Strange parallels volume 1 integration of the mainland southeast asia in global

Tai Lieu Chat Luong This page intentionally left blank Strange Parallels Volume 1: Integration of the Mainland Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830 This is the first volume in an ambitious two-volume study of a thou- sand years of Southeast Asian political, cultural, and economic his- tory. The study has two goals: to overcome the fragmentation of early Southeast Asian historiography and for the first time to connect Southeast Asian to world history in serious and sustained fashion. A blend of detailed archival work and secondary research, of local inquiry and large-scale theorization, Volume 1 argues that each of mainland Southeast Asia’s three great lowland corridors experienced a pattern of accelerating integration punctuated by recurrent collapse.

These trajectories were broadly synchronized not only between cor- ridors, but, most curiously, between the mainland and other sectors of Eurasia. This volume describes the nature of consolidation – which was simultaneously territorial, religious, and ethnic – and dissects the fluid interplay of endogenous and external pressures encouraging that trend. Volume 2 will explore parallels with Russia, France, and Japan c. 800–1830 and will explain why in yet other areas of Eurasia frag- mentation, not integration, became the norm.

Here is a fundamentally original analysis of both Southeast Asia and the premodern world. Victor Lieberman is Professor of Southeast Asian History at the Uni- versity of Michigan. His publications include Burmese Administrative Cycles: Anarchy and Conquest, c. 1580–1760, which won the Harry J.

Benda Prize from the Association for Asian Studies, and an edited col- lection, Beyond Binary Histories: Re-imagining Eurasia to c. Papers in that collection originally appeared as a special edition of Modern Asian Studies devoted to an examination of Lieberman’s scholarship. studies in comparative world history Editors Michael Adas, Rutgers University Philip D. Curtin, The Johns Hopkins University Other Books in the Series Michael Adas, Prophets of Rebellion: Millenarian Protest Movements Against the European Colonial Order (1979) Philip D.

Curtin, Cross-Cultural Trade in World History (1984) Leo Spitzer, Lives in Between: Assimilation and Marginality in Austria, Brazil, and West Africa, 1780–1945 (1989) Philip D. Curtin, The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex: Essays in Atlantic History (1990) John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Formation of the Atlantic World, 1400–1680 (1992) Marshall G. Hodgson and Edmund Burke III (ed.), Rethinking World History (1993) David Northrup, Indentured Labor in the Age of Imperialism, 1834–1922 (1995) Lauren Benton, Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 1400–1900 (2002) Strange Parallels Volume 1 Integration of the Mainland Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830 victor lieberman University of Michigan    Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , United Kingdom Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.org Information on this title: www.org/9780521800860 © Victor Lieberman 2003 This book is in copyright.

Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2003 - isbn-13 978-0-511-07175-1 eBook (EBL) - isbn-10 0-511-07175-2 eBook (EBL) - isbn-13 978-0-521-80086-0 hardback - isbn-10 0-521-80086-2 hardback - isbn-13 978-0-521-80496-7 paperback -  paperback isbn-10 0-521-80496-5 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. To Sharon, and to the memory of my mother and father Contents List of Figures page xi Principal Political Eras on the Mainland xiii Abbreviations Used in the Notes xv Preface xix 1 Introduction: The Ends of the Earth 1 Part A: Rethinking Southeast Asia 6 Part B: Implications for Eurasia 66 2 One Basin, Two Poles: The Western Mainland and the Formation of Burma 85 3 A Stable, Maritime Consolidation: The Central Mainland 212 4 “The Least Coherent Territory in the World”: Vietnam and the Eastern Mainland 338 Conclusion and Prologue 457 Index 461 ix List of Figures 1.1 Territorial Consolidation in Central Mainland Southeast Asia and in the Russian Plains and Siberia page 3 1.2 Territorial Consolidation in Western Mainland Southeast Asia and in France 4 1.3 Mainland Southeast Asia, c.4 Mainland Southeast Asia, c.5 Mainland Southeast Asia, c.6 Mainland Southeast Asia in 1824 32 1.7 Administrative Patterns on the Mainland 35 1.8 Some Elements in the Integration of Mainland Realms to 1830 and Their Potential Interactions 65 2.1 Western Mainland Southeast Asia 86 2.2 Religious Donations at Pagan 109 2.3 Composite Time Series for Recurrence of El Niño Events since 622 c.4 Long-term Fluctuations in Vegetation and Temperature 111 3. Central Mainland Southeast Asia 213 xi List of Figures 3.2 Distribution of Rice Husk Types by Period in Thailand and Cambodia 250 4.1 Eastern Mainland Southeast Asia 339 4.2 Estimated Population of Vietnam 420 xii Principal Political Eras on the Mainland western mainland Pyu Era, c.

950–1300 Ava Period, 1365–1555 Independent Ra-manya Polity, c. 1300–1539 First Toungoo Dynasty, c. 1486–1599 Restored Toungoo Dynasty, 1597–1752 Kon-baung Dynasty, 1752–1885 central mainland Funan, c. 550–900 Pre-Angkorian Cambodia, c.

1440 Early Ayudhya Period, 1351–1569 Late Ayudhya Period, 1569–1767 Taksin, 1767–1782 Chakri Dynasty, 1782–present eastern mainland Chinese Imperial Period, 43–938 Ly Dynasty, 1009–1225 Tran Dynasty, 1225–1400 xiii Principal Political Eras on the Mainland Ming Occupation, 1407–1427 Le Dynasty, 1428–1788 Mac Period at Thang Long, 1527–1592 Trinh Period, 1592–1786 Southern Nguyen Period, c. 1600–1802 Tayson Era, 1771–1802 Nguyen Dynasty, 1802–1945 xiv Abbreviations Used in the Notes A Original Inscriptions Collected by King Bodawpaya in Upper Burma and Now Placed Near the Patodawgyi Pagoda, Amarapura (Rangoon, 1913). AA-L Let-we-naw-yahta, “Alaung-min-taya-gyi ayei-daw- bon,” in U Hla Tin, ed., Alaung-hpaya ayei-daw-bon hnasaung-dwe (Rangoon, 1961), 1–152. AAS Association for Asian Studies AA-T Twin-thin-taik-wun, “Alaung-min-taya-gyi ayei-daw- bon,” in U Hla Tin, ed., Alaung-hpaya ayei-daw-bon hnasaung-dwe (Rangoon, 1961), 153–233.

AHR American Historical Review B I, B II Inscriptions Copied from the Stones Collected by King Bodawpaya and Placed Near the Arakan Pagoda, Mandalay, 2 vols. BEFEO Bulletin de l’Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient BL OR 3464 British Library, London. Burmese translation of Mon history of Pegu by Monk of Athwa. Composed late 1760s (?), transcribed 1847.

BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London BTLV Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde CC Climatic Change CEHI The Cambridge Economic History of India. 1750, Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib, eds. xv Abbreviations Used in the Notes CHSEA The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia. 1: From Earliest Times to c.

1800, Nicholas Tarling, ed. CSSH Comparative Studies in Society and History Dal Reprint from Dalrymple’s Oriental Repertory, 1791–97 of Portions Relating to Burma (Rangoon, 1926). EHR Economic History Review GRL Geophysical Research Letters GUBSS Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States, J. George Scott and J., Part II, 3 vols.

HNY Hman-nan-daw-u-dwin pyu-zi-yin-ya-thaw maha-ya- zawin-daw-gyi, vol. Inscriptions numbered according to Chas., A List of Inscriptions Found in Burma. JAH Journal of Asian History JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JAS Journal of Asian Studies JBRS Journal of the Burma Research Society JEH Journal of Economic History JEMH Journal of Early Modern History JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient JIH Journal of Interdisciplinary History JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland JSEAH Journal of Southeast Asian History JSEAS Journal of Southeast Asian Studies JSS Journal of the Siam Society JWH Journal of World History KBZ Kon-baung-zet maha-ya-zawin-daw-gyi, U Tin (Man- dalay), comp. LBHK Thi-ri-u-zana, Law-ka-byu-ha kyan (In-yon sa-dan), U Hpo Lat, ed.

LFSG India Office Records, London. Records of Fort St. Letters to Fort St. List List of Microfilms Deposited in the Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, Part 8, Burma (Tokyo, 1976).

MAS Modern Asian Studies xvi Abbreviations Used in the Notes MMOS U Tin (Pagan Wun-dauk), Myan-ma-min ok-chok-pon sa- dan, 5 vols. National Library, Rangoon, MS 1950, etc. PP Past and Present PPA Inscriptions of Pagan, Pinya and Ava (Rangoon, 1892). REO Revue de l’Extreme-Orient ROB The Royal Orders of Burma, A.

1598–1885, Than Tun, ed. RUL 45235 Rangoon University Library MS 45235, “Nyaung-yan mintaya let-htet-daw-ga-thi Anauk-hpet-lun Tha-lun- min-taya-taing min-thon-zet amein-daw .” no tran- scription date. SEAR South East Asian Research SHDMA Maung Thu-ta, Sa-hso-daw-mya at-htok-pat-ti (rpt. SMK Burma, Department of Archaeology, Shei-haung myan- ma kyauk-sa-mya, t.

TL Maha-dama-thin-gyan, Tha-thana-lin-ga-ya sa-dan (Rangoon, 1897). UB Inscriptions Collected in Upper Burma, 2 vols. UK U Kala, Maha-ya-zawin-gyi. 1, 2, Saya Pwa, ed.

3, Hsaya U Kin So (Rangoon, 1961). ZOK Zam-bu-di-pa ok-hsaung kyan, J. Furnivall and Pe Maung Tin, eds. To facilitate identification, the first time each nonabbreviated source appears in the notes of a new chapter, that source receives a full citation with author, title, place, and date of publication.

xvii Preface My strongest academic memory from graduate school – a feeling, I am certain, not unique to me – was a sense that precolonial Southeast Asian historiography was desperately chaotic and difficult to penetrate. Texts available in the 1970s and 1980s offered an endless array of names, battles, and dates with few, if any, long-term patterns discernible for individual realms, much less the region as a whole or major subregions. I also remember thinking – a more idiosyncratic reverie, no doubt – how very curious it was that the 16th-century unification of Burma coincided with the dramatic annexations of Ivan IV in Russia, and that in both Russia and Burma these conquests yielded to periods of utter chaos at the turn of the 17th century. Preoccupied with Burmese research, I relegated such coincidences to the “useless trivia” section of my mind.

But years later, when completion of some Burma projects allowed me to revisit the issue of correlations, it gradually dawned on me that far from being a 16th-century peculiarity, parallel chronologies extended throughout much of Burmese and Russian history. What is more, I began to realize, substantially similar chronologies were shared by other far- flung sectors of Eurasia with no obvious connection to either Burma or Russia. The present two-volume study Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830 addresses these abiding, ultimately interre- lated, concerns: What were the principal long-term trends in precolonial Southeast Asian political, cultural, and economic history? How did that history relate to the rest of the world? Volume One: Integration of the Mainland, focuses on sustained political and cultural integration in each of the three chief sectors of continental Southeast Asia.

Of course, this is xix Preface hardly the only possible narrative – one could as easily consider trends in gender relations, literature, or Chinese trade, with rather different implications for compartmentalizing Southeast Asia – but it is a critical story that touches on diverse spheres and facilitates novel comparisons between mainland Southeast Asia and other parts of Eurasia. Volume Two: Mainland Mirrors: Russia, France, Japan, and the Islands attempts pre- cisely such comparisons. It argues that in terms of linear-cum-cyclic trajectories, chronology, and dynamics, the mainland resembled much of Europe and Japan, but diverged significantly from South Asia and island Southeast Asia. My own expertise in non-European primary sources is in Burmese.

As soon as I decided on this comparative project, I therefore had to decide: should I attempt to write about regions outside Burma, or should I collaborate with other specialists? A concern for expertise in- stinctively inclined me to the latter approach, which in fact inspired an earlier collection of essays I edited, Beyond Binary Histories: Re-imagining Eurasia to c. 1830, in which nine specialists commented on the applicabil- ity to their areas, ranging from France to Java, of more general theories of Eurasian development.1 Yet, despite their authority and despite a preliminary effort to get each contributor to address a common set of themes, in the end these essays, I think, remained rather disparate.