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given that Chinese texts often obscure the mechanisms of 15 MSL Taizong shilu 53.2b (4/4/甲戌), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.
domination and expansion through a range of rhetorical edu.sg/msl/entry/882 .
devices. Benevolent rulers punished ‘bandits’ (tao zei 討賊), 16 MSL Taizong shilu 32.1a (2/6/癸酉), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.
edu.sg/msl/entry/332 .
pacified (ping ding 平定) areas, soothed (fu 撫) polities and 17 MSL Taizong shilu 49.1a–b (3/12/戊辰), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
instructed (yu 諭) recalcitrants, all manifestly desirable nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/524.
actions in maintaining social order. However, Chinese 18 MSL Taizong shilu 82.1a–b (6/8/丙子), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
emperors have never been able to engage in ‘aggression’ nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/1274 .
(qinlüe 侵略) because Chinese rhetorical structures precisely 19 MSL Taizong shilu 35.2b (2/10/辛未), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/317 .
preclude such actions by imperial rulers. It is these devices 20 MSL Taizong shilu 55.1b (4/6/癸亥), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.
which have resulted in Chinese people, until today, often edu.sg/msl/entry/895 .
being unable to conceive of a Chinese polity as constituting a 21 See for example MSL Taizong shilu 17.6a (1/2/丁卯), Wade 2005b,
http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/19.
potential aggressor, or having latently violent or dangerous 22 MSL Taizong shilu 57.2a–b (4/inter 7/己巳), Wade 2005b, http://
intentions towards neighbouring polities. It is also these epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/917.
devices that require Chinese historical maps to be redrawn in 23 MSL Yingzong shilu 44.7b (3/7/丁未), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
order to reflect more accurate portrayals of historical China. nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/721.
75
It is thus that we need to unmask the tyranny of Chinese 24 MSL Yingzong shilu 51.7a–b (4/2/辛未), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/567.
historiography and begin to recognise the differences 25 MSL Yingzong shilu 127.1b (10/3/庚子), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
between civilisational rhetoric and civilisational practice. nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/1945; Liew Foon Ming 1996.
By explicitly highlighting Ming China’s aim to dominate 26 The polity known in Shan as Möng Yang or Möng Kawng and in
polities to the south and the attendant violence which Burmese as Mohnyin or Mogaung.
occurred over the first 50 years of the 15th century, it is 27 MSL Yingzong shilu 164.5a–6a.
28 A generic term for persons outside Chinese culture.
hoped that others will be able to examine other periods of 29 MSL Yingzong shilu 164.5a–6a (13/3/壬寅), Wade 2005b, http://
Chinese history and, by deconstructing the rhetoric of epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2276.
traditional texts, more fully explore the political relations 30 MSL Yingzong shilu 175.8b (14/2/辛未), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
between China and its neighbours. nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2360.
31 MSL Yingzong shilu 179.7b–8a (14/9/癸巳), Wade 2005b, http://
epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2366 .
Notes 32 MSL Yingzong shilu 241.4b–5a (5/5/庚申), Wade 2005b, http://
1 MSL Taizu shilu 39.1b (2/2/丙寅), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus. epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/1184.
edu.sg/msl/entry/298. Another reference to Yunnan as a country 33 MSL Yingzong shilu 156.1a (12/7/壬辰), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
can be found at MSL Taizu shilu 53.9a–b (3/6/戊寅), Wade 2005b, nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2159.
http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/499. 34 MSL Yingzong shilu 189.3b (1/2/庚辰), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
2 MSL Taizu shilu 138.5a–b (14/8/癸丑), Wade 2005b, http://epress. nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/226.
nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2320. 35 MSL Taizong shilu 31.5a–b (2/5/己巳), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
3 For much of the Ming, in addition to being a provincial nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/337.
designation, ‘Yunnan’ was a generic term for areas to the 36 Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/place/227.
southwest, extending as far as knowledge extended. In this respect, 37 MSL Shizong shilu 482.8b–9a (39/3/甲午) Wade 2005b, http://
Yunnan was somewhat like the term ‘the West’ in the European epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/3207.
movement across the North American continent in the 18th and 38 MSL Shenzong shilu 261.4b (21/6/丙申) Wade 2005b, http://epress.
19th centuries. nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2913.
4 MSL Taizu shilu 189.14b–16a (21/3/甲辰), Wade 2005b, http:// 39 MSL Taizong shilu 52.6a–7a.
epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2876. 40 These were non-Chinese troops under the ‘native offices’ of
5 MSL Taizu shilu 198.2a–b (22/11/乙亥), Wade 2005b, http://epress. Guangxi, probably peoples who are today called Zhuang and Yao.
nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2922. This practice of claiming reparations 41 Sun 2003.
from the polity one attacks became an integral part of many later 42 MSL Taizong shilu 52.6a–7a (4/3/丙午), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
colonialisms. nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/875. See also Whitmore 1985, 91–2.
6 MSL Taizu shilu 255.2a–b (30/9/戊辰), Wade 2005b, http://epress. 43 MSL Taizong shilu 68.3b–7a (5/6/癸未), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/3104 and MSL Taizu shilu 255.8a–b (30/12/乙 nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/1105.
巳), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/3107. 44 MSL Taizong shilu 67.3b–4a (5/5/甲戌), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
7 MSL Taizong shilu 15.2a (35/12/丙辰), Wade 2005b, http://epress. nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/1096, dated to the equivalent of 26 June
nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/3156 and MSL Taizong shilu 16.3a (1/1/戊子), 1407.
Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/15. 45 MSL Taizong shilu 71.6a (5/9/癸酉), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.
8 MSL Taizu shilu 190.3b (21/4/癸亥), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus. edu.sg/msl/entry/1049.
edu.sg/msl/entry/2878. 46 MSL Taizong shilu 80.3b–4a (6/6/己丑), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
9 A Chinese unit of weight, often referred to as a ‘Chinese ounce’. nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/1268.
During the Ming, it averaged 37g. 47 The importance of Vietnamese maritime trade in this period is
10 MSL Taizong shilu 17.6a (1/2/丁卯), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus. underlined in Momoki 1998.
edu.sg/msl/entry/19. 48 MSL Taizong shilu 77.3b (6/3/壬戌), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.
11 Located in Tengyue subprefecture, west of Baoshan in what is edu.sg/msl/entry/1250.
today Tengchong. Approximately 160km north of Bhamo and 49 MSL Taizong shilu 84.4b–5a (6/10/庚子), Wade 2005b, http://
150km southeast of Myitkyina. See Liew Foon Ming 1998, II, 94–5. epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/611.
12 Previously known as the Jinchi (Golden Teeth) Guard. Located in 50 Ong Eng Ann 2010, 157.
what is today Baoshan. Liew Foon Ming 1998, II, 91–2. 51 Ong Eng Ann 2010, 158.
13 MSL Taizong shilu 23.4b (1/9/甲戊), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus. 52 For example, see MSL Taizong shilu 73.5a (5/11/己巳), Wade 2005b,
edu.sg/msl/entry/9. http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/1077.
14 MSL Taizong shilu 16.3a (1/1/戊子), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus. 53 MSL Taizong shilu 145.2b (11/11/乙未), Wade 2005b, http://epress.
edu.sg/msl/entry/15. These polities lay in the southwest of the nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2021 and MSL Taizong shilu 163.1b (13/4/丁
modern province of Yunnan. 丑), Wade 2005b, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/entry/2249.

24 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450