Chinese Refugees in Annam and Champa at the end of the Sung Dynasty

Hok-Lam Chan

doi:10.1017/S0217781100001502

Chinese Refugees in Annam and Champa at the end of the Sung Dynasty

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009

Hok-Lam Chan

Article contents

Extract
References

Get access

Extract

In February 1276, the Southern Sung capital Lin-an (modern Hang-chou) fell to the Mongols, and the last Sung emperor, Chao Hsien (Kung-ti ), was taken captive. With the aid of its loyal ministers, the remaining members of the royal house fled to the south. In June the nine-year-old Chao Cheng was enthroned in Foochow as emperor (Tuan-tsung ). However, with high officials in Fukien defecting one after the other to the Mongols, the royal house was forced before long to retreat by sea further south to Kwangtung. In March 1277 the Sung stronghold at Canton also fell and the imperial family hastily fled to Mei-wei , in the vicinity of the present-day Kowloon peninsula of Hong Kong. In November, under the mounting pressure of the Mongols, they retreated south-west along the Kwangtung coast. Since Chao Hsien was never likely to resume control and there seemed to be some chance of taking refuge in the vassal kingdoms of Champa and An-nam (in present-day Vietnam), there followed a flurry of Chinese emigration. The tragedy of the last Sung emperor has evoked much sympathy in history, but the story of the migration and search for refuge of some Sung officials has not been fully explored. This paper attempts to give a descriptive account and present a brief analysis of the background factors which shaped the course of migration, as well as its impact on the increased Chinese cultural influence in Vietnam.

Type: Research Article
Information: Journal of Southeast Asian History , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , September 1966 , pp. 1 - 10

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0217781100001502 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Very few studies give a detailed description of the last days of the Sung court and its refuge in Champa and Annam. Those that have touched on the subject include: Hsiung-fei, Wen, Nan-yang hua-ch'iao shih (Shanghai 1927)Google Scholar, Chang-fu, LiNan-yang hua-ch'iao shih (Shanghai 1933)Google Scholar, Chu-t'ung, Ch'en “Yūan-tai Chung-hua min-tsu hai-wai fa-chan k'ao” , Chi-nan hsüeh-pao 2:1–2 (01–06 1937)Google Scholar, Toshio, Narita, Kahyō shi (Tokyo 1942)Google Scholar and Hisanori, Wada, “The Chinese Colonies in Southeast Asia in the Sung Period”Google Scholar (see below). I have dealt with this problem in a preliminary form in an article in Chinese, “Sung i-min liu-yü An-nam Chan-ch'eng k'ao” , Annals of the History Society, University of Hongkong (1961), 14–25Google Scholar. The earliest attempt to present an account of the travelling court of the last Sung emperors in the Western language is Imbert, H., “Recherches sur le séjour à l'île de Nao-tcheou des derniers empereurs de la dynastie des Song”, Revue Indochinoise 29:2 (03 1918), 328–334Google Scholar. For a more detailed study of the subject, see Lo, Jao and Yu-wen, Chien, Sung-mo erh-ti nan-ch'ien nien-lu k'ao (Hongkong 1959)Google Scholar. The following abbreviations are used:

2. For biographical information on Ch'en I-chung, see SS 418/18aGoogle Scholar, YSC 12bGoogle Scholar, KCJWC 24/16aGoogle Scholar, Mi, Chou, Kuei-hsin tsa-shih (1922 ed.)Google Scholarhsü-chi A/8a and Li O , Sung-shih chi-shih (1936 ed.) 68/p. 1735.Google Scholar

3. For biographical information on Su Liu-i, see KCJWC 24B/1aGoogle Scholar; Shun-te-hsien hsü-chih (1929 ed.) 22/5a.Google Scholar

4. HS A/67a; Tzu-ch'i, Yeh, Ts'ao-mu-tzu (Shanghai 1959), p. 52Google Scholar. Ch'en's refuge in Siam has been treated in some detail in Fei-jai, Huang “Sung-tai ta-chung-ch'en Ch'en I-chung lai-Hsien k'ao” , T'ai-kuo yen-chin 3 (01 1942).Google Scholar

5. For his biography, see Tseng-ch'eng hsien-chih (1912 ed.) 19/12aGoogle Scholar. According to this, what was known later as Shih-wang miao was a temple erected in his memory.

6. There has been much heated debate over the location of Nao-chou. Lo Hsiang-lin and Chien Yu-wen identified it with Ta-hsi shan the present-day Lantao Island in Hongkong. Jao Tsung-i, however, argued that it should be an island somewhere between Lei-chou and Hua-chou, the contention being that when the Sung travelling court arrived in Nao-chou, Ta-hsi shan had already fallen under Mongol pressure. I shall not go into the controversy in detail here because it lies outside the present scope of inquiry. For the pros and cons of the argument, see Lo 91–7Google Scholar, Chien, passim and Jao 51–81. I tend to favor Jao's view.

7. YSC 14b.Google Scholar

8. For his biography, see SS 451/11a and I-hsüeh, Chiang, Lu Hsiu-fu nien-p'u (Shanghai 1936).Google Scholar

9. Scholars in general accept the statement in SS 47/29a that Lu plunged into the sea with the infant-emperor in an attempted suicide, but according to Lo Hsiang-lin's study, the infant-emperor did not feature in Lu's suicide, rather he died of shock after the imperial ship had broken through the encirclement, see Lo, 103.Google Scholar

10. YS 13/15b; Su T'ien-chüeh , Yüan-wen-lei (1958 ed.) 41/p. 559.Google Scholar

11. For further information on the suicide of the empress dowager, see Lo, 104–5Google Scholar. Shrines in honor of the empress dowager were erected in several districts in both Nghê-an and Thanh-hoa provinces, see Dai-Nam nhat-thong-chi (Photolithic, ed. Tokyo, 1941), 15/3a, 17/5a.Google Scholar

12. Kuang-chou fu-chih (1879 ed.) 114/6b, 22a.Google Scholar

13. YSC 19b.Google Scholar

14. For Ch'en's biography, see SS 422/16aGoogle Scholar; ANCL 10/p. 111.Google Scholar

15. ANCL 10/p. 111Google Scholar. The text reads: “”.

16. Ibid 18/p. 171. The poem is included in his collective work of poetry, Tran Thanh ton thi top For a bibliographical note, see Caspar-done, Emile, “Bibliographie Annamite”, BEFEO XXXIV (1934), p. 87.Google Scholar

17. Sung-chi san-ch'ao cheng-yao , appendix 6/la. For a critical evaluation of the text, see Jao 114–7, 123–4.Google Scholar

18. ANCL 10/p. 111.Google Scholar

19. For a glimpse of Tseng's poetry, see ANCL 1/p. 24Google Scholar; 16/p. 158.

20. YS 209/13b.

21. On Huang's resistance against the Mongols, see ANCL 5/p. 64–7Google Scholar, Yuan-wen-tei 41/p. 585Google Scholar, Chao-p'u tsung-lu (Ts'ung-shu chi-ch'eng ed.) 17, Kuangsi tung-chih (1531 ed.) 54/passim and Lien-chou fu-chih (1833) 21/21a.

22. DVSK 5/40b.

23. Ibid 5/47a. The Chinese called Champa “Chi-kuo” because the land was rich in a kind of dwarf poultry known to modern zoologists as Bantam. This kind of poultry, when later introduced into Japan, became known as Chabo. It has been suggested that this appellation is derived from the vulgarization of the Chinese word for Champa, Chan-po . On this point, see Sugimoto Nao-jirō “The Appellation of Chabo (Bantam) through a historian's eye”, in his Tōnan Ajia shi kenkyū (Studies on Southeast Asian History) Vol. I (Tokyo 1956).Google Scholar

24. DVSK 5/64b.

25. The Cho-ying-t'ing pi-chi was printed in the Chia-cheng (1522–67) period. For a bibliographical note, see Kuo-chen, Hsieh, Ming-Ch'ing pi-chi ts'ung-tan (Shanghai 1962), 8–10Google Scholar. The story about Shen's refuge in Champa apparently gained wide publicity in Ming times for it is quoted in at least three different places: Ku Yen-wu T'ien-hsia chün-huo li-ping shu (1879 ed.) 120/8b, Ts'ung-chien, Yen, Shu-yü chou-chih lu (1879 ed.) 7/3aGoogle Scholar and Mao-heng, Shen, Hai-kuo kuang-chi Isüan-lan-t'ang ts'ung-shu hsü-pien ed. 1947), under “Chan-ch'eng”.Google Scholar

26. I quote herewith the two poems, the first by the king of Annam for Ch'en Chung-mei, the second by the Cham prince for Shen Ching-chih:

(1)

(2)

When these two are compared, it is obvious that the latter is a plagiarism of the former.

27. YS 209/6bGoogle Scholar; Yamamoto, 120.Google Scholar

28. Ibid 209/7a; Narita, , op. cit., 46–7Google Scholar; Yamamoto 122.Google Scholar

29. See T'ing-i, Kuo, “Chung-Yüeh i-ti li-shih kuan-hsi” , in Chung-Yüeh wen-hua lun chi (Taipei 1956), 1–35.Google Scholar

30. There are numerous studies on the problem of the Chinese origin of the Vietnamese. For a recent scholarly contribution, see Ngūyen-Phuong, , “Chinese Origin of the Vietnamese People”, paper no. 88, International Conference on Asian History, University of Hongkong, 08–09, 1964Google Scholar. It is clear from the Annamese sources such as the Dai Viet su k'y toan thu that the founder of the Tran dynasty, Tran Nhat ) (Thai-ton 1225–1258) is of direct Chinese descent. See Li Cheng-fu , “An-nam kuo-wang Ch'en Jih-hsü k'ao” , The Eastern Miscellany 31:6 (03 1942).Google Scholar