In the 1,000 years from the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) to the end of the Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368), Chinese presence in maritime Southeast Asia was limited to traders, pilgrim monks and envoys. Most were transients but some traders had families with local wives in the seaports of Malaya and Indonesia (i.e. Malay archipelago). Nanyang cuisine was born in the kitchens of these traders' local wives.
The offsprings of these Chinese trader and local Malay families are known as Peranakan or "local born". Peranakan presence was initially small and scattered - more substantial Chinese settlements began during the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) thanks to good relations between the Chinese empire and maritime Southeast Asia, especially the Malacca sultanate.
Legacy of Admiral Cheng Ho
During the Ming dynasty, emperor Yong Le sent out great fleets commanded by eunuch Admiral Cheng Ho on missions of discovery, diplomacy and demonstration of power & prestige to the South China Sea, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. (Image of Cheng Ho courtesy of Wikipedia 1, 2.)
On a side note, emperor Yong Le built the amazing Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, considered one of the seven wonders of the medieval world.
Between 1405 - 1433, Admiral Cheng Ho made seven great voyages, setting off from Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province. Where he went, Admiral Cheng Ho offered tributary relations to the states he visited. In the Chinese tributary order, states agree to provide gifts (tributes) and facilitate the interests of China in trade, passage etc., in return for protection and recognition.
Ming dynasty and the Malacca sultanate enjoyed a close tributary relationship. In return for protection against Malacca's arch rivals, the Siamese Ayutthaya and Javanese Majapahit empires, Cheng Ho's fleet was allowed to base in Malacca, hosted by the Malacca sultanate which controls Malaya, Sumatra and Malacca Straits. Cheng Ho built warehouses and stockades in Malacca and used it as the staging base for his missions. (Map courtesy of Wikipedia.)
The close relationship between the Ming dynasty and Malacca sultanate led to the best known Chinese settlement in maritime Southeast Asia, even though there were other (smaller, lesser known) Chinese settlements scattered around the region.
Rise of Malacca Sultanate & Relations with Ming Dynasty
The earliest record of Chinese settlement in maritime Southeast Asia was by Chinese trader Wang Da Yuan who spotted Chinese living side by side with Malays when he passed by Dan Ma Xi (Temasek or kingdom of Singapura) in 1390s, today's Singapore.
When the kingdom of Singapura was razed to the ground in 1398, either by the Siamese Ayutthaya or Majapahit empire, the Chinese settlers were killed or fled together with their Malay compatriots. But, there was no record of their fate.
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| Palace of the Malacca sultanate |
When the kingdom of Singapura fell (1398), its last king Parameswara fled north to Malacca with his followers and established the Malacca sultanate (1400 - 1511).
Parameswara converted to Islam and became Sultan Iskandar Shah, the first sultan of Malacca. There are no records of whether any Chinese settlers of Temasek / Singapura followed Parameswara to Malacca. It is probable that some did. (Image of the palace of Malacca sultanate courtesy of Wikipedia.)
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| Palace of the Ming emperors in Bejing |
The Malacca sultanate (1400 - 1511) enjoyed intimate political and trade relations with China's Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644). The Ming dynasty helped the Malacca sultanate prosper by keeping its regional rivals the Indonesian Majapahit empire (1293 - 1527) and Siamese Ayutthaya kingdom (1350 - 1767) at bay. (Image of the Forbidden City courtesy of Wikipedia.)
According to the Sejarah Malayu (the Malay Annals), the Ming emperor sent a princess Hang Liu to marry Sultan Mansur Shah and she bore him a son Paduka Mimat.
Sejarah Malayu further recorded that princess Hang Liu was accompanied by 500 young nobles and a few hundred female attendants. They lived on Bukit Cina or Chinese Hill. (Hang Liu is also known as Hang Li Poh.)
The account by Portuguese Toma Pires in Suma Oriental (1512 - 1515) told of a beautiful lady brought along by the Chinese captain who was tasked to escort "the second king of Malacca" back to Malacca after his visit to the Ming emperor. Back in Malacca, the sultan married the Chinese lady who bore him a son. The lady was a commoner, not a princess.
Portuguese Braz Dalboquerque's (1500 - 1580) story is slightly different. The "second king of Malacca" and Chinese captain developed a close friendship on their long journey from China to Malacca. The Chinese captain betrothed his daughter to be the sultan's wife.
There was, however, no Chinese record of a Chinese princess marrying a sultan of Malacca. Such a significant diplomatic event is unlikely to go unrecorded in the Ming court, so it supports the view that the lady could perhaps be a commoner.
(Source credit: The Baba of Melaka by Tan Chee Beng)
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| Bukit Cina 2016 |
However, while records differ on the social standing of the lady, what is not disputed is a Chinese lady married a sultan of Malacca sometime during the Ming dynasty. She and her attendants settled on Bukit Cina (Chinese Hill). The number of attendants or compatriots might or might not be exaggerated but Bukit Cina was likely a cradle of Chinese settlement in Nanyang.
Nevertheless, I have not come across any person who trace his / her ancestry to the Chinese settlers of Bukit Cina. (Image of Bukit Cina courtesy of Wikipedia.)
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| Admiral Cheng Ho 1371 - 1433 |
Fei Xin who was on four of Admiral Cheng Ho's seven voyages to Nanyang and the Indian Ocean wrote in his travelogue Xing Cha Sheng Lan that there were Chinese living among Malays in Malacca / Melaka (before Cheng Ho's fleet arrived).
These might have been the Chinese settlers from Temasek / Singapura who together with Parameswara fled the Siamese / Javanese invasion in 1398. (Image of Admiral Cheng Ho courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Palembang, South Sumatra
Besides the settlement in Malacca, there are lesser known Chinese communities in maritime Southeast Asia (records are sketchy). One of them in Palembang, south Sumatra. Based on Ming dynasty records, a Liang Daoming from Guangdong headed a trading settlement in Palembang which was then under the Srivijaya empire. The Chinese settlement numbered more than 1000 according to Ming records.
With the rise of the Majapahit empire of Java, the Srivijaya empire and Palembang came under attack. In 1405, emperor Yong Le offered Liang Daoming's settlement protection as a vassal state under China's tributary order. In 1407, Admiral Cheng Ho visited Palembang and the Chinese settlement during one of his seven voyages.
Brunei & Sungai Kinabatangan (Sabah)
According oral traditions and local lore, Ong Sum Ping from Fujian arrived in today's Sabah around the 1360s and set up a Chinese settlement at the mouth of Sungai Kinabatangan river where it opens into the Sulu Sea. Ong and his followers later set up more trading posts along Sungai Kinabatangan to collect aromatic wood, resin, beeswax, bird's nest, hornbill casque, etc., for export to China. Ong grew rich and powerful as the settlements prospered.
In 1375, Ong married Princess Ratna Dewi, daughter of Sultan Muhammad Shah of Brunei (1363 - 1402). He was conferred the title Pengiran Maharaja Lela and recognised as king of Kinabatangan. Together, Ong and Sultan Muhammad's combined forces fended off an invasion by the sultan of Sulu (in today's Philippines). Today in Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capital of Brunei, there is a street Jalan Ong Sum Ping in his honour.
(Source: History of Nanyang Chinese by Wen Xiong Fei 南洋华侨通史/温雄飞著.)
Ming Dynasty's Withdrawal from the Oceans
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| Cheng Ho died during his seventh voyage in 1433 (age 63) and was buried at sea off India's Malabar Coast. His symbolic (empty) tomb is in Nanjing |
There had long been fierce rivalry between eunuchs and mandarins (scholar officials) for influence in the Ming palace. With the death of eunuch Admiral Cheng Ho in 1433 (and emperor Yong Le earlier in 1424), the eunuchs lost ground. (Image of Cheng Ho's tomb courtesy of Wikipedia.)
The mandarins (scholar officials) were not in favour of Cheng Ho's great sea voyages and sea power in general, and considered them a wasteful, unprofitable drain on palace coffers.
After Cheng Ho's death, Ming dynasty's resources were diverted northwards and landwards. The Great Wall was fortified and completed in 1620. Military campaigns were launched against the Mongols and Manchus to keep them at bay.
In the words of China expert C.P. FitzGerald, the mandarins could foresee neither the "benefits nor dangers" the seas bring. This fateful policy shift after the deaths of emperor Yong Le and admiral Cheng Ho would shape the geopolitics of Asia forever.
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| Remains of Portuguese fort in Malacca |
By removing itself from Nanyang, the post-Cheng Ho Ming dynasty left a vacuum which the Portuguese filled when they found their way to this region in 1509, attracted by Malacca's wealth. They invaded and conquered Malacca in 1511. The other European powers (Dutch, English, etc) followed in train, eventually landing in Beijing's Forbidden City itself, precipitating the end of imperial China. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia.)
The First Nanyang Cuisine was Perakanan
The Chinese settlers intermarried with Malays and their offsprings are known as Peranakan or "local born" in Malay. Males are known as baba and female as nyonya, so Peranakans are also referred to as baba-nyonya. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Malacca Peranakans lived in Malacca since the Malacca sultanate (1400 - 1511), through Portuguese (1511 - 1641), Dutch rule (1641 - 1825) and British rule (1825 - 1963).
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| Kueh Pie Tee |
This is the second article in a series of four tracing the origins of Nanyang cuisine. The first article explores Nanyang cuisine of the 1,000 years between the Han and Yuan dynasties 👈 click
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