Department of History, National University of Singapore

Dissolving Hegemony or Changing Trade Pattern? Images of Srivijaya in the Chinese

Sources of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
Author(s): So Kee-Long
Source: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Sep., 1998), pp. 295-308
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Department of History, National
University of Singapore
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20072047
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 Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 29, 2 (September 1998): 295-308
? 1998 by National University of Singapore

Dissolving Hegemony or Changing Trade Pattern?

Images of Srivijaya in the Chinese Sources of the Twelfth
and Thirteenth Centuries

SO KEE-LONG
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Introduction

The history of Srivijaya has been one of the most controversial subjects in premodern
Southeast Asian history. Among the crucial issues in relation to this subject are the
timing and cause of its decline and, in particular, to what extent changes in trade patterns
contributed to such a development. Recent scholarship, largely derived from new interpre
tations of the epigraphical and archaeological findings in Southeast Asia, has contributed
much to advance our understanding of this ancient empire. Yet, information available in
those sources is still far from adequate to make a conclusive historical judgment. It is
thus imperative to re-examine Chinese accounts of Srivijaya in the light of this new
scholarship.
This paper begins with a brief summary of recent discussions on the decline of Srivijaya
in the eleventh century based on local epigraphical evidence, mainly drawn from work
by O.W. Wolters and Kenneth Hall. This will be followed by a detailed examination of
Chinese materials relevant to the issue. The conclusion will offer some suggestions of
how to comprehend discrepancies among these sources.

The Srivijayan Hegemony and Its Decline in Southeast Asian Historiography

Scholars have established that Srivijaya should be identified with a prosperous Southeast
Asian empire known as Shi-li-fo-shi in Tang sources, San-fo-qi in Song sources, and
Zab?j or Sribuza in medieval Arabic records. It is believed to have been the dominant
maritime power in insular Southeast Asia mentioned in a number of local inscriptions
which are dated from the seventh to the twelfth centuries.1 By the seventh century, it
became a thalassocracy in the Straits of Malacca and Sunda, claiming suzerainty over
many local Malay polities in both Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. Strategically situated,
it dominated the sea route between China and the Indian Ocean, and hence the lucrative

George Coed?s, Sriwijaya: History, Religion and Language of an Early Malay Polity (Kuala
Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1992); Paul Wheatley, The Golden
Khersonese: Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before A.D. 1500 (Kuala
Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1961); O.W. Wolters, "Studying Srivijaya", Journal of the
Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 52,2 (1979): 1-32; G.R. Tibbetts, A Study of the
Arabic Texts Containing Material on Southeast Asia (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979). For a new reading
of the local inscriptions, see Hermann Kulke, "'Kadatuan Srivijaya' ? Empire or Kraton of Srivijaya?
A Reassessment of the Epigraphical Evidence", Bulletin de l'Ecole fran?aise d'Extr?me-Orient
80,1 (1993): 161-80. For a discussion of the diverse usage and derivations of these Chinese and
Arabic terminology, see Tibbetts, Arabic Texts, pp. 100-118.

295

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 296 So Kee-long

international Nanhai trade.2 Its capital was first located at Palembang, but might have
moved elsewhere after the eleventh century.3
In terms of hegemony, the Srivijaya empire, or bhumi in Sanskrit, consisted of its
ruling house or Maharaja residing in the kraton (palace) of Srivijaya (Palembang) and a
number of vassals. These vassals can be further divided into two groups: those ruled by
datus located along the upstream and downstream Musi River hinterland, and the peripheral
ones at other river-mouth ports in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.4 The Maharaja ruled
the former group through a combination of spiritual and material bondage built upon
allegiance to the king affirmed by religious oath-taking, and the redistribution of wealth
and commodities derived from an international trade that was dominated by royalty. In
return, these vassals supported the Srivijayan kraton with exportable forest products,
provision of food, and extra manpower for military purposes in times of crisis or conquest.5
Force may have been a deterrent factor but was not frequently employed. On the contrary,
the tributary submission by the peripheral vassals would rely more effectively on military
strength, though control through cultural dominance and material benefit must also have
been present.6 Srivijayan naval supremacy is believed to have been established with
support not only from the manpower obtained from the Musi River valley, but also from
the sea nomads, or orang laut, living on the coast and the offshore islands of southeastern
Sumatra. And in order to keep their service and to prevent them from reverting to piracy,
it was necessary for the Srivijayan king to monopolize the profits from international trade
in insular Southeast Asia so that sufficient wealth could be generated to sustain this
system.7
The trade pattern, which played a decisive role in the Srivijayan hegemony, consisted
of three layers: the principal entrep?t of Srivijaya (Palembang); sub-regional entrep?ts;
and other lesser ports serving as feeder points.8 The regional entrep?ts included the Kra
ports of Takuapa (probably early Kalah in Arabic sources), Chaiya (Pan Pan), Kedah
(probably the earlier Jie-cha in Chinese records and the later Kalah in Arabic) on the
western coast of the Peninsula; and the Sumatran ports of Jambi-Malayu, Lampung, Kota
Cina, the Sungai Emas area in the Muda River Valley, Kampar, Barus and Lamuri. They
were likely to have remained independently governed and to have continued taking part
in international trade. Under Srivijayan hegemony, they had to pay regular tribute to the

2Coed?s, Sriwijaya; Wolters, "Studying Srivijaya"; Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Bin Nik Abd. Rahman,
"The Kingdom of Srivijaya as Socio-political and Cultural Entity", in The Southeast Asian Port
and Polity, ed. J. Kathirithamby-Wells and J. Villiers (Singapore: Singapore University Press,
1990), pp. 61-82; Nicholas Tarling, ed., Cambridge History of Southeast Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992), vol. 1. On the importance of foreign trade in the rise of Srivijaya, see O.W.
Wolters, Early Indonesian Commerce: A Study of the Origins of Srivijaya (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 1967).
3O.W. Wolters, "A Note on the Capital of Srivijaya during the eleventh century", Artibus Asiae,
supp. 23,1 (1969): 225-39; Pierre-Yves Manguin, "Palembang and Sriwijaya: An Early Malay
Harbour-city Reconsidered", Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 66,1
(1993): 23-46.
4Tarling, Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, 1, p. 200.
5Ibid., p. 201.
6Ibid., 1, pp. 201-202.
7Ibid., p. 202; Shuhaimi, "Kingdom of Srivijaya", pp. 65-66.
8Shuhaimi, "Kingdom of Srivijaya", pp. 67-73.

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Srivijaya in Chinese Sources 297

king and to refrain from making any challenge to the concentration of international
trading activities in Palembang.
In short, the Srivijayan bhumi relied heavily on a domination of international trade that
resulted from its control of the peripheral vassals; these in turn were subjugated by a
Srivijayan navy that was maintained by the wealth derived from the international trade
itself. In the light of such understanding, we can see that the Srivijayan order was highly
interdependent, depending on the king's control over peripheral vassals, a strong navy,
and a monopoly of international trade. Weakening any one of these three variables was
likely to lead to a rapid decline of the rest and ultimately the dissolution of the entire
bhumi.
The above outline sketches Srivijayan hegemony during the first millennium. It
constitutes a basis for understanding the Srivijayan empire in the eleventh and the twelfth
centuries when, according to an emerging view among scholars in the field, it entered a
period of decline. The cause of the decline remains unclear. Did Srivijaya cease to
dominate the Nanhai trade from the eleventh to the twelfth century? Did it lose control
of the peripheral vassals, in particular those in the Malay Peninsula? Or did it lose its
leading edge in naval power?
Based mainly upon epigraphical evidence, some Southeast Asian historians, like O.W.
Wolters and Kenneth Hall, have postulated that the Srivijayan empire began to shrink
as early as the eleventh century.9 According to this interpretation, Srivijaya was dealt
a devastating blow during the 1025 raid by the Chola king Rajendra from Coromandel
coast in Southeastern India. According to the Tanjavur inscription, nearly all of the
important kratons, including Palembang itself, were sacked.10 Thereafter, the peripheral
vassals in northern Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula became more actively engaged in
international trade against their overlord's interest. For example, Kedah, Barus and Lamuri
handled international trade independently by the end of the eleventh century.11 The
situation in the Kra Isthmus became acute with Khmer and Burmese expansion into this
region, resulting in much closer commercial and cultural ties with the Mainland empires
of Angkor, Pagan and the emerging Thai power.12 On the eastern front, Srivijaya was
from the early eleventh century losing ground to its eastern Javanese rival, the kingdom
of She-po based in Kahuripari under the rule of king Airlangga, a change which involved
not only political control over central Java but also the domination of the increasingly
lucrative spice trade originating in the Moluccas.13 Although Srivijaya remained a
powerful centre in insular Southeast Asia through the eleventh century, its hegemony

9Tarling, Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, 1, pp. 207-208.

10For the content of this important inscription, see Nilakanta Sastri, History of Sri Vijaya (Madras:
University of Madras, 1949), pp. 79-85.
11 Kenneth Hall, Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia (Honolulu:
Hawaii University Press, 1985), pp. 195-99.
12Kenneth Hall and John Whitmore, "Southeast Asian Trade and the Isthmian Struggle, 1000
1200 A.D.", in K. Hall and J. Whitmore, eds., Explorations in Early Southeast Asian History: The
Origins of Southeast Asian Statecraft (Ann Arbor: Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia,
no. 11, University of Michigan, 1976), pp. 306-313; Hall, Maritime Trade, pp. 197-202.
13Tarling, Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, 1, pp. 207-215. For a recent study of the clove
trade in Java, see Roderich Ptak, "China and the Trade in Cloves, circa 960-1435", Journal of the
American Oriental Society 113,1 (1993): 1-13.

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 298 So Kee-long

was beginning to decay, a process which may well have reached its culmination in the
twelfth century.14
Against these regional political developments, Chinese merchants emerged as major
players in international trade,15 a change associated with rising demand for indigenous
Southeast Asian produce as well as massive Chinese trade in export ceramics of medium
to low quality with Southeast Asia, a significant portion of which were mass-produced
in Southern Fujian from the mid-twelfth century.16 Chinese merchants preferred a diffused
pattern of trade which gave them direct access to forest products and allowed them to
market ceramics directly in various localities in Southeast Asia instead of shipping them
first to Srivijaya for redistribution. This new pattern of trade was no longer conducive to
a regionally dominant entrep?t such as Srivijaya-Palembang, and accelerated the dissolution
of Srivijayan hegemony over insular Southeast Asia.17
The above view of a Srivijayan decay in the eleventh and the twelfth centuries seems
plausible in general, but certain questions remain to be explained. For instance, while it
may have been true that Srivijaya could no longer dominate international trade, the state
still maintained an extremely lavish kraton that continued to impress foreign merchants
as the Land of Gold.18 Also, while Srivijaya may have been losing control over its
peripheral vassals, it seems to have been able to maintain a superior navy, the major
factor for the submission of these vassals in earlier centuries. How could it afford to
maintain this mercenary navy and an extravagant kraton without domination of the Nanhai
trade? Answers to these questions cannot be found in epigraphical evidence or Arabic
materials, and must be sought in contemporary Chinese sources.

Chinese Images of Srivijaya in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Two types of Chinese records are available on Srivijaya. The first deals with the
tributary missions despatched to the Song courts. Wolters studied the standard Song
sources and observed that the frequency pattern of such missions may well have been

14Hall, Maritime Trade, pp. 209-214; Shuhaimi, "Kingdom of Srivijaya", pp. 78-79.
15 Wolters, The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History (London: Lund Humpries, 1970), p. 42; Hall,
Maritime Trade, pp. 193-97. Wolters recently revised his view that Chinese had begun to frequent
Southeast Asia 200 years before 1100. See O.W. Wolters, "Restudying Some Chinese Writings on
Sriwijaya", Indonesia 42 (1986): 35-37. While there is no doubt that Chinese merchants, especially
from Fujian, did venture to Southeast Asia from the middle of the tenth century, I still hold that
such undertakings did not develop into an established practice until around or shortly after the
middle of the eleventh century. Detailed discussion will be provided in So Kee-long, Prosperity,
Institutions, and Rationality in Maritime China: The Regional Pattern of South Fukien, 946-1368,
ch. 2, forthcoming.
16There is an extensive literature on the Chinese export ceramics in Southeast Asia during this
period. For instance, see Aurora Roxas-Lim, The Evidence of Ceramics as an Aid in Understanding
the Pattern of Trade in the Philippines and Southeast Asia (Bangkok: Institute of Asian Studies,
Chulalongkorn University, 1987), pp. 6-10. For the uses of Chinese ceramics in different localities
in Southeast Asia, see Sumaran Adhytman, Antique Ceramics Found in Indonesia, Various Uses
and Origins (Jakarta: Ceramic Society of Indonesia, 1990), pp. 18-22, 34-48. For a general
account of the export ceramics industry in southern Fujian, see So Kee-long, "The Trade Ceramics
Industry in South Fukien during the Sung", Journal of Sung & Yuan Studies 24 (1994): 1-19.
17Hall, Maritime Trade, pp. 209-214.
18Tibbetts, Arabic Texts, pp. 43-54, 100-128. See in particular those passages on Srivijaya by
'Aja'ib al-Hind (c.1000), Mukhtasar al-'Aja'ib (c.1000), Biruni (973-1048), Marwazi (c.1120),
Idrisi (d.1165), Ibn Sa'id (d.1274).

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Srivijaya in Chinese Sources 299

related to crises in Srivijaya, either domestic or international, and to the pursuit of

commercial profit or of symbolic status by its rulers.19 While this information about the
empire's relationship with Song China is important,20 it does not have much bearing on
the issue at hand. Biji jottings done by individual Song writers are more relevant here
and provide data pertaining to Srivijayan hegemony from the eleventh to the thirteenth
century.
Wolters was a pioneer in studying this material.21 He identified two important jottings
on Srivijaya and noted others in passing. There are "three accounts of San-fo-ch'i so far
known in Sung pi-chi literature", according to Wolters,22 and he gave full translations of
two accounts, taken respectively from the Canton Stories (Pingzhou ketan), a book by
Zhu Yu which was prefaced 1118-19 but recorded situations in c.1100, and the
Ethnographic Survey of the Lingwai Region (Lingwai daida) written by Zhou Qufei
around 1178. In order to understand how these materials bear on the issue of Srivijayan
decline in the eleventh century, we have to re-examine the full texts first. As Wolters has
already translated them into English, I simply quote the relevant parts except where I feel
it is necessary to give my own translation; these passages appear in italics. From the
Canton Stories comes the "earliest" account:

Every country in the southern ocean has its chief. San-fo-ch 'i was named the greatest
country. It possesses its own writing system and its people are well-versed with
calculation. Some merchants say that they can even predict the eclipses of the sun and
moon. But their writing system is unknown to the Chinese. The land has a great deal
of sandalwood and frankincense that are to be traded to China. San-fo-ch'i ships send
the frankincense to China, and the Chinese Maritime Trade Office at the port of call
would handle such goods as a government monopoly and purchase the entire shipment
after receiving a proportion of it as customs duty. In recent years San-fo-ch'i has
established [its own] monopoly in sandalwood. The ruler orders merchants to sell it
to him. The market value of the product [therefore] increases several times. The
subjects of that country do not dare to sell it privately. This is an effective way of
governance. The country is exactly [at the center of] the southern ocean. The Ta-shih
[Arab] countries are far away to its west. Chinese going to Ta-shih reach San-fo-ch'i,
repair their ships, and exchange goods. Merchants from distant places congregate
there. This country is therefore considered to be the most prosperous one.13

19Wolters, "Capital of Srivijaya", pp. 235-36.

20Lin Tianwei has compiled a comprehensive, though not necessarily complete, list of tributary
missions from Srivijaya to the Song court. See Lin Tianwei, Songdai xiangyao maoyi shigao
(Hongkong: Zhongguo xueshe, 1960), pp. 174-212. Lin's list is more comprehensive than Wolters'
but I still failed to find much information relevant to the internal situation of Srivijayan politics.
Such a relationship can always be expected in foreign policy theoretically. To clearly establish a
correlation in a constant pattern, e.g., more frequent missions reflect crisis, would be more difficult.
21 O.W. Wolters, "A Few and Miscellaneous pi-chi Jottings on Early Indonesia", Indonesia 36
(1983): 49-65. Earlier attempts in this regard may be traced back to W.P. Groeneveldt's Historical
Notes on Indonesia and Malaya Compiled from Chinese Sources (originally published in the
Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van K?nsten en Wetenschappen 39, in 1880;
reprinted in Jakarta by C.V. Bhratara, 1960). These are, however, no longer of much use.
22Wolters, "pi-chi Jottings", p. 56.
23Ibid., p. 55. Words and phrases in brackets are from H. Hirth and W.W. Rockhill, Chau Ju
kua: His Work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the twelfth and thirteenth Centuries, entitled Chu
fan-chih (St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1911), p. 64, n.7. Passages in italic are my
own translations. For the original text, see Zhu Yu, Pingzhou ketan (SKQS ed.), 2: 5a/b.

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 300 So Kee-long

The second account of Srivijaya in the Lingwai Region reads:

San-fo-ch'i is on an important thoroughfare in the southern ocean for all foreigners
using the maritime route. To the east are Java and other countries. To the west are the
Ta-shih [countries], Quilon, and other countries. Traders from all these countries must
pass through this area to reach China. The country [of San-fo-ch'i] has no products,
but its people are skillful in warfare and attack. They digest medicine in their bodies,
and weapons cannot wound them. They attack on land and sea and are foremost in
both [forms of warfare]. All the neighboring countries therefore submit [to San-fo-ch'i].
If foreign ships traveling through this region do not enter the country, [San-fo-ch 'i]
is bound to send out an expedition to destroy them. The country is therefore rich in
rhinoceros [horn], ivory, jewels, and aromatics. The custom in this country is to fasten
floating rafts in the water and live on them. Among its dependencies is Fo-lo-an, whose
chief is chosen and appointed by San-fo-ch 'i. Fo-lo-an produces incense much more
powerful than any incense from the Lower Coast countries. It is excellent. There is
a sacred Buddha image [in San-fo-ch'i], and the ruler visits it every year and burns
incense.24

These passages show a change in Sumatran politics over a period of 75 years, and support
Wolters' notion of a Srivijayan decay during the eleventh and the twelfth centuries partly
as a result of the expansion of Chinese merchants into the Nanhai trade. He accepts the
passages as reliable records of their respective times, that is, the 1100s and the 1170s. He
notes that Zhu Yu "describes Jambi as a thriving and peaceful trading center", "a great
country" which "prospered on account of its geographical position and entrep?t function"
and attracted "merchants from distant lands". It sent "western Asian frankincense" as a
tributary item and was able to introduce a "monopoly in sandalwood" from Java and the
Spice Islands. The picture offered by Zhou Qufei is far more gloomy. The empire by the
1170s "had no products of its own and relied on force to compel foreign ships to visit
it". From these foreign ships, Wolters excluded the Chinese ones, for he thinks that these
newcomer merchants from China were not likely to comply with the monopoly imposed
by Srivijaya. The empire's wealth could, therefore, only justify placing it third among the
foreign countries, behind Tashi and Java.25
To what extent do other sources support Wolters' notion? We should first consult the
third Song account of Srivijaya mentioned by Wolters. It appeared in the famous Treatise
on Foreign Lands (Zhufanzhi) written by Zhao Rugua in c.1225, about 50 years after
Zhou's 1178 account. By this time we should expect to see further deterioration of the
Srivijayan hegemony, but this is not the case. The following passages translated by Hirth
and Rockhill deal with the issue of Srivijayan hegemony and are grouped not in accordance
to the sequence in the original text, but in a way that is more convenient for discussion.
The account starts by explaining:
San-fo-ts'i lies between Chon-la and Sh?-p'o. Its rule extends over 15 chou (provinces
or towns).
In the winter, with the monsoon, you sail a little more than a month and then come
to Ling-ya-mon, where one-third of the passing merchants (put in) before entering this
country (of San-fo-ts'i).
A large portion of the people of this country are surnamed "P'u".

24This is Wolters' translation. See his "pi-chi Jottings", p. 56. Zhou Qufei, Lingwai daida
(SKQS ed.) 2: 13a/b.
25Wolters, "pi-chi Jottings", pp. 56-57.

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Srivijaya in Chinese Sources 301

On the material wealth of the Srivijayan kings:

The wall of the (capital) city is built of bricks, and measures several tens of // round.
When the king goes out he sits in a boat; his body has a man-pu wrapped around
it. He is sheltered by a silk umbrella and guarded by men bearing golden lances.
The people either live scattered about outside the city, or on the water on rafts of
boards covered over with reeds, and these are exempt from taxation.
There is (in San-fo-ts'i) a (kind of) Buddha (i.e., image) called "Hill of Gold and
Silver" and it is cast in gold. Each succeeding king before ascending the throne has
cast a golden image to represent his person, and they are most popular to make
offerings of golden vessels to these images, and the golden images and golden vessels
all bear inscriptions to caution future generations not to melt them down.
When any one in this country is dangerously ill he distributes his weight in silver
among the poor of the land, and this is held to be a means of delaying death.
(The king) has a high cap (or hat) of gold, set with hundreds of jewels and very
heavy. At great court ceremonies no one but the king is able to wear it; all other
people are unable. When the throne becomes vacant all the king's sons are assembled,
the cap is handed them and he who is able (to bear its weight) succeeds to the throne.

On the commercial practices of the country:

They have no stringed copper cash, but use chopped off lumps of silver in their
business transactions.
Exclusive of the native products, which include tortoise-shell, camphor, the chon,
su, and chan (varieties of gharu-wood), a coarse shou (variety of gharu-wood), laka
wood, cloves, sandal-wood and cardamoms, there are also pearls, frankincense, rose
water, gardenia flowers, wu-na-ts'i (?), myrrh, aloes, asa-foetida, putchuk, liquid storax,
elephants' tusks, coral-trees, cat-eyes, amber, foreign cotton stuffs and sword blades.
All these (latter) are products of the Arab (Ta-shi) foreigners.
The foreign traders who gather together in this country give in exchange gold,
silver, porcelain-ware, silk brocades, skeins of silk, silk gauzes, sugar, iron, samshu,
rice, dried galangal, rhubarb and camphor.

And on Srivijaya's military strength and its effect on maritime trade:

They are skilled at fighting on land or water. When they are about to make war on
another state they assemble and send forth such a force as the occasion demands. They
(then) appoint chiefs and leaders, and all provide their own military equipment and
the necessary provisions. In facing the enemy and braving death they have not their
equal among other nations.
This country, lying in the ocean and controlling the straits through which the
foreigners' sea and land traffic in either direction must pass, in olden times used an
iron chain as a barrier to keep the pirates of other countries in check. It could be kept
up or lowered by a cunning device. If a merchant ship arrived it was lowered. After
a number of years of peace, during which there has been no use for it, it has been
removed and (now) lies coiled up on the shore. The natives reverence it like a Buddha,
and vessels coming there sacrifice to it. When rubbed with oil it shines like new.
Crocodiles do not dare pass over it to do mischief.
If a merchant ship passes by without entering, their boats go forth to make a
combined attack, and all are ready to die (in the attempt). This is the reason why this
country is a great shipping center.26

26Hirth and Rockhill, Chau Ju-kua, pp. 60-62.

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302 So Kee-long

Finally, Zhao's account gives a picture of the bhumi of Srivijaya in the form of a list of
its dependencies which are tabulated with suggested identifications below:27

Names of Country Hirth & Rockhill Feng Zhengjun

P?ng-f?ng Pahang (E. Malay Peninsula) do
T?ng-ya-n?ng Trengganu (W. Malay Pen.) do
Ling-ya-ssi-kia Kedah (N. Malay Pen.) Langkasuka
Ki-lan-tan Kalentan (W. Malay Pen.) do
Fo-lo-an Beranang (NW. Malay Pen.) do
Ji-lo-t'ing ? In central Malay Pen.
Ts'ien-mai ? Zhenla
Pa-t'a Batta? (Sumatra) Batak tribe (Sumatra)
Tan-ma-ling Near Kwantan? (Malay Pen.) Tambralinga, near Ligor
Kia-lo-hi Ligor? (Malay Pen.) Krabi, near Chaiya
Pa-lin-f?ng Palembang (Sumatra) do
Sin-t'o W. Java near the Sunda Straits Sunda
Kien-pi Kampar (E. Sumatra) do
Lan-wu-li Lambri (NW. Sumatra) do
Si-lan Ceylon do

Apart from the three sources mentioned by Wolters, there is a f

Srivijaya in a book entitled The Extended Encyclopedia (Shilin guan
Chen Yuanjing around the mid-thirteenth century.28 Although the earlie
of this encyclopedia were all printed in Yuan times and contain inform
that period, the section of "Notes on Island Barbarians" (daoizhi) wh
passage appears. Its date is indicated by the words "guochao Qingyuan er
"the second year of the Qingyuan reign of this dynasty", referring to
dynasty and the year 1196). I therefore take the entire section as an or
the mid-thirteenth century, when Chen first compiled this book. In this
a few sentences resembling passages in Zhao's account but the rest
remark under the heading of this section noted that its content agreed w
in the Maritime Affairs Office in Guangzhou. So there is reason to
represented the late Southern Song knowledge of Southeast Asia. On Sri
To visit Srivijaya, one can set sail from Guangzhou to the direction of th
winter. Carried by the north wind, [a ship] can arrive at Lingyamen in 1
stay there for another five days before entering Srivijaya. The country has
built of timber. There is no particular produce locally. All natives have t
"Pu". They are very skilled in warfare on land and in the seas. Before conf
enemy, soldiers will take a drug which protects them from being hurt.

27Ibid., p. 62. See also Zhao Rugua, Zhufanzhi jiaozhu, ann. by Feng Zhengju
yinshuguan, 1970), pp. 15-17.
28Chen Yuanjing, Shilin guangji (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1990), 8:48a. For
the author and the date of publication of the book, see the foreword written by
1963 Zhonghua shuju edition. Morita Kenji gives a detailed examination of th
and Japanese editions of this work in his "Jirin k?ki no shohanbon ni tsuite", in
ed. S?shi kenky? kai (Tokyo: Ky?ko shoin, 1993), pp. 287-316.

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Srivijaya in Chinese Sources 303

overpower other countries. [As a tradition,] every king will make a gold figure resem
bling himself after enthronement and keep it in a special room. Together will be a lot
of gold vessels for ceremonies serving the gold image, which are strictly observed.
Each gold vessel is inscribed with warnings to the descendants that from generation
to generation it is strictly prohibited to melt down these vessels. Recently, one king
found there were simply too many gold [vessels]. They could not be melted down due
to the death penalty which would be incurred. Nor could the room be opened [in the
near future] if gold vessels inside continued to pile up. All he could do at the end was
to ship all these gold vessels to the sea and sink them....

The similarities between this account and that of the Foreign Lands is intriguing. Yet
there are apparent variations unmistakably indicating their different sources of information.
Furthermore, we have an account of Srivijayan trade in frankincense from the Treatise
on Southeast Asian aromatics (Nanfan xianglu) written by the Quanzhou prefect Ye
Tinggui around 1151, which is also revealing. It states:
(Frankincense) is shipped to Srivijaya by the Arabs in exchange for other goods.
Therefore, there is a high concentration of frankincense as a commodity in Srivijaya.
Each year, Srivijaya despatches large vessels [shipping frankincense] to Guangzhou
and Quanzhou. The officials serving at the offices of maritime affairs in these two
ports will have their promotion prospects determined by the amount of frankincense
[arriving at their jurisdictions]. There are thirteen grades of frankincense....29

This description equating the importance of Quanzhou and Guangzhou in the frankincense
trade indicates strongly that it was depicting a current situation in the twelfth century.
This Srivijayan trade pattern is further substantiated by an account of foreign countries
having trade relations with Quanzhou, written in 1206 by Zhao Yanwei based on the
archives of the Quanzhou Maritime Affairs Office. The text states:

Foreign countries whose ships frequent the office of maritime affairs in Quanzhou
are as follows: Tashi (the Arab countries), Jialing, Mala, Xintiao (Sunda?), Ganpei
(kampar?), and Srivijaya ship here the goods of pearl, ivory, rhinoceros horn, camphor,
frankincense, gharuwood, jianxiang, coral, opaque glass, carnelian, tortoise-shell,
tortoise-tube, gardenia flower, rose-water, water ambergris, and so on. Those trading
in Jinyanxiang (benzoin) include Zhenla which is also called Zhenlifu, Sanbo, Yuanyang,
Dengliumei, Xipeng, Luohu (Lopburi?), Pagan. The one trading in camphor is Brunei.
Java has plenty of medicines. Those trading with jiajian (?) include Champa, Muli,
Mulijian, Bindanong, Huma, Badong, Xinzhouguo (Kelantan?). Those trading in putchuk
are Foluoan (Beranang), Pengfeng (Pahang), Daluodi, Damoguo (Tambralinga?).
Countries producing cotton cloth and cotton textiles are Bosilan, Mayi (Mait?), Sanyu,
Pulihuan (Polillo?), Baipuerguo(Papua?). The country of Koryo produces ginseng,
silver, copper, mercury, silk textiles, and so on. Basically most of these countries
produce aromatics. Ships from the above countries usually return home by the south
wind, except Koryo, whose ships have to take the north wind instead.... The countries
described above are seldom mentioned in history books. Information on them is only
collected in the office of maritime affairs.30

29Ye Tinggui, Nanfan xianglu, quoted in Chen Jing, Xinzuan xiangpu (Shiyuan congshu ed.), 1 :
9b. See also Wolters, Early Indonesian Commerce, p. 107. For Ye's compilation of this treatise, see
Wada Hisanori, "Nanban k?roku to shohanshi to no kankei", Ocha no mizu joshidaigaku jinbun
kagaku kiy? 15 (1962): 133-51.
30Zhao Yanwei, Yunlu manchao (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1996), 5, p. 88.

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 304 So Kee-long

This account placed Srivijaya under the category of Arab countries which shared similar
commodities like frankincense, as distinguished from other major Southeast Asian polities
like Java, Champa and Zhenla.
Chinese images of Srivijaya in the twelfth century do not present it as a centre of trade
in Southeast Asian local produce. According to Wolters, pine resin, benzoin, and camphor
constituted the three major export items from Srivijaya to China.31 It is true that under
the chapter on Srivijaya in the Foreign Lands the native goods of that country included
such aromatics as camphor, gharuwood, lakawood, cloves, and sandalwood. But in the
sections on individual aromatics in the same source, only two varieties are said to have
originated from Srivijaya ? lakawood and benzoin. The rest are likely to have been
available in Srivijaya after being shipped there from elsewhere, such as cloves from the
Moluccas. Lakawood was inexpensive,32 while benzoin does not seem to have been a
major commodity compared to other Arabian goods, as seen in the above citations such
as that of Zhao Yanwei. Although Ye Tinggui noted in Southeast Asian Aromatics that
benzoin came from Srivijaya, he might have meant that it was shipped there from other
parts of Southeast Asia. Ye, for instance, made it clear that the three major countries
producing gharuwood were, in order of excellence, Zhenla, Champa, and Brunei, and he
left out Srivijaya altogether,33 although gharuwood was said by Zhao Rugua to have been
available in Srivijaya, as mentioned above. As for camphor, the Foreign Lands explicitly
remarked that it was not produced in Srivijaya but shipped there for transshipment to
China.34 Ye stated that camphor mainly came from Brunei, but was "also available in
Srivijaya". In any event, it is apparent that the Chinese writers did not see Srivijaya as
a prime centre of the camphor trade.35
Regardless of what the Chinese said about Srivijaya in the twelfth century, if these
accounts were merely hearsay obtained from Chinese or foreign merchants who happened
to have visited the maritime empire and therefore had obtained some knowledge of it, we
should of course have reservations about their reliability. Yet, there is evidence that these
Chinese materials include first-hand information provided by members of a Srivijayan
community residing in Quanzhou in the middle of the twelfth century.
In 1935 Kuwabara Jitsuzo cited a passage from the Foreign Lands when discussing
the issue of foreign settlements in Quanzhou; on the basis of that passage he inferred that
an Arab merchant of Siraf origin living in the southern suburb of Quanzhou city had built
a public cemetery to bury foreign travelers who died there.36 I have questioned the
appropriateness of relying on this citation,37 in view of the fact that the original text from

31Wolters, Early Indonesian Commerce, pp. 95-127.

32Paul Wheatley, "Geographical Notes on Some Commodities involved in Sung Maritime Trade",
Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 32,2 (1959): 119.
33Ye Tinggui, Nanfan xianglu, quoted in Chen Jing, Xinzuan xiangpu, 1: 4b.
34Hirth and Rockhill, Chao Ju-kua, pp. 61, 193-97, 201, and 211.
35Ye Tinggui, Nanfan xianglu, quoted in Chen Jing, Xinzuan xiangpu, 1: 3b. For a general
account of camphor being imported into China, see Han Wai Toon, "Notes on Bornean Camphor
Imported into China", trans. So Kee-long, Brunei Museum Journal 6,1 (1985): 1-31.
36Kuwabara Jitsuz?, Hojuk? nojiseki (Tokyo: Kazama Shob?, 1935), pp. 52-53. For the original
text, see Zhufan zhi jiaozhu, p. 49.
37So Kee-long, "Economic Developments of South Fukien, 964-1276" (Ph.D. dissertation,
Australian National University, 1982), pp. 133-34.

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Srivijaya in Chinese Sources 305

which the author of the Foreign Lands derived his account is available for consultation.
Zhao Rugua stated that his account was based on "the true facts documented by Lin
Zhiqi". This comment refers to an essay commemorating the establishment of a cemetery
for foreigners who died in Quanzhou, which can be found in Lin's collected works.38 Lin
was superintendent of maritime affairs in Quanzhou, and Zhao's account clearly cannot
be more reliable than his original source, which is in fact an eye-witness report; moreover,
Lin knew the foreign merchant in question personally.39 The exact date when Lin was
appointed to the Quanzhou post is not known. He obtained ajinshi degree in 1151, and
according to his biography in the Dynastic History of the Song (Song shi),40 had held at
least four other official posts before receiving the Quanzhou appointment. There is evidence
that the post was occupied by other officials in 1155 and in 1163,41 so it is possible that
Lin held the position some time between these two years. According to the text below,
he is most likely to have been there until the early 1160s. This interesting essay, which
is the original source of the more widely known story recounted by Zhao Rugua, presents
a rather different picture of Srivijaya:
Among the three prefectures dealing with the South Sea and responsible for taxing
mercantile ships is Quanzhou prefecture. Among scores of countries which have trade
connections with Quanzhou is Srivijaya. There are scores of rich merchants from
Srivijaya who are living or were born in Quanzhou. Among them is a man called Shi
Nowei. Shi is famous for his generosity among his fellow foreign residents in Quanzhou.
The building of a cemetery is but one of his many generous deeds. This cemetery was
first proposed by another foreigner named Pu Xiaxin, but the idea has been carried out
and accomplished by Shi. The location of this cemetery is on the hillside to the east
of the city. After clearing the wild weeds and rubble, many graves have been built.
The cemetery is covered with a roof, enclosed by a wall, and safely locked. All
foreign merchants who die in Quanzhou are to be buried here. The construction
started in 1162 and was finished the year after. Such a benevolent deed releases all
foreigners in this land from worry [concerning their own graves after death]; and
enables the dead to be free of regrets. Such kindness will certainly promote overseas
trade and encourage foreigners to come. It is much appreciated that Shi has carried
it out. Therefore, I write this essay to commemorate the event so that [news of it] will
be widely circulated overseas.

From this passage, some new understandings emerge. The conventional notion that the
founder of the cemetery was an Arab from Siraf needs amendment. Instead, he was a
Srivijayan, and his name was Shi Nowei, not Shi Nawei as stated in the Foreign Lands.
The location of the cemetery was on a hill to the east of the city, not in a southeastern
suburb. Finally, it is apparent that there were many Srivijayans living in Quanzhou. Most

38Lin Zhiqi, Zhuozhai wenji (SKQS ed.), 15: 12a/b. Partially cited in Li Donghua, 1986, 170,
but just to demonstrate that there were many foreign residents in Quanzhou. See also Hugh Clark,
Community, Trade, and Networks: Southern Fujian Province from the Third to the Thirteenth
Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 127-29 and n. 37.
39Hugh Clark has argued that the later account of Zhao should override that of Lin, an argument
I do not accept. See his "Muslims and Hindus in the Culture and Morphology of Quanzhou from
the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century", Journal of World History 6,1 (1995): 54-63.
40To To, Song shi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977), 433: 12861.
41 Song huiyao jigao, fanyi, 4: 75a. Fujian tongzhi, 1867, 90: 14b.

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306 So Kee-long

relevant to our discussion is that this community is very likely to have provided the first
hand information about their own country to their Chinese hosts, thereby lending
authenticity to contemporary Chinese texts.
To sum up, from these Chinese sources we can make the following observations: (1)
None of them was written prior to the twelfth century. (2) They are consistent with
contemporary Arabic accounts of Srivijaya down to the early thirteenth century showing
that it was still a very prosperous empire. (3) There was no sign of decline in international
trade as far as Srivijaya was concerned as it was still able to maintain its primary source
of revenue and income, despite possible changes in the pattern of trade. (4) It should be
noted that the account in the Foreign Lands indicated clearly that the bulk of commodities
Srivijaya shipped to Quanzhou in the early thirteenth century were of western Asian
origin, meaning that it remained a dominant entrep?t for the cross-ocean trade linking the
Indian Ocean with the Pacific. (5) The Srivijayan navy was known for its strength and
(6) The peripheral vassals seem to have maintained normal tributary submission to Srivijaya
in the early thirteenth century. Most importantly, from Zhao Yanwei's account quoted
above it is clear that these vassals were allowed to trade directly with Quanzhou and
appeared as individual countries in the Maritime Affairs Office records, for example, Fo
lo-an (Foluoan) and P?ng-f?ng (Pengfeng). Both were distinguished from Srivijaya as
countries that brought in only putchuk (muxiang) for exchange.42
It is of course necessary to be cautious about the reliability of these sources as they
present information gathered according to Chinese interests, and often reproduce portions
of earlier writings rather than reflecting contemporary conditions. Despite such short
comings they are the best source of information about Srivijaya available today for the
following reasons: (1) These sources relied on information available at the major Chinese
ports of Guangzhou (for Zhu, Zhou and Chen) and Quanzhou (for Zhao), which lay at
one end of the international sea route that passed through and was dominated by Srivijaya.
(2) The information was derived from multiple sources. A major one was the official
records collected in the Office of Maritime Affairs, which oversaw foreign trade and
registered all incoming foreign ships and outgoing Chinese ships. For control purposes,
it was their duty to compile information on all foreign countries which had trading
relationships with China, especially major trading partners like Srivijaya. (3) Although
there is overlapping data which probably reflects the reproduction of earlier accounts,
these sources clearly contain information that is not repeated and is likely to have been
newly added and (4) Such information was supplemented by oral and written accounts
provided by both Chinese and foreign traders who either visited or came from foreign
lands. It included the accounts from the Arab and Indian merchants whose oral traditions
constitute the basis of medieval Arabic geographical writings on Southeast Asia. And
more importantly, as discussed above there is evidence that a Srivijayan community
existed in Quanzhou by the mid-twelfth century. That suggests that a Srivijayan account
is very likely to have found its way into contemporary Chinese sources.
There is no serious contradiction between the twelfth-century Chinese image of Srivijaya
and that derived from the local epigraphical evidence. Trade in insular Southeast Asia
from the eleventh to the twelfth century was increasingly diffuse, with more traders and

42Zhao Yanwei, Yunlu manchao, 5: 88. For putchuk, see Wheatley, "Geographical Notes", p. 62.

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Srivijaya in Chinese Sources 307

more countries becoming directly involved in the exchange of international commodities.

The hegemony of Srivijaya nonetheless was sustained, and though it slowly embarked on
an obscure course of decay, this decline did not manifest itself until late in the thirteenth
century. Srivijaya continued to command tributary submission from its many former
vassals;43 it continued to dominate the international trade of commodities from the Indian
Ocean, such as frankincense; and its navy remained a formidable power in the region.
Wolters' notion that Srivijaya only threatened foreign mercantile ships other than Chinese
vessels for not calling at their ports may be better understood in such a context, for only
those from the Indian Ocean would carry the frankincense or other merchandise that
Srivijaya needed, not those from China.44 There is no reason why the Srivijayans would
have hesitated to raid a Chinese ship had it carried Arabian commodities yet dared to
forego Palembang or Jambi. Moreover, under such Srivijayan overlordship most subordinate
countries in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula were given a free hand to participate in
international trade, in particular those dealing with Southeast Asian local commodities,
whether resins or spices, probably due to Srivijaya's concentration on Arabian goods.
This practice had probably dated from before the eleventh century. The long-term decay
of Srivijaya may then be a result of a shift from a transshipment orientation to an export
orientation rather than the mass arrival of Chinese merchants. The new demand for
Southeast Asian produce in the Indian Ocean and Chinese markets, and to a lesser degree
the expansion of direct Chinese ceramics exports to various parts of insular Southeast
Asia, caused the gradual decay of Srivijayan economic power, which was mainly built
upon the transshipment trade.
From these Chinese images, we can also postulate the reason why so little physical
evidence of Srivijaya remains in Palembang and its vicinity today. As seen above, the
kraton was likely to have been built of timber and the people residing around it mainly
lived on rafts. Both could be destroyed by invaders or later occupants of the land and
in any case were made of non-durable materials. More importantly, there are simply too
many stories about Srivijaya's richness in terms of precious metals like gold. It is not
difficult to imagine that a kraton so famed for gold aroused enormous interest among its
enemies and the pirates operating in this region. That may be a reason why few monuments
remain, for if there were any made of gold, a preference detailed in the Chinese and
Arab accounts, they would certainly have vanished long before the arrival of the
Europeans.

43In contrast, by the early fourteenth century, most became dependencies of Danmaling
(Tambralinga) instead. See Guangzhoushi difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui ed., Yuan Dade Nanhai
zhi canben (Guangzhou: Renmin chubenshe, 1991), p. 46. The section on foreign countries given
in this Yuan gazetteer of Guangzhou noted 11 major polities under whose jurisdictions certain
numbers of dependent countries are listed. These polities and their respective numbers of dependencies
(in brackets) are given as the following: (1) Vietnam [2]; (2) Champa [7]; (3) Chenla [5]; (4) Siam
[1]; (5) Danmaling (Tambralinga?) [12, including Foluoan and Pengfeng]; (6) Srivijaya [17]; (7)
Brunei [9]; (8) Dangzhongbuluoguo (?) [25]; (9) Java [16]; (10) Nanpi/Mabaer (Malabar?) [5]; and
(11) Dagulin (Quilon?) [33].
44An intriguing example of similar selective raids on mercantile ships in the Straits of Malacca
by the local pirates, i.e., targeting only those from the Indian Ocean, can be found in the early 14th
century. See Wang Dayuan, ann. by Su Jiqing, Daoyi zhiliie jiaoshi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1981), p. 214. I am indebted to John Miksic for calling my attention to this case.

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308 So Kee-long

Conclusion
This article has outlined what is known on the basis of local epigraphic data of
Srivijayan hegemony from the tenth to the twelfth century, and has examined in detail
Chinese images of this empire as recorded in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The
results of this survey suggest that the Srivijaya empire maintained its overlordship over
its peripheral vassals in Sumatra as well as the Malay Peninsula during this period. As
a rule, it was possible for all these vassals to participate in international trade insofar as
they did not challenge Srivijaya's monopoly of Indian Ocean commodities.
From the late eleventh century, a new pattern of trade emerged in insular Southeast
Asia. Local products like resins and spices became increasingly in demand for markets
in both the Indian Ocean and China. A parallel change was that coarser Chinese export
ceramics produced in southern Fujian attracted more buyers among the smaller polities
in Southeast Asia. These developments promoted more direct transactions between the
international traders and the indigenous peoples around the region rather than through the
elaborate distribution system of the Srivijaya kraton, although for a time the latter continued
to prosper by monopolizing the transshipment of Indian Ocean commodities.

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