He Ping
Shanguo is not a Shan Kingdom: To Correct a Mistake Related to the Early History of Tai-speaking Peoples in China and Mainland Southeast Asia1
A ccording to Chinese annals, there was a Burma and the history of Sino-Burmese ~ngdom named Shan-guo~~~) which sent relations. As part of today's Dehong is envoys to China for many times during the considered to be within this so-called "Shan first and 2nd centuries. Of the two Chinese kingdom", some scholars studying the history characters, the first one "shan" is just the name of Dai in Yunnan naturally relate the early of this kingdom, and the second one "guo", history ofDai to the Shanguo mentioned above, means kingdom or state or country etc. so the it being regarded as an early Dai kingdom and transliteration of these two characters is refer to it in their books and articles on the Shanguo, means Shan kingdom (or state or history of the Dai in Yunnan. Some other country etc.). The first group of envoys of the scholars even conclude that the territory of kingdom Shanguo, according to Chinese annals, Shanguo included some parts of present day came from somewhere beyond Y ongchang Laos. The history of Laos is, therefore, also (today's Baoshan in western Yunnan, China; considered to be related to this Shanguo. A while farther west of Baoshan, e.g. "beyond few scholars go even further to conclude that Yongchang", are coincidently located Dehong, the territory of Shanguo includes present day a Dai prefecture in western Yunnan, and the Thailand and Vietnam. Shan States in Burma). It is that region where However, more and more materials and many Tai-speaking peoples live today, and, as results of studies on the history of Tais have they are called "Shan" in Burma, some scholars shown that Shanguo is neither a Shan kingdom conclude therefore, that the Shanguo mentioned nor any other Dai-Tai kingdom. It is not even in in Chinese annals is located in today's mainland Southeast Asia. This article is just to northeastern Burma and a part of Dehong, and correct a mistake which has produced a great it is a kingdom built by the ancestors of the impact on Tai studies, especially on the Tai present Dai-Shan people living there. Some studies in China, for a long time. scholars always mention this Shanguo when The original materials on Shanguo are scarce. they talk about the early history of Burma, They are just six pieces of materials recorded in especially the early history of the Shan in different volumes in Houhan Shu (Annals of
Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) pp. 178-185 Shanguo is not a Shan Kingdom 179
Later Han Dynasty). Of the six records about today's Dehong, western Yunnan and the Shan Shanguo, the earliest one says: "In spring, States in Burma. January, of the ninth year of Yongyuan, the A problem quickly becomes apparent. If we envoys of barbarians and Shanguo from conclude that the location of Shanguo is in the somewhere beyond Yongchang came, through Shan State ofBurma and some parts ofDehong, several interpretations, to contribute".2 This is western Yunnan, based on the above-mentioned the first group of envoys from Shanguo to China records, there is another record in another to be recorded in Chinese annals. The ninth volume in the same Houhan Shu saying: year of Yongyuan of Later Han Dynasty was 97 AD. In December of the fifth year of Yongjian, the About this visit of the envoys of Shanguo, envoys of Yediaoguo and Shanguo came from another record on "southwestern barbarians" in somewhere beyond Rinanto to contribute.5 Houhan Shu states: There is no doubt that this group of envoys In the ninth year (of Yongyuan), the envoys sent was sent by the king of Shanguo because the by the barbarians and Y ongyoudiao, the king of time when they came to China was 131 AD. Shanguo, came from outside, through several What is noteworthy here is that the direction the interpretations, and brought with them the jewelry envoys came from this time is somewhere as the contributions, His Majesty Hedi bestowed "beyond Rinan" (the old name of present day gold seals and purple brands to them, all the central Vietnam) rather than "beyond Yong small chieftains were granted seals, brands, chang". clothes and money etc.3 If the location of Shanguo is in the Shan State of Burma and parts of Dehong, why did This record only says that the envoys of the the envoys of Shanguo travel to China by a barbarians and Shanguo came from "outside". longer route rather than the existing ready-made Y ongchang is not mentioned. We can, however, road between Burma and Yunnan? To resolve judge from the record that they should be the this problem, some scholars argue that there same envoys who came from somewhere beyond were two Shan kingdoms in mainland Southeast Yongchang mentioned in the first record. What Asia: one was in the region beyond Y ongchang, is different is the name of the king of Shanguo e.g. in today's Dehong of western Yunnan and is in this material. the Shan State of Burma while the other was in Twenty four years later, another group of the region "beyond Rinan", e.g. in present day envoys was sent by the king of Shanguo to Laos, which is just beyond central Vietnam from China. Another record in Houhan Shu says: China's perspective. The Laotian people in Laos, in a broad sense, are a branch of the Tai who, it In December of the first year ofYongning (121 is generally considered, are also related to the AD.), the envoys of Shanguo came from Shan in Burma. 6 somewhere beyond Yongchang to contribute.4 Another problem emerges here because while generally thought that the word 'Shan' is According to the above-mentioned records, just the name given by the Burmese to the Dai most scholars believe that as the envoys of Tai in Burma, the Dai-Tai people there still call Shanguo came from somewhere beyond themselves Dai or Tai rather than Shan. If Yongchang, the location of Shanguo should be Shanguo is a kingdom built by the Tai in Burma in today's Shan State of Burma and some parts and the Dai in Yunnan, why did they call of Dehong. It is this region, just to the west of themselves Shan all along rather than their own Baoshan, e.g. beyond Y ongchang, where the name Dai or Tai? And why had the Chinese not main residents now are coincidently Dai-Shan yet known despite the envoys visits to China peoples. What seems to be more evident is that that their real appellation was not Shan but Dai the Dai-Tai people living there are called Shan or Tai? As for the names of Laos in history, in Burma, so Shanguo should be a kingdom what we can find from ancient Chinese and built by the ancestors of Dai-Shan people in Vietnamese annals are only those such as
Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) 180 HE PING
'Ailao', 'Laoya', 'Niuhou', 'Liaocha' and terms, such as Dai Mo, Dai Mian etc. are not 'Laozhua' etc. None is related to the pronun mentioned until after the 15th century. ciation of' Shan', although the Laotian have the In order to support their view-point, some same origin as the Shan in Burma in a broad scholars take Dianyue in Shiji (Historical sense. No appellation pronounced like 'Shan' Records) as evidence. According to Dawan can be found in contemporary ethnological Liezhuan (History ofDawan) in Shiji, there were materials about Laos. So it is even more difficult some ethnic groups called Kunming around to argue that there is another Shanguo--a Shan Erhai Lake, Dali, western Yunnan in the 2nd kingdom in the history of Laos. century BC. about 1,000 li westward away from Other scholars even hold that, " Rinan was the Kunming ethnic groups, there was a "Riding the southern-most district of Jiaozhou (e.g. Elephant Kingdom" called Dianyue. Of the two Cochin, in the central Vietnam today), all the Chinese characters Dianyue, the character Dian foreign envoys coming to China could be met can be explained as another simple name for by Chinese officials at Rinan which Shanguo present day Yunnan, while Yue is the same just bordered, so present day Thailand, Laos character which is generally considered as the and Vietnam wew also part of the Shan region name of the ancestors of present day Dai-Tai then".7 This is a more strained interpretation peoples in China and Southeast Asia. So it seems without any reliable evidence. that Dianyue can be explained as Yue in Yunnan. It has been suggested that the Chinese Furthermore, present day Dehong Dai Autono character Dianyue
Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) Shanguo is not a Shan Kingdom 181 ancestor of the Tai tribes in Mong Ri and Mong According to the above-mentioned chronicle Ram in the valley. Mong Ri and Mong Ram is ofKengtung, the Shan in present-day Kengtung regarded as today's Ruili (Shweli), a border are new comers from other areas. They came to city in Dehong. 12 Kengtung as late as the 13th century AD. The In his Introductory Sketch of the History of time when the Vas were driven away as reflected the Shans in Upper Burma and Western Yunnan, in the ceremony in Kengtung, in my opinion N. Elias mentions a story in another version of could not be earlier than the 13th century AD, the legend of the Dai-Shan peoples in Shweli although no date is mentioned. The Shan people Valley. It says that the ancestors of the Dai arrived in Kengtung much later than they came Shan people there are two sons of God named to the Shweli Valley. Kun Lung and Kun Lai and the time when they It is, therefore, erroneous to conclude that came there is 568 A.D. 13 Shanguo is a Shan kingdom built and ruled by In Sao Saimong Mangrai's The Shan States the Dai-Shan peoples in present day Shan State and the British Annexation, a story ofMengmao and the Sino-Burmese border area in the 1st to also says that the builder of Mongmao is Kun the 2nd centuries AD, even ifShanguo could be Lai, the younger of the brothers. The time when proved to be in today's Dehong of western Mongmao was built is still given as 568AD. 14 Yunnan and the Shan States in Burma. There In another legend about the history of Dai were no Shan people there then. Shan peoples in Shweli Valley described in a This leaves the question where is Shanguo Dai chronicle found in Dehong, the name of the and who are the people who inhabited it? As it builder ofMongmao is given as Kun Teng and is untenable to conclude that Shanguo is in the the time when he arrived at Mongmao is put at Shan State of Burma and Dehong ofYunnan or 762 AD, nearly 200 years later than the date in in Laos or anywhere else in mainland Southeast the other legend. 15 Asia, we should not limit our vision to the Sino There are some clearly mythological Burmese border area or in Burma or in some elements in these stories. For example, Kun other countries of mainland Southeast Asia. Lung and Kun Lai, the ancestors of the Dai If we read the materials about Shanguo in Shan peoples in the Sweli Valley are said to be Chinese annals more carefully, we find that the the sons of God. However, many scholars expression 'beyond' in the annals can be believe that there is some truth about the early misleading. For example, in one of the records history of Dai-Shan peoples in these stories, about Shanguo in Houhan Shu mentioned above, including the time they established their the envoys of Y ediaoguo and Shanguo came kingdom. Even using their own legends and from "somewhere beyond Rinan". We know, chronicles, the earliest time that the Dai-Shan however, that Yediao is a transliteration of peoples arrived and settled in the Shweli Valley Yavadvipa, it is just in Java, far away from is not earlier than the 6th century AD. Rinan! So "beyond Yongchang" or "beyond According to a chronicle of Kengtung, the Rinan", is not only the areas bordering native of Kengtung is Lva or Va, these Lva or Y ongchang or Rinan. It seems that we should Va were gradually conquered later by the extend our vision to fix the location of Shanguo. offspring ofMangrai, the northern Tai king who Where exactly is Shanguo? A clue exists in had conquered Hariphunchai, the Mon kingdom one of six records on Shanguo in Houhan Shu. in northern Thailand. 16 It has been unfortunately ignored up to now by Another text mentions a ceremony held in almost all of the scholars who regard Shanguo Kengtung when a new Sawbwa ascended the as a Shan (or Lao and Tai ) kingdom because of throne: some old men ofVa were invited to the their preconceived ideas. In Chen Chan Zhuan Sawbwa's court and were invited to sit on the (Bibliography of Chen Chan), Houhan Shu is throne and eat a meal. Suddenly a Shan official recorded a quarrel between Chen Chan and Chen called Phya Lai rushed in, abused them and Zhong, two high officials of the Later Han drove them away from the throne. This ceremony Dynasty, over a performance by musicians and continued in Kengtung until the end of the 19th magicians of Shanguo watched by the Emperor century. 17 Andi and his subjects at the court at the new
Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) 182 HE PING year of the second year ofYongning, 121 AD. "crossing over from Liusha and Xiandu". This This record might provide us a key to solve the is an important clue to determine the location of mystery. Shanguo. Following is the record about the clue of Where is Liusha? According to the Dic Shanguo in the Chen Chan Zhuan of Houhan tionary of the Historical Gazetteer of China, Shu: there are two places called Liusha (Flowing Sands). The first is the a desert in northwestern In the first year ofYongning (120 AD), the King China and the second is Bailongdui Sands in of Shanguo ('of' or 'and') southwestern Xinjiang, along the ancient Silk Road route barbarians came to contribute a performance by between China and the West. 19 The explanation musicians and magicians. The magicians could about Liusha in Cihai (The Grand Dictionary of spit out flames from their mouths, untie their Chinese Vocabulary) also names two places own arms and legs from tight bindin~s and mentioned in The Dictionary of Historical transfer the heads of oxen and horses to each Gazetteer ofChina.20 other. On New Year's Day the next year (121 Where is then Xiandu? The explanation in AD), they were invited to perform at the court. Cihai states: 'Xiandu, the ancient name of a His Majesty Andi and all of his subjects at the mountain, also called Xuandu. According to court were very surprised when they were Tongdian (General Regulations) Volume 193, watching it. Chen Chan suddenly stood up, raising it is 400 li away southwest ofKapanda (today's one of his hands, and shouted loudly: 'In the Tarshkurkan, Xinjiang, China). The road there past, there was a meeting attended by the was too narrow so people had to cross over it by representatives of the kingdoms of Qi and Lu hanging on to ropes, so it is called Xuandu together in a canyon. Confucius killed the (xuan, means 'to hang', du means 'to cross representative of Qi when he was playing the over'). It was an important mountain route in music of dwarfs and said 'This is the music of the west of China' .21 In his The History of Zheng, it is immoral music which will instigate Minority Nationalities in Frontier Areas of people to behave immorally. It is not proper to China, Liu Yitang thinks Xiandu is in Kaflristan have the music and magic of Yi-Di (barbarians) in eastern Afghanistan.22 at the royal court'. Chen Zhong, the Shangshu (a All the explanations of Liusha and Xiandu high official in Han Dynasty, later the title was (or Xuandu) mentioned above, in spite of minor equivalent to minister in the Ming and the Qing differences on the site ofXiandu, hold that they Dynasties-the author), however, rebuked Chen are in the west of China. The envoys ofShanguo Chan at once and said to His Majesty: 'In the who came to pay tribute to China by crossing past, many people coming from different over Liusha (Flowing Sands) and Xiandu from barbarian regions played their music and 10,000 li away, therefore, must have traveled performed their dances to entertain with their from somewhere beyond the west of China, and sovereign together at the royal court . . . The not from Burma or other countries in mainland envoys of Shanguo came to contribute to Your Southeast Asia. Majesty by crossing over Liusha and Xiandu In order to determine the location of from 10,000 li away, their music and dance Shanguo, another two special place terms should not be considered immoral like those of "Haixi" (the west of the sea) and "Daqin" (Great Zheng and Wei in the past, and they are not Qin) should be noted here. Xinan Yi Liezhuan immoral persons who will instigate other people (Bibliography of Southw,estem Barbarians) in to behave immorally. The actual aim of Chen Houhan Shu says: Chan is to slander Your Majesty, so I beg Your Majesty to imprison him.' His Majesty reduced In the first year of Y ongning, Y ongyoudiao, the Chen Chan to a lower rank rather than put him in King of Shanguo, sent another group of envoys jaii.l8 to the Capital to contribute musicians and magicians to His Majesty. The magicians could What we should note here is, according to transform themselves, spit out flames from their Chen Zhong, that the envoys of Shanguo came mouths, untie themselves from tight bindings,
Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) Shanguo is not a Shan Kingdom 183
and transfer the heads of oxen and horses to each from their mouth, untie themselves from tight other, they could throw nearly 1,000 pellets in bindings, throw 12 pellets in a circle at the same endless cycles at the same time. One of the time, these were very wonderful skills".28 magicians said: 'I am from Haixi (the west ofthe Evidently the magicians who came with or sea), Haixi is just Daqin. From the southwest of were brought by the envoys of Shanguo are Shanguo one can go to Daqin'.23 from Daqin or Haixi, and what is most important here is the words one of the magicians says: It is generally thought that both Haixi and "From the southwest of Shanguo one can go to Daqin are the names of the Roman Empire. Daqin".29 This shows that Shanguo should be Xiyu Zhuan (Bibliography of the Western north or northeast of Daqin (Roman Empire). Regions) in Houhan Shu says: "In the ninth And as the envoys of Shanguo had to cross over year of Y ongyuan, under the reign of Hedi, Liusha (Flowing Sands) and Xiandu or Xuandu General Ban Chao sent Gan Ying to Daqin. when they came to China, the location of When they arrived at Tiaozhi, they saw the sea. Shanguo should be to the west of Liusha and It is said that they wanted to sail over it".24 Xiandu (or Xuandu). Judging from this record, Daqin is west of It was in consideration of this that the records Tiaozhi, which is present day Syria. of Shanguo were excluded from E. H. Parker's The same bibliography also notes: "In the Burma with Special Reference to Her Relations fifth year of Y anxi (the fifth year of Y anxi is 166 with China. Parker believed that Shanguo should AD-the author), under the reign of His Majesty be somewhere in the eastern frontier of the Roman Huandi, Andun, the King of Daqin, sent envoys Empire, but he did not say where it was.30 to pay tribute with ivory, rhinoceros horns and Later Professor Gordon Luce held that the green turtles etc. The route (from Daqin to China) Chinese character 'shan' in the term Shanguo had been opened since then".25 The Andun here should be pronounced "tan", e.g. Tanguo rather is the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antonius. than Shanguo. He regarded Tan as Tanis near 'Andun' is the transliteration of Antonius. the mouth of the Nile River, and Y ongyoudiao, Weilue (An Introduction to the Wei Kingdom) the King of Shanguo, as the transliteration of records: "Daqin is also called Lixuan, it is in the Augustus, the Roman Emperor.31 But this west of Anxi, Tiaozhi, and the sea ... Because conclusion is not convincing enough, for it is it is west of the sea, it is traditionally called hard to relate the pronunciation ofYongyoudiao Haixi (west of the sea).26 Are Daqin and Lixuan to that of Augustus, and the location of Tanis the same kingdom? It is a controversial issue, does not tally with what the annals describe but it is obvious, according to the records of about that of Shanguo either. Weilue, that they are all no doubt in Haixi, west In 1991, Chen Yising in his "On Shanguo," of the sea. noted that Shanguo was Syria. Ancient Syria We also know by rechecking the annals that was called Sham (not Shan, but there is no the magicians brought by the envoys ofShanguo pronunciation of Sham in Chinese, so Sham to China are 'specialists' from Daqin or Haixi was pronounced as Shan) by Arabians. Later rather than Southeast Asia. For example, on, this Shamguo (not Shanguo) was mentioned Hanshu, Annals ofthe Han Dynasty records: in Du Huan's Jingxing Ji Actually the real transliteration ofboth is Sham rather than Shan.32 When the envoys of the Han Dynasty first arrived This is a convincing finding. If we check a at Anxi ... It (Anxi) sent the envoys to go to map, we see that Syria faces west towards Italy China together with the returned envoys of Han over the Mediterranean, e.g. 'From the southwest Dynasty. The envoys (of Anxi) contributed big of Shanguo one can go to Daqin'. And it is bird eggs and magicians of Lixuan to the Han when travelling from Syria to China that one Dynasty when they realized that it ruled over a has to go "across over Liusha and Xiandu". vast land.27 From Syria, the envoys of Shanguo can travel to China either from somewhere beyond Weilue also records that Daqin "had a lot of Yongchang along the land route or from strange magicians who could spit out flames somewhere beyond Rinan along the sea route.
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There is still a problem here because the This is a problem still to be answered. famous Silk Route from the Mediterranean to What is certain is that the Shanguo northwestern China dated from the Han Dynasty. mentioned in Houhan Shu is neither a kingdom As a rule, the envoys of Shanguo traveled to established by Shan or Dai or Tai people nor a Luoyang, the capital of China during the Later kingdom in Dehong or Burma or Laos or other Han Dynasty, after going over Liusha and places in mainland Southeast Asia. It is a mistake Xiandu along the Silk Route. Why did they repeated by many scholars ofTai Studies, and it travel the road to China from Y ongchang, is time it was corrected. western Yunnan? Perhaps they were blocked This is one part of the project supported by somewhere after going over Liusha and Xiandu ASIA Fellows Program and the MOE Project of and had to go along the "Southern Silk Route" Key Research Institutes of Humanities and through western Yunnan to the capital of China. Social Science in University.
Note
1 Tai-speaking peoples include all branches of the 13 N. Ellias, 1876/ntroductorySketch ofthe History Tai and the ethnic groups considered to have the of the Shans in Upper Burma amd Western Yunnan, same origin with the Tai, but sometimes, in order to Culcutta, pp. 13. differentiate them from each other, I also use the 14 Sao Saimong Mangrai, 1969 The Shan States terms Shan, Dai and Tai respectively to refer to the and the British Annexation, Ithaca: Cornell University, Tai-speaking peoples in Yunnan and Burma. Appendix II, p. iv. 2 Hei Benji (Bibliography of His Majesty Hedi) 15 Chaophraya Tammathet, 1988 The Chronicle of Houhan Shu, vol. 4. the Kings ofMeng Kawsanphi and Mengmao (Chinese 3 Xinan Yi Liezhuan (Bibliography ofSouthwestern translation), Yunnan: Minority Nationality Press of Barbarians) Houhan Shu, vol86. Yunnan, p. 15. 4 Andi Benji (Bi/iography of His Majesty Andi) 16 The Padaeng Chronicle and the Jengtung State Houhan Shu, vol. 5. Chronicle, 1981 translated by Sao Saimong Mangrai, 5 Shundi Benji (Bibliography of His Majesty University of Michigan, p. 3. Shundi), Houhan Shu, vol. 4. 17 Sao Saimong Mangrai, 1969 The Shan States 6 Shen Xu, 1986 "Yueshang is just Shan?A New and the British Annexation, Ithaca: Cornell University, Evidence of Ancient Laos", Southeast Asia (in Appendix II, p. vi. Chinese), no. 4, Kunming. 18 Chen Chan Zhuan (Bibliography ofChen Chan), 7 The Writing Group of Short History ofDai, 1986 Houhan Shu, vol. 15. Short Story of Dai (in Chinese), Yunnan: People's 19 The Editing Committee of the Dictionary of the Press of Yunnan, p. 11. Historical Gazetteer of China (Fudan University), 1986 8 Chen Xujing, 1962 The Outline ofAncient History Dictionary of the Historical Gazetteer of China (in ofShan?Tai Peoples, self-printed version, p.5. Chinese), Jiangxi: Educational Press of Jiangxi, p. 752. 9 Sao Saimong Mangrai, 1969 The Shan States 2° Cihai (The Grand Chinese Vocabulary) 1989, and the British Annexation, Ithaca: Cornell University Shanghai: Lexicographical Work Press of Shanghai, Press. p. 1071. 10 The Writing Group of Short History ofDai, 1986 21 Ibid. p. 546. Short Story ofDai, Yunnan: People's Press ofYunnan, 22 Liu Yitang, 1966, The History of Minorities pp. 5-6. Nationalities in Frontier Areas ofChina (in Chinese), 11 Wen Jiang, 1980 "On Dianyue", The Theses Taipei, Taiwan: Publishing House of China, p. 99. Series Literature and History of China (in Chinese), 23 Xian Yi Liezhuan (Bibliography ofSouthwestern no. 2, Shanghai: The Ancient Book Press of Shanghai, Barbarians) in Houhan Shu, vol. 86. pp. 62-65. 24 Xiyu Zhuan (Bibliography ofthe Western Regions) 12 Fang Guoyu, 1958 The Chronological Collections in Houhan Shu, vol. 118. ofthe Historical Materials ofYunnan Province during 25 Ibid. the Yuan Dynasty, Yunnan: People's Press ofYunnan, 26 Weilue (An Introduction to the Wei Kingdom), pp. 23-28. Ibid.
Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) Shanguo is not a Shan Kingdom 185
27 Han Shu, (Annals ofthe Han Dynasty) vol. 96 to Her Relations with China, Rangoon, Burma, pp. 28 XiyuZhuan (Bibliography ofthe Western Regions) 156-157 inHouhan Shu, vol. 118. 31 G. H. Luce, 1924 "Tan and Ngai Lao," Journal 29 Xinan Yi Liezhuan (Bibliography ofSouthwestern ofBurma Research Society, vol. XIV, p. 101. Barbarians) in Houhan Shu, vol. 86. 32 Chen Yising, 1991 "On Shanguo," Journal of 30 E. H. Parker, 1893 Burma with Special Reference Mainland, vol. 83, no. 4, pp. 146-147.
Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000)