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Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on March 30, 2024 at 9:17am

此前，彭亨自宋代海丝沿线已经是南海诸邦的海上交通要地，元明代《顺风相送》的歌诀注重以彭亨为编唱主题，华人等待季候风期间，主要聚居在北根市场区域；那个时代彭亨税收主要贸易，是转卖各种丝绸锦缎和陶瓷到邻近各国，交换香料、玳瑁、象牙等物，再运往亚洲东北各地。

至少清中叶以前，北根作为彭亨的王城首 府，继续是全国内外往来的港口，北根发生的各种变化，都能反映 整个彭亨国史的演变过程。但是，彭亨因此也在实质上很早就成为古近代全球经贸历史的一个据点，它从来都是受着全球经贸趋势演变的影响。自西方重商主义兴起注重黄金储备，再到工业革命重视锡的生产和工业上的使用，北根的国际贸易定位也会相随发生变化。这即是说，海上交通和经贸历史的变迁，是会反映在彭亨的本 土情境变迁，也会影响着接下去的情境变迁。

 ① Census of Pahang, 1891,Straits Settlement Government Gazette ,1892.Kuala Lumpur: Arkib Negara Malaysia.p.2401

② Kalthum Jeran(ed.),op.cit.,hlm.137.

③ 刘崇汉：《独立前北根华人简史》，收录在刘崇汉主编：《彭亨华族史资料汇编》， 关丹：彭亨华团联合会，1992年，第140页。

矿业虽然在那时成了彭亨主要经济来源，许多基层采矿者是华 人，而在各地华人印象中，他们能在当地成群开矿，毕竟是得力于中国各地原来矿源丰富，使得祖辈技术经验也能传承发展，并在彭亨当地落地生根。不过，商业资本总会流向有利可图之处，如果雪柔或暹罗等地，甚至中国大陆发现矿脉，彭亨的华人矿业资本也不 一定就要钉在原来土地，和外资竞争。

1896年 3月，槟榔屿出版的 《槟城新报》报道评述“彭亨金矿以西”的成就，说当地新矿区才开始两个月，就出产了近三千两金沙，但文笔最初还是由定论大陆地区“五金矿质，甲于寰区”去说开，顺着讨论彭亨的成就，感叹清朝矿务，嗟叹中土各地不善经营矿区，多有管理不当。①

由此可见，当彭亨经济日趋发展向以矿产收入为主，大清王朝在同时间依旧地大物博，再是不济也依然尚存许多矿区，足于招商引资。那时南洋的华人知识界，批评清朝虽有矿产，管理还得学彭亨，可见清朝不可能是彭亨金属资源的主要购买者，反而南洋华人矿家可能会转回大陆寻找机会。

彭亨东面海洋不会是本邦金属经济的重要出口海域。不过，从英方的角度，西方其时重视金属储备，尤其金矿和锡矿是重要战略资源，主要又是西方需要，英国总督Frederick Weld致函给英伦的财政委员会，谈论马来亚东海岸“每年六个月被季候风封锁”，② 总督主要想着金属国际市场，就不可能像华人过去一贯的关心方向， 太去操心帆船与人员要如何在彭亨港口停泊六个月，或者何时可以借用小气候和海潮，去北边暹属诸邦或对岸加里曼丹做买卖。

Frederick Weld 的公函更热心讨论如何从彭亨建公路，接通霹雳、雪 兰莪、马六甲，尤其是彭亨北半部山地矿区，以确保每逢雨季东部海滨平原的水灾不致于影响北部矿区生产，矿区可以源源不绝把成果运往半岛西岸出口；Frederick Weld 因此还得讨论筹措大笔经费， 以维持官僚体系和军警制度，保障社会秩序，稳定和加速矿区和种 植农业运作。③

①《槟城新报》，1896年3月21日。

②Lovat, Lady Alice.,op.cit. 81

③Ibid.;pp.393-394.

直到Frederick Weld退休前夕，这位总督还在关心着彭亨，告诉他的同僚们说：“彭亨……可能比霹雳和雪兰莪都富庶，有朝一日可能实质性地补偿我们，代替我们因贸易限制而损失在西贡的那部分。在我看来，霹雳和雪兰莪应该建设起道路，去连贯着彭亨的上游流域。在马六甲也该建设铁道，经过Jelebu以及南部，直通北根。” ①

当然，后人都知道，政策结果如他所愿，具体计划却不是火车直通北根。当J. P. Rodger在1889年出任第一任参政司，英方从英国殖民部、海峡殖民地政府到参政司，显然都要追随着Frederick Weld主张矿区连接西海岸海港的建议，结果他们决定彭亨参政司首 府和政府行政都应该北上西进，直接设立在立卑大兴土木，新建各种基础设施，让彭亨矿业成果从此更快速运输至马六甲海峡北方， 直接使用槟榔屿自由港出口通往印度洋西进欧洲的航路。

1898年槟榔屿“成记”开始运作，到1908年改组为“东方熔锡”，已经是世界最大熔锡工厂，邻近各国锡苗，多是在此地提炼，铸成锡砖，供应全世界。 1889年立卑开府，也象征着彭亨本土面临西学东渐；自唐宋朝 以降，以北根为重心的古老的传统的海洋贸易历史，由此走向终结。

以后20世纪上半叶的彭亨华人历史，处于大英帝国殖民主义的全球战略当中，长期卷入在列强在亚洲争锋的旋涡，相对于中国从 晚清至民国年代的积弱，也经历着从一战到二战的民族觉醒过程， 是进入另一种局面了。

（摘自：王琛发：英属以前彭亨华人史记： 海洋经贸视域下的中外文献解读；作者简介：中国闽南师范大学“闽江学者”讲座教授；马来西亚韩江传媒大学学院中华研究院特聘教授；原載：韩大学术丛刊第一种）

 

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on March 10, 2024 at 2:01pm

The Pre-Malaccan People in A History of Pahang

CHAPTER II. THE PRE-MALACCAN PEOPLE.

In the seventh century A.D. a kingdom called by Chinese chroniclers San Fo-ts'i which has been identified by Dr. Coedes with the Malay Seri-Vijaya with a capital, at one period, situated in Palembang, became predominant in the Malay Archipelago and the Peninsula. This empire has been thought to be the contem- porary Zabug or Zabag of Arab geographers. In 1225 A.D. the Chinese writer Chau Ju-Kua, apparently describing conditions in the preceding century, records that Pong-fong (Pahang) was one of the dependencies of San Fo-ts'i. Another vassal state of San Fo-ts'i was Tan-ma-ling, to which place we shall return presently. The Tao i chik lio written by Wang Ta-Yuan in 1349 makes mention of P'eng K'eng (Pahang) and Pa-tu-ma (?Pulau Tioman) among other regions.

According to the Nagarakrtagama, composed in 1365, Pahang, Ujong Medini (Johore), Muar, Langkasuka, Kelantan, Trengganu, Paka and Dungun, Tumasik (Singapore), Sang Yang Ujong (Sungai Ujong), Kelang and Kedah were tributary states of Majapahit. To this list of the Javanese empire's dependencies the " Chronicles of Pasai " add various islands off the east coast of the Peninsula including Pulau Tioman, Pulau Tinggi, Pulau Pemanggil and Pulau Laut.

The History of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1643)1 presents a picture of Pahang in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: " Pahang is situated at the west of Siam. In the year 1378 the king, Maharaja Tajau, sent envoys with a letter on a gold leaf, and bringing as tribute six foreign slaves, and products of the country. They were received according to the established rules. "

[Pg.16] In the year 1411 the king, Pa-la-mi-so-la-ta-lo-si-ni sent envoys carrying tribute. In 1412 Cheng Ho went as an envoy to their country, and in the year 1414 they sent tribute a gain.

"In the year 14.16 they sent tribute together with Kalikut and Java, and Cheng Ho was again ordered to go there.

" The soil of this country is fertile; the climate is always warm, and rice is abundant there; they make salt by boiling sea water, and wine by fermenting the sap of the coconut tree.

" The higher and lower classes are on a very intimate footing, and there are no thieves ; they are very superstitious regarding demons and spirits, making their images of fra- grant wood, and sacrificing men. to them, m order to avert calamities or to pray for happiness. "

（1）Book 325, quoted in " Notes on the Malay Archipelago " by W. P. Groeneveldt: Miscellaneous Papers relating to Indo-China, 2nd Series, Vol. I, London, 1887, p. 256. 1936) Royal Asiatic Society.

Amongst the articles which they brought as tribute were elephant-teeth, camphor baros, olibanum, lignum aloes, sandal wood, pepper, sapan-wood, and such more .... "

(The Pre-Malaccan People in A History of Pahang)

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on February 24, 2024 at 9:13pm

Tajau of the Chinese chronicler may be Tanjong, and the reference may be to the northern head-land of the estuary of the river Pahang which was known to sea-farers as TanJong Pahang, " Cape Pahang."

Pa-la-mi-so-la-ta-lo-si-ni was almost certainIy the Chinese rendering of Parameswara Telok1 Chini, " the prince of Chini Haven." Chini, which, in Siamese, means gibbon, gives its name to a mountain, a lake, a stream and a village situated about forty miles from the mouth of the river Pahang. There pre-Malaccan remains have been found. （3） In the same locality is Luit, with a village Singgora called after the capital of Patani, where, too, there are traces of pre-Malaccan habitation.3 Except on the banks of the river, Chini is still jungle-clad, and little investigation has yet been done. For the Malays, Lake Chini has associations with the past : in their eyes the lake and its adjoining mountain are sacred, and they credit the place with the possession of a white crocodile styled Seri Pahang: "the glory of Pahang." It is possible that the lake did not always exist in its present form and that it covers the site of an ancient town. Only when the jungle gives up its secrets will the truth be known.

[pg 17]  Assuming the correctness of these identifications, we then have, in 1378 A.D., a king at Tanjong Pahang known by the designation of Maharaja, and, in 14ll A.D., at Chini, a ruler with the style of Parameswara4, a title also used by the founder of Malacca. Did these two kingships exist contemporaneously or do both titles refer to the same undivided line of rulers with merely a change o[ residence, or is it to be supposed that between 1378 and 14ll the king at Tanjong Pahang was displaced by the Chini potentate? These are questions which cannot, at present, be answered.

We are told by d'Eredia that the kings of Pahang ruled only the coastal region. We know that the ruler of Pahang, at the date of its conquest by the Malacca Malays about 1454, bore the title of Maharaja. There is reason to believe that, at least as far as the people were concerned, apart from their rulers, the region of Kampong Melayu near Chini was at one time the boundary between the Malays and another race.1

2 Menangkabau: telok, a bay, or a bend in the river, commonly used in the expression telok rantau
"the bends and the reaches " of a river.

3 J. M. B. R. A. S., Vol. VI, Pt. IV, 1928, p. 79.

4 Journal, F.M.S. Museums, Vol. IX, Pt. 2, 1920, p. 152.

5 Dr. P. V. van Stein Callenfels points out that the term Parameswara seems to have been, in mediaeval times, in Majapahit and Bali the special title of the non-royal husband of a ruling princess, and that the word where it occurs in old inscriptions, designates the consort of a queen.

7 J. M. B. R. A. S., Vol. VI, Pt. IV, 1928, p. 81. 1 " Report on the Golden Chersonese," translation by J. V. Mills (J. M. B. R. A. S., Vol. VIII, P t. I, p. 233). 

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on February 23, 2024 at 2:57pm

The Hsing-ch'a Sheng-lan, written in 1486 by Fei Hsin, a Chinese Moslem and an Arabic scholar, gives the following interesting account of Pahang and its people :

" This country is situated at the west of Siam ; it is surrounded by rocky ridges of mountains, which, seen from a distance, have the appearance of a table-land. The ground is fertile, and they have abundance of rice. The weather is often very warm.

"Their customs cannot be much praised; they make human images of fragrant wood, and kill people in order to make a sacrifice of the blood, when they pray for luck or try to ward off evil.

" Men and women have their hair in a knot, and are clad with a single piece of cloth. Girls of rich families wear four or five golden circles on their foreheads, and the daughters of the common people use strings of coloured glass beads instead.

" They boil salt out of sea-water, and make wine by fermenting rice-gruel. " Products of the country are lignum-aloes, camphor, tin and a kind of wood used in dyeing. Articles of import are gold, silver, coloured silks, Java-cloth, copper and iron- ware, gongs, boards, etc."

[pg. 18] According to d' Eredia, Pahang was the second Malay kingdom in the Peninsula, in succession to Patani, and flourished before the founding of Malacca ; the ruler of Pahang in the latter part of the fourteenth century, a relative (by marriage) of Parameswara, first ruler of Malacca, was Lord of Ujong Tanah (the southerly part of the peninsula including Singapore).

d'Eredia 2 records that .: " Pan was the second seat of the Empire of the Malaios ; its site lies on the eastern coast of the Peninsula in three degrees of North latitude; the port is just as much frequented by merchants, because of the gold from its auriferous mines : it contains the best and largest gold-mines in the whole Peninsula : it was from here, one presumes, that there came the gold which formed the subject of the ancient trade with Alexandria .... "

The same chronicler writes : （8） " It is to be noted that the eastern coast of Ujontana was peopled and frequented before the other 01:  western coast : thus the histories relate that Malayos, was inhabited Pattane and Pam before the foundation of Malacca. "

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on February 22, 2024 at 4:43pm

At that time the ruler of Pam governed Syncapura : and the monarch who resided in Pathane, the metropolis of the Malayos, was tributary to the empire of Syam, for right clown to the present day the Malayos regard the latter as their master: while the head of the principal empire and administration was the Emperor of Attay .... "

He adds : ·' Permicuri,2 by birth a Jao of Palimban in Samatta or the Golden Chersonese allied himself in marriage with the lords and monarchs of Patane and Pam who belonged to the family of the Malaios .... " 3

[Pg 18]

This first Malaccan potentate chose Malacca as his headquarters about the end of the 14th century. cl'Eredia relates that:

" Permicuri selected this spot in the interests of his own safety, for he stood in fear of the ruler of Pam, over-lord of the countries of Ujontana, who was making warlike preparations to capture him, in consequence of the treachery which Permicuri had perpetrated in Sincapura, when he assassinated the ' Xabandar ' who was telated to the lord of Pam, despite the kindness which the ' Xabandar' had shown at his house in Syncapura, when Permicuri took refuge there in his flight from his father-in-law the Emperor of Java Major .... " 4

In the same chapter d'Ereclia calls Permicuri the " flrst king of the Malayos." According to d'Albuquerque's "Commen- taries," it was the ruler of Palani of whom Permicuri stood in fear, and the murdered chief's name was Tamagi.

d'Eredia (12) states that the religion of Islam was in introduced into Patani and Pahang before it was accepted by "Permicuri at Malacca in the year 1411." That statement is certainly true of Trengganu (which at that time appears to have formed a province of Patani), and is probably true of Pahang, though we have no other evidence to show that Islam was practised in the country before 1454.

Mahayana Buddhism, on which were superimposed Tantric orgies involving human sacrifice, had reached the Malay Peninsula about the 8th century. Its influence in Pahang, I though it waned with the introduction of Islam as the State religion about 1454, may be traced up to the beginning of the  17th century.

In the 12th century the kingdom of San Fo-ts'i began to decline, and by the 14th century, in the south, the east-Java state of Majapahit had become predominant, while, in the north, by 1292, the Siamese (Thai) kingdom, with its capital at Sukhodaya, had emerged.

8. d'Eredia's "Description of Malacca," translation by J.V. Mills, loc. cit., p. 3
9. An incorrect rendering of Parameswara.
10. aop. cit., p. 57.
11. op. cit., p. 16.
12. op. cit., p. 49.
13. JRAS (Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XIV, Part II, History of Pahang. 9 ~

A vassal of San Fo-ts'i, according to Chau Ju-Kua, was Tan-ma-ling. Gerini (13) identified this country with Kuantan, a district of Pahang, on the ground that the north promontory of the Kuantan river was called Tanjong Tembiting, '' Cape Ternbeling.''

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on February 21, 2024 at 8:34am

Candrabhanu a king of Ligor who, according to the Jaiya inscription (which has now been discovered to have come from Ligor and not from Jaiya or Chaiya). styled himself Seri Dharma- raja and Lord of Tambralinga, the Ceylonese "Mahavamsa" tells us, led two hostile expeditions against Ceylon about the middle of the 13th century with Javaka (Malay) forces. (14)

By 1292, Ligor had become the extreme southern limit of the Thai kingdom of Sukhodaya (Sukhothai). Now Logor has been widely accepted as being the Tan-ma-ling of Chan Ju-Kua 15 and the Tambralinga of the Jaiya inscription. There are two localities in Pahang which are suggestive of the name given by the Chinese chronicler: the river Tembeling which, the discovery of numerous Neolithic and early iron-age implements there indicates, was at one time a thickly populated district, and Tanjung Tembeling the northern headland of Kuantan river. Was there a connection between these places and Logor?

The history of the Ming Dynasty states that the Pahang ruler who sent envoys to China in 1378 was called Maharaja, the same style as that  affected by the King of Logor. When the Malacca forces conquered Pahang about 1454, according to the Malay Annals, (16) they found there a “Siamese” prince with the title Maharaja Dewa Sura, king oi Logor (who bore the same title as that of the prince who ruled in Pahang about 1454), on the instruction of the king of Siam invaded Pahang.，following the route Tembeling.

It is not unlikely that this invasion state was in reassertion of a pre-Thai Suzerainty , that is to Ligor, the Tan-ma-ling of the Chinese and the Tambralinga of the Jaiya inscription, that we must look at least during one period, for the origin of the pre-Malaccan rulers of Pahang., and that it was the men of Ligor who give the name of their country Tan-Ma-ling to the river Tembeling, (18)，a highway of communication between Pahang and the north, and to Tanjung Tembeling at Kuantan, the only safe anchorage for their fleet on the coast during the season of the north-east monsoon (19), and the port of access to the rich tin mines of Sungai Lembing. To Ligor, a state powerful enough to invade Ceylon twice during 13^th cebtury , the conquest of Pahang must present no great difficulty.

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on February 20, 2024 at 10:24am

With the subjugation of ligor by Sukhothai about 1280 the suzerainty over Pahang fell to the Thai in the 14^th Century. In the same century Pahang suffered an invasion from Majapahit which thereafter claimed that State as one of its conquests. This raid may have had no lasting effect (20), thought it appeared that it resulted in inter-marriage between members of the ruling family of Majapahit and the princes of Pahang. The Thai over-lords of Ligor apparently did not interfere with the Ligor dynasty in Pahang but they, too, may have contracted marriage alliances with the Pahang royal family. The new empire had arisen in the nor contented itself with exciting tribute from Pahang and establishing settlements in the country.

The Pre-Malaccan people of Pahang lived by mining gold, tin, and iron and planning rice. They left many traces; irrigation works, mine workings, remains of brick building, specimens of Sawankalok pottery, and probably the pottery industry at Kuala Tembeling which has survived through years to the present days. The pre-Malaccan occupied the Tembeling, Thet can be traced as far as south as the Merchong. They extended into the Pahang and the Jelai;their tracks can be found along lake Chini up to the Headwaters of the Rombin; in the old Selinsing mines scoops of Palas wood used by them have been discovered. They left numerous relics in gold-working at Tresang and Sempore. They make their way to bebar, They established settlements at Jeram Kuai (Koi) and Jong Berlabon on the Tembeling, at Lubok Pelang, Lubok Paku, at Chini, at Langgar, at Pengkalan Durian in Ulu Bebar, at pura, and else where. Their occupation is commemorated by the nomenclature of places such as Chini, Parit Siam, Tambak Siam, Lubang Siam (or Lumbong Siam),, Parit Siam, Sungai Lego (Ligor) a tributary of the Tekam in the vicinity of Kota gelanggi. (21)

(Chapter 2, The Pre-Malaccan People, in A History of Pahang, W. Linehan, Silverfish Malaysia Classic Series 18, 2020, Pakka English Enterprise, pg. 15-22, Previously published as Volume XIV Part II, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in May 1936 )

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on February 8, 2024 at 10:20am

Preserving the Cultural Bond towards Strengthening Sino-Malaysian Friendship

Melestarikan Hubungan Kebudayaan, ke Arah Memperkukuh Persahabatan Malaysia-China

Author: Ku Boon Dar

ABSTRACT

This paper is an attempt to trace the history of traditional friendship between China and Malaysia which had been established since the Han Dynasty. The ties between both countries were further strengthened in the 15th century with the establishment of diplomatic relation between the Ming Dynasty and the Malacca Sultanate. The paper also discusses the diplomatic ties between China and Malaysia which was officially reconciled in 1974 during the second Malaysia Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak bin Hussein’s visit to China. This bilateral relationship has continued to develop
and gained significance with China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative in 2013, which was inspired by China’s president, Xi Jinping. The paper describes the relationship between the two great empires (China and the Malay world), which carries a special significance in the context of the interaction of civilizations. This interaction does not only revolve around the issues of trade, investment and tourism alone but its significance is also visible in various socio-cultural issues especially the development of the Malay language in China.

Keywords: Sino–Malaysian relations; Malay language; Overseas Chinese (Huaqiao); Peranakan Chinese (BabaNyonya); Malayan Communist Party (MCP)

ABSTRAK

Makalah ini menelusuri sejarah panjang persahabatan tradisional antara China dengan Malaysia yang sudah dijalinkan sejak Dinasti Han. Jalinan kedua-dua negara ini terus dimekarkan pada abad ke-15 dengan hubungan Dinasti Ming dengan Kesultanan Melayu Melaka. Seterusnya makalah ini juga membincangkan hubungan diplomatik antara ChinaMalaysia yang dijalinkan semula secara rasmi pada tahun 1974 semasa kunjungan Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak bin Hussein ke China. Hubungan dua hala ini telah pesat berkembang sehingga kepada inisiatif ‘One Belt One
Road’ China yang diilhamkan oleh Presiden China, Xi Jinping pada 2013. Makalah ini menjelaskan bahawa hubungan antara dua buah kerajaan besar, yang satu di Asia Timur dan yang satu di alam Melayu itu, mempunyai signifikan yang khusus dalam konteks interaksi tamadun yang bukan hanya berlingkar pada hubungan perdagangan, pelaburan dan pelancongan semata-mata, malah menjangkau kepelbagaian isu-isu sosiobudaya khususnya perkembangan bahasa Melayu di China.

Kata kunci: Hubungan China-Malaysia; bahasa Melayu; Orang Cina Seberang (Huaqiao); Peranakan Cina (BabaNyonya); Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM)

（Ku Boon Dar, 2016, Preserving the Cultural Bond towards Strengthening Sino-Malaysian Friendship ，International Journal of the Malay World and Civilisation [Iman] 4[3], 2016: 87 – 96 [http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/IMAN-2016-0403-09])

See Also: 海絲路·文化·軟實力

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on February 8, 2024 at 10:16am

INTRODUCTION

The relationship between China and the Malay world was often strengthen during the Ming Dynasty
with the Malacca Sultanate. In fact, the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Borneo have built ties
with China since the first century even when the country and nation’s entity was still non-existence.
According to archaeological findings found in the Niah Cave (Sarawak), the mural paintings, coffins
made of copper had similarities with the copper coffins found in Guangxi, Guizhou and Sichuan. It
was proven that these coffins were archaeological remains of the Three Kingdom (AD 220-280) war
era in China. In addition, archaeological remains such as the bronze drum unearthed after a flood in
the Temerloh River (Pahang), coins, knives, iron and fishing hooks carved with Chinese characters
was found on the coast of Sarawak also proved that there were initial relation in trades between
the Malays and Chinese (Zhou & Tang 2011: 41).

Majority of the earthenware found in the area was linked to the remains of Han Dynasty (206
BC -220 AD). In addition, the trade relationship between the Malay Peninsular and China can be
seen from the remains of artifacts such as found in the Bujang Valley (Chieh-cha), Kalumpang Island
(Sabah), Matang in Perak, Johor Lama (Lo-Yueh), Singapore, Tioman Island (Tiyumah), Kuala Berang in Terengganu (Fo-lo-an), Pattani, Chaiya and Ligor in Thailand (Zuliskandar & Nik Hassan 2010: 47).

The ports in these states formed trade relationship with China from the artifacts found since the Song Dynasty while the trades in Kedah have begun since the Tang Dynasty (618 – 906 BC). Historian,
K. G. Tregonning (1965: 2) stated that the Malay Peninsular was the port (relay station) for ChinaIndia trades. Indeed, the history of interaction between Malay and Chinese civilization has run long. The Sino-Malaysia cultural exchange was developed out of the trade between China and India, due to the Malay Peninsula’s strategic location on the route of Chinese and Indian sails, the Malay
Peninsula had delevoped transit trade through which its cultural exchange with China had dawned (Zhou & Tang 2011: 12).

Comment by 美索 布達米亞 on February 7, 2024 at 1:04pm

Chinese historical source described the relationship of the Chinese kingdom with the Malay
world in detail from the beginning. It was pioneered clearly during Han Dynasty which was recorded by Han Shi Di Li Zhi, followed by series of relationship with later dynasties. Han Shu Di Li Zhi described the voyage of Emperor Wu Di (140 BC- 87 BC) to Huang Zhi (Kanchipuram) in southeast India with the country in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

In addition, Hou Han Shu also described that in the year 131 AD, the kingdom of Diao Ye believed to
be either in Java or Sumatera has sent tribute to the Chinese emperor and whereby the emperor later awarded a prize to the king in return (Liang Liji 1996: 13).

However, the relationship between China and Malay world was briefly interrupted when stability
in the Han Dynasty was compromised. Hence the relationship with the Malay world is often severed
without continuity. Similarly, at that time, there is no state in the Malay world which has a great and
impactful government that the relationship is not so familiar. However, China’s relations with the
Malay world jumped to a higher level after the rise of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and in the Malay Srivijaya Empire in the 7th century. The relationship between the two kingdoms of which one was in Southeast Asia while the other from the Malay world, carried a great significant specifically in the context of modern interaction. It was not confined to trades only but transcends to the cultural ties, thoughts and belief system. During Tang dynasty, the Buddhist monks’ activity in Srivijaya became the best means to expand religious teachings outside its territory. At the same time, the old Malay language which was strongly influenced by Sanskrit became the tool to understanding Sanskrit for the Buddhist monks. One of the monk’s well-kept record was documented by Fa-Hsien who have made the sacred journey to India by land across Central Asia.

Paul Wheatley (1961) in his research about the adventures of Fa-Hsien was more likely to follow the opinion of Grimes (1941) which stated that Fa-Hsien has been through passage in the Straits of Malacca before arriving in Borneo or Java as compared to the opinion expressed earlier by Wilson (1838-1839), Sykes (1840-1841) and James Legge (1886) which states that the adventures of Fa-Hsien been through before reaching the Sunda Strait to Borneo (Takakusu 1896). Meanwhile the monk, Yi Jing (I-Ching) who lived for six months in the capital of Srivijaya in 671 AD and later went to Chieh-cha (Kedah) with the mission to enhance his religious study, while helping to expand the spread of Buddhism in the country has clearly shown the close tie between the two countries and civilization.

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