In 1979, French archaeologist Claude Jacques published an article that has been frequently cited entitled “‘Funan,’ ‘Zhenla’: The Reality Concealed by these Chinese Views of

Chinese sources (the Ming shilu) record that in the late fourteenth century there was some kind of conflict between a place called Sanfoqi and Java,

In 1377, the kingdom of Sanfoqi sent an envoy to the Ming court to request an official seal for the Sanfoqi monarch. The Ming Hongwu

In the previous post, we saw that in various Chinese texts dating from the Song to the Ming periods, there was a kingdom called Sanfoqi

Sanfoqi is the Chinese name of an historical kingdom that scholars believe once existed on the island of Sumatra and was called “Srivijaya.” I disagree.

Several months ago, I spent a couple of weeks quickly researching and writing about “Srivijaya.” That is the name of a purported kingdom that was

In an earlier post, I discussed how one of the Chinse terms that historians claim indicated a kingdom called “Srivijaya” was actually referring to “Cambodia.”

Until recently, I had never spent much time reading Chinese sources for Southeast Asian history (other than Vietnam). Over the past few weeks, I have

The biggest story in premodern Southeast Asian history is the story of the centuries-long rivalry between Singora and Angkor. Are you familiar with that story?

In order to help readers understand how I came up with the idea that there was no maritime empire called “Srivijaya” and that the main

In researching about “Srivijaya” and in talking to colleagues, one thing that has become obvious to me is that we have developed a habit of

Now that my mind has re-oriented and I can see that Sanfoqi was Angkor, there is so much that needs to be re-researched. There are

There is a kingdom that briefly appears in Song Dynasty historical records and that “disappears.” That kingdom is called the “Kingdom of Puduan” 蒲端國. This

Holy S*&t!!!! This is really getting crazy!!! I have clearly opened an enormous can of worms. . . One hundred years ago, George Cœdès declared

In the previous post (Srivijaya in Inscriptions), I tried to explain how George Coedès made the argument in 1918 that the term “Srivijaya” should be

It all began with Sanskrit inscriptions. . . Over the past few posts, I have been examining (and deconstructing) information in Chinese sources that has

In the previous post, I made the argument that a place in Chinese sources that is referred to as “Sanfoqi” 三佛齊 indicates “Kambuja/Cambodia,” which in

Srivijaya is a myth! I can clearly see this now. Let me explain. In 1918, French scholar George Coedès “discovered” a maritime kingdom in Southeast

[August 2022 update: I don’t believe what I wrote here anymore. I’m now convinced that Shilifoshi referred to a place in what is now southern

In 1918, French scholar George Cœdès made the claim that there was a kingdom in Southeast Asia that no one had ever heard of before.