Chinese historical sources have long been used to try to gain an understanding of early Southeast Asian history.
However, when scholars have made use of these sources, they have usually done so without talking about the context in which that information is placed in Chinese historical sources.
In other words, you see scholars talking about the content of Chinese histories by saying things like “the History of the Song says. . . .” However, you don’t find scholars talking about how that information is structured and presented in those sources (at least I can’t think of anyone who has done that).
When, however, you look at how the information in Chinese sources is structured and presented, you can gain important insights. In particular, looking at how information in Chinese historical sources is arranged and presented can help us see the existence of trans-peninsular trade networks that ran across the Malay Peninsula.
To demonstrate this, I will show how information about that part of the world is presented in Chinese dynastic histories. There is a lot to cover, so I’m dividing this post into two parts.
History of the Southern Dynasties (659); Years Covered = 420-589
If you look at the History of the Southern Dynasties (659), it has a chapter that includes information about some places on the mainland together with information about places on the Malay Peninsula, and as we’ll see later, northern Sumatra.
This information is divided into two sections. The first is called the “Various Kingdoms to the South of the Sea” (Hainan zhuguo 海南諸國) and covers Linyi (Champa) and Funan (Lower Mekong region) on the mainland. The second section is called the “Southwestern Barbarians” (Xinan yi 西南夷), and covers places on the Malay Peninsula, and as we will see later, northern Sumatra.
I think we can group the information about the “Southwestern Barbarians” into three parts (see the image above).
My hunch is that the places from Heluotuo to Shepoda are referring to the area around present-day Patthalung and Songkhla. This text does not provide information about most of these places, only indicating that they paid tribute. Still, it does provide the following details about Heluodan: “The polity of Heluodan is a metropolis on the island of Shepo” (呵羅單國都闍婆洲).
As I’ve said countless times before, this “Shepo” was pronounced at that time as something like “Jāba/Jāva,” and we can see from multiple later sources that this was both the name of a specific place and the name of a larger trade network or “empire.” I think we see this here as well as there is a polity called “Shepoda” and an “island” (which in this case can just mean a bigger area) called “Shepo.” This term, “Shepoda,” does not appear in later sources, but “Shepo” does.
Also, the first two characters of “Heluodan” would have been pronounced something like “Hala,” and that is close to later terms that I argue were used to refer to Patthalung: Heling (Haling; Hà Lăng), and the Arabic Harang.
Moving on to the next three places, it is not clear from this text where they were. The only descriptive information is for Gantuoli which states that “the polity of Gantuoli is on an island in the Southern Seas. Its customs are roughly the same as those of Linyi and Funan.” (干陁利國，在南海洲上，其俗與林邑、扶南略同 We will see the names, Panpan and Dandan, again below.
This then gets us to the final two places, Langyaxiu and Poli. I think scholars have all agreed that Langyaxiu likely refers to “Langkasuka,” a polity that was based at or near what is now Pattani in southern Thailand.
As for Poli, there are a couple of options. Given that this text appears to be presenting places in a general direction from north to south, and from close to distant, it looks like Poli could have been a place to the south of Langkasuka, or at some greater distance away from the other places. This will become clearer as we look at later texts.
For now, however, let us look at the details that the History of the Southern Dynasties provides about Langyaxiu and Poli, as it does not provide such details about the other places in this list. This is what it says:
“The polity of Langyaxiu [Langkasuka] is in the Southern Seas. The borders of the kingdom are a thirty-day journey [apart] from east to west and a 20-day journey from south to north. To the north, it is 24,000 li from Guangzhou.”
(狼牙脩國，在南海中。其界東西三十日行，南北二十日行，北去廣州二萬四千里。)
“The polity of Poli is on an island in the Southern Seas to the southwest of Guangzhou. From Guangzhou it is about a two-month journey. The borders of the kingdom are a fifty-day journey [apart] from east to west and a 20-day journey from south to north. There are 136 settlements.”
(婆利國，在廣州東南海中洲上，去廣州二月日行。國界東西五十日行，南北二十日行。有一百三十六聚。)
Interesting. Now why do we suppose that information about how long the journey was across these kingdoms was included? Was it so that should a Chinese official ever get sent to Langkasuka or Poli on a diplomatic mission that he would know that in his spare time he could walk for many days across those polities and back?
No. That information is there for a very specific reason. It is documenting trans-peninsular trade routes. Ultimately what it is saying is that it takes 30 days to cross the Malay Peninsula from somewhere near Pattani, and for Poli, . . . that is a little more complex, but we will see more information about this below.
History of the Sui (636); Years Covered = 581-617
The History of the Sui has a chapter on the “Southern Savages” (Nanman 南蠻). This chapter only lists four places: Linyi, Chitu, Zhenla, and Poli.
We have two new terms here. Zhenla is a term that refers to roughly the same area as Funan, the term we saw above, that is, an area in the lower Mekong region.
Meanwhile, Chitu, meaning, “red earth,” is difficult to locate. Scholars have variously suggested that it could have been on the eastern or western coasts of the Malay Peninsula, or in the interior.
Here is what this text says about Chitu and Poli:
The History of the Sui says about it that “The polity of Chitu is a variety of the Funan type. It is in the Southern Seas. You reach its capital after traveling by water for more than 100 days. The color of the soil is very red. Hence, its name.”
(赤土國，扶南之別種也。在南海中，水行百餘日而達所都。土色多赤，因以為號。)
The polity of Poli is reached by crossing the sea from Jiaozhi [i.e., northern Vietnam] and passing through Chitu and Dandan. The borders of the kingdom are a four-month journey [apart] from east to west and a 45-day journey from south to north.
(婆利國，自交阯浮海，南過赤土、丹丹，乃至其國。國界東西四月行，南北四十五日行。)
From these two passages, we still can’t say for certain where these places were. While the text says that one reaches Chitu “after traveling by water for more than 100 days,” we have to remember that people traveled on rivers as well as the sea. I recently wrote about a Vietnamese account from the early nineteenth century, for instance, which showed that one could come within two days of Kedah by traveling upriver from near Songkhla.
Also, it is important to see here that to get to Poli one had to pass through other places, Chitu and Dandan, and the distances across Poli in this text are considerably larger than the ones mentioned in the History of the Southern Dynasties.
Finally, the way that the information is presented here is also interesting (Linyi – Chitu – Zhenla – Poli), as it alternates between places on the Southeast Asian mainland (Linyi and Zhenla) and places that appear to be on the Malay Peninsula (Chitu and Poli).
Why was this information organized in that manner? My suspicion is that this information is organized in that manner because the places on the Malay Peninsula were trade outposts of the places on the mainland.
Old History of the Tang (945); Years Covered = 618-906
We see this same pattern in the Tang Dynasty histories. There are two histories of the Tang Dynasty. One of them, the Old History of the Tang, was compiled before the other, the New History of the Tang. However, the version of the Old History of the Tang that is extant today was reconstituted/republished during the Ming Dynasty period. Given that we don’t know if the people who produced that version changed anything, we can’t necessarily say for sure that the Old History is in fact older than the New History.
Having said that, let’s look at how these two histories present their information.
I have indented some of the names in the image above to make the pattern in this text more visible. Here again, the text alternates between places on the mainland and places on the Malay Peninsula, or between a place on the eastern side of the Malay Peninsula, Heling, with places on the western side.
I see all of the indented names above as places on the western side of the Malay Peninsula (or in the case of Poli, as we will see later, on Sumatra).
Here is what this text says about these places.
After Linyi, Poli and Panpan are mentioned:
“The polity of Poli is to the southeast of Linyi on an island in the sea. Its land extends for several thousand li. From Jiaozhou [i.e., northern Vietnam] you pass Linyi, Funan, Chitu, Dandan, and several other polities to reach it.”
(婆利國，在林邑東南海中洲上。其地延袤數千里，自交州南渡海，經林邑、扶南、赤土、丹丹數國乃至焉。)
“The polity of Panpan is to the southwest of Linyi in a bay in the sea. To the north, it is separated from Linyi by the Small Sea. From Jiaozhou it can be reached by boat in 40 days. This polity is a neighbor of Langyaxiu [Langkasuka].”
(盤盤國，在林邑西南海曲中，北與林邑隔小海，自交州船行四十日乃至。其國與狼牙修國為鄰。)
After Zhenla, Tuohan is mentioned:
The polity of Tuohan is in the great sea to the southwest of Linyi. To its southeast, it borders Duoheluo. From Jiaozhi [i.e., northern Vietnam], it is more than a three-month journey. It is subservient to Duoheluo.
(陀洹國，在林邑西南大海中，東南與墮和羅接，去交趾三月餘日行。賓服於墮和羅。)
Heling and the places mentioned after it:
“The polity of Heling is on an island in seas in the south. To the east is Poli, and to the west is Duopodeng. To the north it reaches Zhenla, and to the south, it comes up against the Great Sea.”
(訶陵國，在南方海中洲上居，東與婆利、西與墮婆登、北與真臘接，南臨大海。)
“The polity of Duoheluo meets Panpan to the south and Jialashefo to the north. To the east it reaches Zhenla, and to the west, it neighbors the Great Sea. From Guangzhou, it is a five-month journey.”
(墮和羅國，南與盤盤、北與迦羅舍佛、東與真臘接，西鄰大海。去廣州五月日行。)
“The polity of Duopodeng is two months by sea to the south of Linyi. To the east is Heling, to the west it reaches Miliche [or Miliju], and to the north, it borders the Great Sea. Its customs are roughly the same as those of Heling.”
(墮婆登國，在林邑南，海行二月，東與訶陵、西與迷黎車接，北界大海。風俗與訶陵略同。)
On the surface, this information is confusing and at times contradictory. However, I think that there is a logic to it.
In particular, it makes sense if we view some of the “polities” as “trans-peninsular networks.” More specifically, at times what is referred to in Chinese sources is the place where one enters that network on the eastern side of the Malay Peninsula, whereas at other times what is mentioned is the other side of that network on the western side of the Malay Peninsula.
To illustrate this point, let’s look at Panpan. The Old History of the Tang says the following about Panpan: “The polity of Panpan is to the southwest of Linyi in a bay in the sea. To the north, it is separated from Linyi by the Small Sea. From Jiaozhou it can be reached by boat in 40 days. This polity is a neighbor of Langyaxiu [Langkasuka].”
That sounds like a good description of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
This text then mentions Panpan again in relation to a place called Duoheluo as follows: “The polity of Duoheluo meets Panpan to the south, Jialashefo the north, to the east it reaches Zhenla, and to the west, it neighbors the Great Sea. From Guangzhou, it is a five-month journey.”
This is now confusing, because we have a place that is to the north of Panpan, but it takes five months to get there from China, whereas the reference to Panpan above said that Panpan was only 40 days from northern Vietnam.
How can we reconcile this information? I think it makes sense if we understand Panpan to be a trans-peninsular trade network and that the information about Duoheluo and Panpan is about the western side of that network. Further, given that Duoheluo is mentioned in this text following Heling (Patthalung), perhaps 1) this was an outpost of Heling’s trade network and 2) the way that this place was reached (in this instance) was across the peninsula from Heling.
In which case, we could visualize this information as follows:
Further, if the arrangement of the information in this text (alternating between the mainland and the Malay Peninsula, or in the case of Heling, between a place on the eastern side of the peninsula with places on the western side) is meant to point to places that have some kind of trade relationship, then we can visualize these relationships as follows:
I think it should be clear by now that there is a pattern here, and that there is a logic to the way that information is organized and presented in these texts.
They are talking about trans-peninsular trade networks, networks in which places on either the Southeast Asian mainland or the eastern coast of the Malay Peninsula have trade outposts on the western side of the peninsula.
We will investigate this topic further in the next part.
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The compilers of the dynastic histories presented material from a variety of sources in what would seem a haphazard way. Not being thoroughly familar with the geographical setting they arranged the material in a very general way. It would then make sense to peruse the original source material, as far as it is surviving, for clues for transpeninsular “states”. The dynastic histories are full of information, but this should always be checked against the basic sources.
Hello Le Minh Khai.
I would like to thank you so much and I’ll be glad if you can help me to find a Chinese Text from The Liang Shu on Tan-Tan Kingdom. Can you please help me to find for Tan-Tan account in Liang Shu records?
An early translation of entries on Dandan is found in JMBRAS 1 1946 pp. 47ff. It is available online, its author is Xu Yunqiao.
Here it is:
丹丹 國，中大通二年，其王遣使奉表曰：「伏承聖主至德仁治，信重三寶，佛法興顯，眾僧殷集，法事日盛，威嚴整肅。朝望國執，慈愍蒼生，八方六合，莫不歸服。化隣諸天，非可言喻。不任慶善，若暫奉見尊足。謹奉送牙像及塔各二軀，并獻火齊珠、古貝、雜香藥等。」大同元年，復遣使獻金、銀、瑠璃、雜寶、香藥等物。
This database is great for looking for terms in the Dynastic Histories:
https://hanchi.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/ihp/hanji.htm
Hello sir.
Sorry to interrupt you.
Is this the record about Tan-Tan Kingdom?
Hello sir, do you have FB? I want to add you as my friend. Please sir. I need a friend who can help me in Ancient Chinese translator
Sorry sir…
Do have any more Chinese records about Tan-Tan Kingdom? Which book does that account from? Is it from Liang Shu?
Thank you sir