Editors Note: I became curious about what was going on in China from the Early Days to 1400 and how it might have related to Santubong. The book (see below) I consulted has the wrong title. It should be Early Days to 1368.
Guangzoh (Canton) is one of China oldest seaports at the confluence of three rivers. By rivers, it is accessible to Gungxi in the west and Hunan in the north and by a road built to the north during the Tang dynasty (618-907) across Nan Ling and is accessible to Jiangxi.
Yangzhou also prospered as a port because of its location at the junction of the Yangzi River and the Grand Canal.
Shanghai opened as a seaport during the 1100s. Traders served the economy from Shanghai to as far inland as Sichuan.
Tianjin, known as Chih-ku, during the Tang period, (618-907), rose to become a major port in north China when grain from the south and merchandise from abroad were conveyed through canals to the capital of Kublai Khan. All three rivers required constant dredging to keep their harbours open.
The organization of the first naval ships was made by King Wu of the (Z)Chou dynasty (1047-246 BC) King Wu organized the shipping well beyond rafts and dugout canoes. He gave land to his subjects in exchange for their pledges of loyalty.
Chi’ on the rocky peninsula of Shandong, Wu in the lower valley of the Yangzi, Yue in Zhejiang and Ch’u in the lake region of present-day Hubei and Hunan became warring states. By the sixth century BC, the battles increased in frequency. The battles raged back and forth between Wu and Yue.
Boat technology also increased equally between the two factions. Sails gradually came into being in the 6th and 5th BC. They were made of woven bamboo as silk was too expensive and woven cotton did not come into vogue until the Song-Yuan period. ( 1120-1368 AD)
[It would seem that the Chinese would have to sail close to land to replace the seemingly oft broken bamboo sails]
In 121 BC, Emperor Wu attacked and drove back invaders from the north. He then turned his attention to Chosen (modern-day North Korea) and was defeated. Later, the Koreans were defeated and occupied by the Chinese. In 41 A.D the Koreans rebelled and another expedition was sent to recover the lost lands. This was successful and in the first Naval Battle against a foreign entity, thousands were killed and thousands were taken, prisoner.
In the first century AD, a Chinese court official set out and made his way to the Indian coast. Later, merchants from the Roman Empire, having discovered the use of monsoon winds, sailed from the Red Sea to Ceylon, across the Bay of Bengal to the Malay Peninsula and arrived at Tongking, in the Red River delta of north Vietnam.
Magicians seemed to affect the rulers of the states during the Qin and Han periods (221 BC-220 AD) They convinced the Navy to go out and seek three close-by islands, P’eng -lai, Fang-chang and Yu-Choi. It was said these island held the elixir of immortality. The Emperor granted the request and outfitted an expedition of 3,000 men and women and artisans of a hundred trades. The expedition was never heard from again despite the sending of two further expeditions to find them. Some scholars speculate they landed in the Philippines while others are convinced they became the Izumo people of Japan.
In 230 AD, Emperor Wu sent a fleet carrying 10,000 armed men to seek the islands of I-Chou which were believed to be in the Eastern Sea. The fleet was away for a year and returned with a large number of the crew had died of disease and with thousands of people captured. They had reached a place called Yizou which could have been in the Japanese Islands, the Liuqiu Islands, Hainan Island, Yu chou or on the coast of north Jiangsu. The angry Emperor had the two commanders executed.
The Emperor sent out another expedition a year later to Liaodong in south Manchuria. They were defeated in battle. Another expedition was sent to the south to Viet Nam (Tonking now Tonkin) when the military officers rebelled. Emperor Wu restored rule.
A military mission to Fu-Nan (now Cambodia) and further south allowed the people to return with a large wealth of information about Southeast Asia. (This was in 242-243 AD) Thus began the turn around from battles with Korea and north China to looking southward to Southeast Asia.
[This seems like the beginning of Chinese knowledge about Southeast Asia]
Unfortunately for Wu, the Jin people attacked and took over the country. The Jin people were landsmen and not used to naval battles. They linked their ships together in floating wooden cities with walls, battlements and streets where horses could gallop. Each unit was manned by 2,000 men. These floating fortresses were set fire by Wu but the sheer numbers of them overwhelmed the Wu navy.
The Jin managed to unify China at first but northern encroachments weakened the regime. The Jin government had to continually move south in 317. Then the pirates arrived terrorizing the coastal cities. Pirate Sun Yen departed to Viet Nam and organized a crew of malcontents. These people created a campaign of terror capturing 200,000 people. They were defeated in two expeditions in 400 AD. Liu Yi, famous for defeating the pirates, united the country.
[We have Faxan arriving on Borneo in 413. One author states he was on his way and landed on Borneo and stayed for six months but this author states he was heading north and was blown off course. The ship, after drifting for 80 days, achieved landfall in China. If he was floating around, the Northeast monsoons would have taken him south towards Singapore and not north to China.
 The question where was he going to stay in Santubong if not at a Chinese settlement? There could also have been an Austronesian settlement there. A ship then arrived and picked him up at Santubong which means there already was some kind of trade settlement. We can postulate there was a Chinese settlement at Santubong where they traded with the Austronesians. The Bidayuh would have taken his head. [Perplexing. Any ideas contact me.]
The Sui invasion sailed down from Tung -Lai and struck the Jin capital at Naning while another fleet sailed down the Yangzi. The river fleet included some of the largest ships ever built. The “Five Teeth” were recorded as having five decks rising a hundred feet above the water with 50-foot masts. Each of the monsters carried 800 men. The “Yellow Dragons” were next in size which carried 100 men.
Having united China, he made plans to invade Viet Nam where, it was rumoured, piles and piles of gold were stored. However, Korea invaded Manchuria, he invaded Korea but was stopped due to disease before he met the enemy. His expedition was lost in a storm.
[We can see that China was too embroiled in internal wars and with Korea to pay much attention to Southeast Asia. It must be noted that most of the trade to China by the Malays, Persians, Indians and Arabs carried luxury goods affordable only to the very wealthy. The only bi commerce was to and from Vietnam.]
The Tang Dynasty(618-907) brought another Korean War and conflicts with Japan. Sixty thousand men established a beachhead in Korea but they were driven back to their ships. A second invasion was planned but had to be postponed because of revolts in the shipbuilding areas. The third invasion of Korea was about to executed with 30,0000 men but the emperor died and the invasion was cancelled. Another strike was called, and by 668 both the Japanese forces and the Korean forces were defeated. The western part of Korea became a province of China.
The overseas Chinese colonies included Kaesong a city in now North Korea, The colony consisted of several hundred Fujan merchants and dated to 1128. Another colony was established in the Straits of Linga near Singapore, at Palembang in Sumatra and Tuban, Grisik and Surabaya in Java. A Chinese colony was also established at Santubong in Borneo as far back as 954.
[I checked the authors’ reference (Everett A History of Santubong, an Island off the Coast of Sarawak in Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, no. 51, 1908) and the only thing it states about Chinese is “to Santubong village came many Milanos from Matu, and many Sea Dyaks from Sibuyau; to Bankissam came Kuching Malays and one small village is peopled by Malays from the Kalaka River. When these people became sufficiently numerous, the Chinese shopkeepers also appeared.” In the section about coins (not referenced) Everett states that there were two distinct colonies of Chinamen living in Santubong. The first was financed by Thai Ping coins with other coins dated to 1100 and then the second group of Chinese who came in the 1700s. However, many scholars feel the coins could have been dropped by anyone, anywhere at any time.]
to be continued…..
From: Lo Jung-pang China as a Sea Power 1127-1368 Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2012
Our book “The Sarawak River Valley Early Days to 1840” is available as an e-book on Amazon.com