CHINESE CERAMICS AND TRADE IN 14TH CENTURY SOUTHEAST ASIA——A CASE STUDY OF SINGAPORE XIN GUANGCAN (BA History, PekingU;MA Archaeology, PekingU) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2015 Acknowledgements Upon accomplishing the entire work of this thesis, it is time for me to acknowledge many people who have helped me. First, I will like to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisor Dr.John N. Miksic from the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He has dedicated a lot of precious time to supervising me, from choosing the thesis topic, organizing the fieldwork plans, to giving much valued comments and advice on the immature thesis drafts. I am the most indebted to him. The committee member Dr. Patric Daly from the Asian Research Institute and Dr. Yang Bin from the History Department, who gave me useful suggestions during the qualifying examination. I also would like to thank the following people who have given me a lot of support during my fieldwork and final stage of writing. For the fieldtrip in Zhejiang Province, with the help of Mr. Shen Yueming, the director of Zhejiang Relics and Archaeology Institute, I was able to be involved in a meaningful excavation of a Song to Yuan Dynasty ceramic kiln site in Longquan County. During the excavation, the deputy team leader Mr. Xu Jun and the local researcher Mr. Zhou Guanggui gave a lot of suggestions on the identification of Longquan celadon. Moreover, Ms. Wu Qiuhua, Mr. Yang Guanfu, and Mr. Xu Xiaoping from the local Longquan Celadon Museum showed great hospitality to the archaeology team. I believe all the team members had benefited greatly from the i surveys and excavations. For the fieldtrip in Fujian Province, I got much advice from Mr. Li Jian’an from Fujian Provincial Museum. I could not thank him more. His advice for my itinerary of the surveys in Southern Fujian was constructive. Ms. Li Rongqing and Mr. Song Pengbo are also much appreciated for their help which had made my travel much easier. During my short visit to the county museums, warm reception from local curators and staff is quite impressive. Mr. You Guopeng, Ms. Ke Fengmei and Mr. Xu Feng from Putian Museum showed me many samples from their own investigations. Mr. Xu Feng even accompanied me to several kiln sites on hills, which made the trip very fruitful. It was a memorable scene when Ms. Chen Lifang from Dehua Museum who drove me to kiln sites on her electric bicycle. Mr. Fu Enfeng from the Quanzhou Maritime Museum and Ms. Wu Yijuan from the Quanzhou Museum kindly showed me the exhibitions and introduced their newly discoveries. For the fieldtrip in Trowulan, Drs. Soviyani Aris, the head of Trowulan Museum, provided me with nice accommodation in the museum, as well as a good environment for my classification work. The staff, especially those girls, Nurika, Rerwita, Putri, Yanti, from the ceramic department, had helped me too much. How could I forget they gave me a lift to the office every morning and back to the guest room every night! Mr. Minos Kosmadakis, an archaeology enthusiast from the University of Copenhagen, helped a lot with the ceramic classification work in Trowulan Museum. I will never forget the good time spent with Singapore archaeologists and volunteers in our Archaeology Laboratory. Dr. Goh Geok Yian from Nanyang ii Technological University gave me a lot of suggestions on the classification of ceramic sherds, as well as the organization of the dissertation’s framework. Her professional advice has always been an important source of inspiration. The enthusiastic volunteer Ms. Aoki Ryoko’s assistance to the lab work had enabled me to use the classified materials as sooner as possible. Her warm greetings also gave me much spiritual support. Mr. Lim Chen Sian from the Archaeology Unit of ISEAS kindly introduced me to the excavations he was involved and provided some photos of the artefacts found from the excavations. Ms. Foo Shu Tieng, also from the Archaeology Unit, and I always communicated with each other on the most concerned issues in the field of archaeology. Mr. Lim Tse Siang, who had generously agreed to offer his original materials to me for extended research, is much appreciated. My mentor Dr. Qin Dashu from Peking University, Ms. Yuan Quan from Capital Normal University, and Mr. Wang Guangyao from the Palace Museum helped me with the identification of the porcelain sherds unearthed in Singapore. I will like to express my most sincere gratitude to them. Ms. Wong Wai Yee, now teaching in the Chinese University of Hong Kong ， was a senior archaeology student in our department of Southeast Asian Studies, gave me a lot of spiritual encouragement which helped me tide through this very tough time of writing. My very best friend Ms. Chong Yuan Jian is specifically appreciated with her inspiring thoughts and hardworking character, plus the friendliest Singapore state banquet. iii During the final stage of my thesis writing, several students from our department had organized a small writing group, so that we could support each other. It was quite a good experience. I owe my thanks to these group members, who make our writing period much more pleasant. I will also like to thank Ms. Rohani Sungib at the general office who has helped me with administrative matters. My thanks also go to all the staff in the department. My landlord Ms. Han Yulan is the nicest Singaporean auntie I have ever met. Since I rented one room of her small apartment on Dover Crescent Road in 2012, she has been doing the laundries for me and keeping the house clean and tidy. Although it seems like a small matter, the most important thing is that I do not need to fork out extra time to do any household chores even on weekends, so that I could concentrate on my thesis writing. I will like to dedicate my thesis to my parents. Without their spiritual encouragement and financial support I would never been able to go farther on my way to pursuing my academic goals. My grandmother, my aunt and my brother also gave me lots of warm support and I am deeply grateful for this. I can never say enough about these fabulous people and how grateful I am to all of them. It is their supports that make the hopes over the whole way of finishing my dissertation. Without doubt, the path tomy PhD has made me a more mature research fellow. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................i Table of Contents............................................................................................................v Summary........................................................................................................................ix List of Tables..................................................................................................................x List of Maps.................................................................................................................xii List of Figs..................................................................................................................xiii Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................................1 1.1 Historical perspectives on Chinese ceramics trade in Southeast Asia during the 14th century C.E.......................................................................................................1 1.2 Relevant research achievements...............................................................................7 1.2.1 The seaborne routes between China and Southeast Asia...............................7 1.2.2 Historic ports of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra before the 14th century..9 1.3 Archaeological discoveries and historical accounts regarding early Singapore.....12 1.3.1 Archaeological discoveries in Singapore.....................................................12 1.3.2 Current studies about 14th century Singapore—recovering early Singapore in historical documents..........................................................................................14 1.4 Comparing Chinese ceramic sherds from Singapore with those found in the original Chinese kiln sites......................................................................................16 1.5 Comparing the artefacts in Singapore with Trowulan of the 14th century..............18 1.6 Hypotheses and methodology.................................................................................20 v 1.6.1 Hypotheses...................................................................................................20 1.6.2 Methodology.................................................................................................22 1.7 Contribution to the field.........................................................................................26 1.8 Strengths and limitations........................................................................................28 Chapter 2: Historical Studies........................................................................................30 2.1 Historical records and travel accounts....................................................................30 2.1.1 Previous textual studies on ancient Singapore.............................................30 2.1.2 Accounts related to 14th century Southeast Asia..........................................39 2.1.3 Bureaucracies and policies for overseas