History · Chinese · a primary source for the world of 1200

History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga

The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Juan 488 gives Jiaozhi (Dai Viet): the investiture of the Ly kings as kings of Annan, the embassies and tribute of the 1190s and 1200s under Ly Cao Tong, and the frontier; and Dali, whose entry stops in 1175 and so says nothing of 1200. Juan 489 gives Champa (Zhancheng), Zhenla (the Khmer), Pagan (Pugan), Srivijaya (Sanfoqi), Java (Shepo), Brunei (Boni), the Chola kingdom (Zhunian) and Tambralinga (Danmeiliu), mostly as lists of embassies with the products they brought and notes on their kings and customs. For 1200 the entries are sparse but they fix which states the Song recognised and when they last sent envoys. The compilers worked from documents and did not know the region.

About this source

Title
Song shi, juan 488 and 489: Waiguo (foreign countries)
Author
Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records
Written
1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries
Language
Chinese
Covers
960 to 1279
Kind
History

The Song huiyao jigao (the surviving Song administrative compendium) has fuller embassy records, including the Butuan missions of 1001 to 1011, and is not translated. The South China agent lists the Song shi for the Song state itself.

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Editions

Translations

  • No complete English translation; the Southeast Asian entries are translated piecemeal in Hirth and Rockhill's Chau Ju-kua (1911) and in modern studies (not freely online)

About the source

Realms this source covers in 1200