhongbuluoguo (?) [25]; (9) Java [16]; (10) Nanpi/Mabaer (Malabar?) [5]; and (11) Dagulin (Quilon?) [33].

44 An intriguing example of similar selective raids on mercantile ships in the Straits of Malacca by the local pirates, i.e., targeting only those from the Indian Ocean, can be found in the early 14th century. See Wang Dayuan, ann. by Su, Jiqing, Daoyi zhilüe jiaoshi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), p. 214Google Scholar. I am indebted to John Miksic for calling my attention to this case.