Page 33 - Ming_China_Courts_and_Contacts_1400_1450 Craig lunas

Plate 2.7 (left) Rubbing of the
trilingual 1409 Galle stone stele
from 1920–50. Ink on paper, height
144.8cm, width 76.2cm. Institute for
Research in Humanities, Kyoto
University

Plate 2.8 (right) Galle stele with the
inscription written in Chinese, Tamil
and Persian, erected in 1409 in
Galle, Sri Lanka, ‘to announce our
mandate to foreign nations and to
commemorate the sending of
offerings from the Chinese emperor
[Yongle] through the envoys Zheng
He and Wang Qinglian’. Height
144.78cm, width 76.2cm, depth
12.7cm. National Museum of
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Protect the Country’ (Chang ning zhen guo zhi shan 長寧鎮國之山). Emperor also wrote a stele inscription and ordered that it be
It was ordered that when they arrived at that place, Qian and inscribed upon the stone on top of the mountain. 73
so on should erect a tablet. The Emperor personally composed
a text for it. 71 This account closely reflects those of the Melaka and
Both the stele entry itself and the imperially conferred Brunei stelae and its function appears to have been similar,
text underlined the degree to which this was an assertion of to assert Ming suzerainty over this port polity.
Ming protective suzerainty over this polity.
Japan: Another stele with an imperial inscription was
Sri Lanka: This stele (Pls 2.7–2.8), the only one extant, erected on a mountain (Mount Aso) in Japan, which was
was taken to Sri Lanka by Zheng He in 1409 and erected in given the title ‘Mountain which will Ever Peacefully Guard
Galle in 1411. The inscription is in three languages – the Country’ (shouan zhenguo zhi shan 壽安鎮國之山). Again
74
Chinese, Tamil and Persian – and much of the inscription this reflected the Yongle emperor’s aspiration to assert his
refers to respect for the Buddha, Allah and the Tamil deity legitimacy by claiming to protect polities beyond China.
Tenavarai Nayanar. The Chinese inscription has been
studied by Eva Nagel. The assertion of Chinese suzerainty It is worthy of note that these stelae asserting Ming
72
is implicit in the imperial decoration of the stele, the claims suzerainty were established in maritime polities which were
of the Ming heavenly mandate and the dating system either weak or new and were competing against established
employed, as well as in the Tamil inscription where the power centres. Melaka was a new polity rivalling Samudera
Ming ruler is entitled ‘The great king of Cina, the supreme on the Sumatran coast in the north of the Straits of Melaka,
overlord of kings’. Suzerainty was also separately asserted Cochin was a port rivalling the established centre of Calicut,
through Zheng He’s military engagement on the island, while Brunei was attempting to stave off the demands of the
capturing the ruler and carrying him back to China. Majapahit empire on the island of Java. The Japanese stele
was erected on Kyushu where local polities were having to
Cochin: The reference to the Cochin inscription can be deal with the powerful Muromachi shogunate to the north.
found in the standard Ming History or Ming shi, produced in As such these assertions of Chinese attachment for these
the early 18th century. In the account of Cochin (Kezhi 柯枝) polities also likely worked in their own favour as much as in
contained within this work, we read: that of the Ming.
In the tenth year of the Yongle reign [1412], Zheng He was As has been noted above, early Ming China pursued
again sent as an envoy to this country. They offered tribute for domination of polities to its south through four modes:
two successive years. Their envoy requested the conferral of a indirect overland colonialism, direct overland colonialism,
seal and the granting of a title, and that the mountain within assertion of maritime hegemony and claims of suzerainty
their country be formally enfeoffed. The Emperor sent Zheng over maritime polities. The importance of Ming state
He carrying orders and a seal to confer upon their king. The
violence in pursuing this domination needs to be underlined,

Domination in Four Keys: Ming China and its Southern Neighbours 1400–1450 | 23