WANG TA-YUAN

Born in 1311, Wang was 19 years old when he set out from the port of Quanzhou, on the first of two long voyages to the Eastern and Western Seas. He simply says, "I attached to a boat when I was young to go for sea-travel". Between 1330 and 1334, and again between 1337 and 1339, he accompanied merchants on a commercial junk bound for distant points of trade.

Wang does not seem to have been a businessman himself. Instead he gathered information from more than a hundred different places and published his account of them as Tao-yi chih-lio, or 'Brief Records of Island Barbarians' in 1349. His notes suggest he was as much interested in the nature and customs of the populations he visited as he was in the commercial details of what goods were traded and how much tax was demanded by local rulers.

He may also have been an educated man. He took great care to organise his writing according to a particular format. "The division between Eastern Ocean and Western Ocean...appears in the middle of the total structure of ninety-nine (or 100) country segments...halfway on the route from east to west...the area around Singapore formed a dividing line between two geographical spheres".

Wang's systematic approach alerts readers that Tao-yi chih-lio is more than a random collection of curious facts. There is an over-riding world-view that informs his work. He is a Chinese author writing from a Chinese perspective. Foreigners are considered to be, first and foremost, Barbarians. People abroad were assessed in relation to the 'gold standard' of civilisation, which was the Imperial Court.

The Assumption of Superiority  

      "In traditional China, the Confucian way of looking at the non-Chinese world nearly always implied China's superiority over all 'barbarians'. China saw herself in the centre and believed in her moral, cultural, and physical strength. This superiority was linked to the well-known concept of tian ming (often translated as 'Mandate of Heaven'). Ideally, the emperor, as the Son of Heaven, disposed of such charismatic powers (de or 'virtue') that would induce all foreigners to submit tribute to China and symbollically recognise the emperor's suzerainty over their countries. Opponents would have to bear China's might (wei or 'authority'), meaning China would threaten them and, in severe cases, punish them militarily. It is to these mechanisms that Wang alludes in his postscript where he says that, by writing down what he saw, he wanted to demonstrate how far the virtue (de) and authority (wei) of the emperor extended. One of the prefaces adds that China was the only civilised state in the world, and the only one endowed with the 'correct breath' (zheng qi). The other preface underlines the idea of China's superiority by pointing out that Java, as the only country to resist the Yuan (dynasty), had to endure a punitive campaign ― the famous attack by Shi Bi and others."

       

[Roderich Ptak, 1995, 'Images of Maritime Asia in Two Yuan Texts: "Daoyi hilue" and "Yiyu zhi"', Journal of Song-Yuan Studies, 25, 47-75.]

 

In the Footsteps of a Failed Expedition

From his journey to the Indonesian Archipelago, Wang notes the economic and political importance of "the kingdom of She-po (Chao-wa or Java)". It is "the foremost of the Barbarians of the Eastern Seas". Throughout his report on Java he makes several comments on an incident of problematic Chinese history, in language careful to avoid any disrespect to the Empire.

      "During the ta-te period (of the Yuan dynasty) I-hei-mi-shih and the Ping-chang (cheng-shi) Shih Pi, and Kao Hsing went together to this island and ordered it to make its submission and send tribute to China. They ordered it to build yamens, enact laws, arrange military post-roads for the transmission of despatches, and put in force the laws concerning saltgabelle and the use of (Chinese) copper cash."

This haughtily expressed imperial intention is somewhat belied by by Wang's later entries on the matter. The expedition, he admits, was not without its difficulties. At Ta-pan, (Turban, NE Java) he observed that "among the people there are many from Kuang-tung and Changchou (in Fukien, China)".

      "Tradition says that when Shih-Pi and Kao-Hsing, generals of the Yuan, attacked She-po, for a month they were unable to make a landing. The troops were worn out and very thirsty. Then the two generals secretly prayed (and then) they set up a spear in the pool, when forthwith a spring (of freshwater) began to flow and the army was saved."

More bad news seeps into the narrative through two very similar entries on islands off the west coast of Borneo. On Kou-lan Shan and Kiao-lan Shan, "the hills are high and the forest growth luxuriant", with "dense forests of trees, creepers and bamboo".

     (1) "When the dynasty (of the Yuan) was first founded, the forces to attack She-po (Java) were driven by the wind to (Kou-lan) island and the junks wrecked. One junk fortunately escaped with stores of nails and mortar. Seeing that there was a great deal of timber on this island, they built some tens of junks here, everything from ribs to sails to bamboo poles were supplied (from the island). Over one hundred men who were ill from the long beating about in the storm and were unable to leave (with the rest of the expedition) were left on the island, and today the Chinese live mixed up with the native families."

       (2) "When during the Yuan dynasty generals Kao Hsing and Shih Pi were leading some tens of thousands of soldiers in a large fleet of ships to the conquest of Java, they met with bad weather on reaching Kiao-lan and many of their ships were damaged. So they landed on this island and built an hundred junks, after which they reduced Java to submission, made captive its ruler, and returned (to China). Down to the present time some Chinese live mixed up with the natives. Over an hundred sick were left here at the time (of the expedition of Kao Hsing) and did not go back to China; these are their present-day descendants."

      

 [WW Rockhill, 1915, 'Notes on the Relations and Trade of China with the Eastern Archipelago and the Coasts of the Indian Ocean during the Fourteenth Century', T'oung Pao,

16.2, Part II, 236-271, 'Java and the Eastern Archipelago'.]

Wang notes that Kiao-lan Shan faced the island of Kia-li-ma-ta, or Karimata. This connection, and therefore parts of Wang's history lesson, has been confirmed by recent archaeology.

The Mongol Fleet to Java in 1293

In 2019, a team of archaeologists from Australia and Indonesia travelled to Serutu Island to investigate some old Chinese-character inscriptions carved into sandstone boulders. Serutu is 5 kilometres SW of Karimata Island near Borneo's west coast. 

On the main stone, seven vertical columns of writing were still partially decipherable. The first six characters read "da yuan guo shi ping zhang" ― "da yuan guo" means 'Great Yuan Nation', the official title of the Mongol dynasty established by Kublai Khan. In this context "shi" probably refers to the family name of Shi Bo, the leading general of the Mongol troops in the invasion fleet.

The stone's central section is weathered beyond recognition, but the final four columns are legible. An English translation reads:

       "Five hundred boats, Zhiyuan year 30, 1st month, 18th day, park here, 10 days have passed, going to conquer the king of Java, writing on this standing rock, to commemorate the glory of the Copper columns."

The adjusted date is 25 February 1293. Three Copper columns were erected on China's southern border by the ancient Han dynasty to mark the defeat of Vietnamese forces. The rest of the text was wishful thinking.

Inscriptions on another two stones some distance away from the first offer limited but supporting evidence from the fleets enforced stay. On one the characters "lin qing" suggest the phrase "near a limpid river". On the other is "shi quan" that describes "water spring out of stones, mountains, or waterfalls". Stopping to replenish freshwater supplies makes sense for a large body of soldiers and sailors aboard ship.

In addition, there is a small carved square (25cm X 25cm) which is intersected from each corner by two diagonal lines. The square outline is orientated towards the northeast, which is the direction the fleet came from, and the route by which hopefully they will return.

In their review of the relevant historical literature, the academics have summarised the logistics of the naval force. In February 1292, three people, Shi Bi (Mongol general), Gao Xing (South Sung general), and Ike Mese (Uygher navigator), were assigned by the Emperor as "managers of governmental affairs at the Fujian Executive Secretariat to conquer Java". 

The Great Khan's original intention was to send an army of 20,000 warriors but when the fleet departed Quanzhou in January 1293, about half of this number may have actually shipped. It was still a powerful military expedition and did not expect much trouble in accomplishing their task of humiliating a rude Javanese monarch. 

The journey to the Karimata islands was fast but rough, taking 25 days. Their return journey from Java to China was considerably slower at 68 days, but by that stage none of the generals were in any hurry to present themselves to their Emperor in Nanking. The campaign had been ruinously expensive and achievements were modest.

Involving themselves in a pre-existing civil war, making an unwise alliance with the king they were sent to punish, splitting up the Chinese armies into more vulnerable units, getting lost, and arguments about strategy between the generals, all contributed to a less than glorious retreat while the winds were still in their favour to sail home. Leaving behind 3,000 Chinese dead was not compensated for by taking a few Javanese prisoners, some loot, and a map and census of the country they had come to teach a lesson.

[Hsiao-chun Hung, Hartatik, Tisna Arif Ma'rifat, Truman Simanjuntak, 2022, 'Mongol fleet on the way to Java: First archaeological remains from Karimata Strait in Indonesia', Archaeological Research in Asia, 29, <doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2021.100327>.]

Experiences of a civilised man

Elements of Tao-yi chih-lio show that Wang was conscious of his status as a cultured man, within Chinese society as well as without. The following extract from his time off Sri Lanka illustrates his sense of wonder at things new and unusual, which any traveller might experience. But Wang expresses this in a special way.

      "The territory of Ta-fo-sha (Great Buddha Mountain) lies between Ya-li and Kao-lang-pu (Columbo in Ceylon). On the 2nd day of the 10th moon, in the winter of the year Keng-wu of the Chih-shun period (12 November 1330 AD), we unbent sails at the foot of the mountain. The moon was shining that night as bright as day, and the sea was smooth and waveless. The water was so clear that one could see to the bottom.

       I got up and walked about, gazing down the while into this submarine world. There I saw a tree-like object swaying gently to and fro. Pointing it out to the sailors, I asked them whether it might not be a piece of pure lang-kan coral. They said no. 'Is it the shadow of a so-lo tree in the moonlight?' Again they said no. 

       So I bade one of the boys dive down and secure it. He did so, and it turned out to be something soft and slimy, which however became as hard as iron when it was pulled out of the water. I took it in my hand and examined it.

       It was barely a foot in height, and the tips of the branches were curled up into knots. On each branch ― wonderful to relate! ― was the bud of a pink flower; some of these had already opened of themselves, and resembled the tree-peony, while others were half open and appear similar to lotus-buds.

       The sailors brought candles and crowded around to look at it; then they all began to dance about in their excitement, laughing and saying: 'This is a ch'iung (?pink coral) in full bloom ― truly a rare product of the sea, of which marvellous accounts have reached China. We have sailed these seas for more than forty years and have never seen a specimen before. And now to think that you, sir, have actually found one! Why, it is something you come across only once in a thousand years.'

       The next day I composed an old-style poem in a hundred stanzas to commemorate the event, and carefully put away my treasure to bring home with me. Mr Yu Chun-an of Yu-chang (the modern Nan-ch'ang in Kiangsi) saw it and wrote a piece of poetry about it. It has been preserved ever since in the Chun-tzu Hall of that city as an object of curiosity for future generations."

       [Professor Giles, 1920, 'Notices of Ceylon in Tao I Chih Lueh by Wang Ta-Yuan (AD 1349)', The Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 28.73, 30-35.]

Degrees of Foreign-ness

Another sign of Wang's sense of belonging to an elite is his confidence in judging people as a mass. He decides whether a population is good or bad on the basis of their conformity to Confucian values. Countries are therefore amenable to China's civilising influence, or unlikely to 'improve'.

In his travels around the Indian subcontinent, for instance, he came across a long-established network of internal comparative trade. Bengal and neighbouring Orissa operated as southern India's rice-bowl, exporting their substantial surplus. They imported in return cowrie-shells and dried fish from the Malabar Coast and Maldive Islands.

Wang was impressed by the hard-working character of north-eastern Indians. He praised the productivity of the land (irrigated) and attributed the abundance of harvested grain to the region's industrious farmers. Of Pen-ka-la (Bengal) he writes:

       

       "The people live scattered about, occupied the whole year ploughing and sowing, so there is no waste land; the fields are most luxuriant, there are three crops a year, and the prices of things are fair and moderate...

        These people owe all their tranquillity and prosperity to themselves, for its source lies in their devotion to agriculture, whereby a land originally covered with jungle has been reclaimed by their unremitting toil in tilling and planting. The seasons of Heaven have scattered the wealth of the Earth over this kingdom; the riches and integrity of the people surpass, perhaps, those of Ch'iu-chiang  and equal those of Chao-wa."

A docile and diligent peasantry agrees with Confucianism, which idealises a traditional past of social harmony where everyone knows their right place under Heaven. Wang's tone becomes less charitable further south.

At Ko-lan (Quilon) and Ku-li (Calicut) on the Malabar Coast he is critical of their rice-deficit.

Ko-lan has "black loam naturally suitable for raising grain" but "its natives are lazy about cultivation and count every year on the rice from Wu-tieh (Orissa) for their food". Ku-li might be "the most important of all the maritime centres of trade" and "the principal port of the Western Ocean", but "each year they depend on the shipping from Wu-tieh for a sufficiency of grain".

Wand implies that reliance on imported rice is a moral failing. Self-sufficiency in food staples is at the core of Confucian thought. Without every family producing what they need to survive, political unrest and social disorder must surely ensue. That Quilon and Calicut appeared to thrive in other areas such as pepper production and mercantile exchange was not the point. Bengal and Orissa met the philosophical criteria.

The other end of the longstanding northeast to southwest trade cycle is explained in Wang's notes on the Maldive Islands. From Pei Lui "every sea-trader takes one shipload of cowries to Wu-tieh (Orissa) or Pen-ka-la (Bengal), where he is sure to exchange it for a shipload of rice and more, for these people use cowries as money, and a very ancient style of currency it is." On Lui-shan Tieh-kan (Islands of the Shallow Sea) "they slice shark's flesh to sell to the neighbouring countries; it is called liu-yu (Maldive fish)". At Lui-shan Yang-kuo "they cut into pieces a big fish, dry it in the sun, and use it as food in place of grain".

Wang has a generally low opinion of fishermen, possibly because of their reputation for seasonal piracy. On the southern tip of the Malabar (and at other places along its coastline) he notes the existence of "the lowest people called Mu-kua (or Mukavar)", who "occupy themselves with fishing and gathering firewood". They "live on the sea-shore in huts scarcely three feet high" and "their upper garment does not reach lower than the knee."

Although Wang does not go into further detail here, the Mukkavars (low caste Hindus) of southern India were known as "expert seamen" and "shameless thieves". They were engaged in a 'time-honoured trade' of fishermen for part of the year and pirates for the rest. To mariners and merchants though, they were the scourge of the sea.

      [WW Rockhill, 1915, 'Notes on the Relations and Trade of China with the Eastern Archipelago and the Coasts of the Indian Ocean during the Fourteenth Century', T'oung Pao, Part IV, 16.4, 435-467, 'Coasts of India'.]