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Yang Xiu and Song Qi :Xin T'angshu
(New history of the Tang Dynasty) (1066)
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The New Book of Tang (Xin Tangshu), is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the Song dynasty, led by Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi. It took 17 years to compile the book and it was submitted to the throne in 1060 by Zeng Gongliang 曾公亮. The argument of the compilers to write a new history of the Tang was that the Xintangshu contained "more facts described with less words". He repeats some material on East Africa.
Right: Abyssinia (= Laobosa) (the inscription reads)This town is the capital of Habash. From this place it takes three months to Canton by sea.
Picture taken from Origine de l’islamisme en Chine… par Gabriel Devéria. From after the Middle Ages but using the information of the travels of Zheng He.
Taken from: Kunlun and Kunlun Slaves as Buddhists in the Eyes of the Tang Chinese by KANG HEEJUNG
Yuan 150
The end of an area. Empress Wu (r. 690-704) moved
the Guangzhou (1) Governor. The South China Sea has coming from the outer area the Kunlun bo (Kunlun Ships), and the former governor Lu Yuanrui took their goods.
See also: Note on KUNLUN
Empire
Page describing: 撥拔力 bo ba li
Taken from: Teobaldo Filesi; China and Africa in the Middle Ages.
Yuan 221 Western Barbarians Xiyu liezhuan 西域列傳
(when talking about the nomadic countries in Asia)
This bird is commonly called camel-bird. (=Ostrich) It is seven feet high, black of color, its feet like those of a camel, it can travel 300 li (2) a day, and is able to eat iron.
………..Crossing the desert in the south-west of Fu-lin,(byzantium) at a distance of
2,000 li (2) there are two countries called Mo-lin (3) and Lao-p'o-sa (or Laobosa)(4). Their inhabitants are black and of a violent disposition. The country is malarious and has no vegetation.
They feed their horses of dried fish, and live themselves on hu-mang (the Persian date Phoenix dactylifera). The Zimzim, practice incest and in this respect are worst of all the barbarians (5);
they call this establishing the relation between lord and subject. On one of seven days they refrain from doing business, and carouse all night.
………..South west (of the Arabs) is the sea and in the sea are the tribes of
Po-Pa-Li.(in Cantonese Put-pat-lik is a transcription of Barbarik) These tribes are not subject to any country. They do not cultivate grain, but live on meat and drink a
mixture of milk and cow's blood; they do not wear clothes but cover their bodies with sheepskins. Their women are intelligent and handsome. The country produces a great quantity of ivory and
incense, o-mo (in Cantonese o-mut is omur, standing for Persian Ambar). When merchants traveling from Po-ssi (Persia) want to go there for trade, they have to go in groups of several thousand
persons, and after offering pieces of material and swearing a solemn oath (of blood) they proceed to do their business.
Note: Mo-lin must have been somewhere in the horn of Africa, Laobosa however is easily to identify with al-Habasha, (Ethiopia. )
Taken from: Gustaaf Schlegel; Siamese Studies
Diplomacy and Trade in the Chinese World, 589-1276 by Hans Bielenstein
Yuan 222 Southern barbarians Nanman liezhuan 南蠻列傳
4a
On Oct.4, 813, envoys from the K’o-ling State (=Holing)(7) presented four zanggi youths (8), a five-coloured parrot, cockatoos, a p’in-chia bird, rare aromatics, and valuables of various kinds. The emperor appointed the chief envoy to the Courageous Garrison of the Left at the Four Gates. He yielded this title to his younger brother, whereupon the emperor appointed both to nominal Chinese offices.
5a
Notice of
(Sri-Bodji:) 室利佛逝 Srivijaya
(9)
Sri-Bodji is situated 2000 chinese miles beyond the Gunturaug-mountains. The country extends itself 1000 miles from East to West, and 4000 miles and more from North to South. It counts 14 cities and is divided into two states. Its whole western part is called Lang-Baros (Lang Polu). It produces much gold, cinnabar and camphor. A gnomon of eight feet high, erected on the day of the summer- solstice, casts its shadow 2 feet and 5 inches towards the South. There are many males in this country, and there is found a kind of camel with spots like a leopard, and horns like a rhinoceros, which animal is used for riding and ploughing. It is called Camel-ox-leopard (=Persian word for Giraffe. His description of the giraffe is taken from Bai Juyi (846).). There is, besides, an animal resembling a hog, with horns like a wild goat, which is called Ubah (or Ujiok). It has a nice taste and yields a savory food….During the k’ai-yuan period (713AD-724AD) in the 7th month (July/ Aug. of 724) when offering tribute they brought a dwarf; and two female zengqi slaves as dancers (8); various musicians, and a five-coloured parrot. The envoy was given a nominal Chinese title and 100 bolts (6) of silk. The king was appointed General-in-chief of the Awesome Guards of the Left and presented with a purple robe and a belt of fine gold.
The book also mentions an island called kat-kat sangi countri which was an island of the northwestern corner of Sumatra.
Taken from: The "Lion and Kunlun Slave" Image:A Motif of Buddhist Art Found in Unified Silla Funerary Sculpture* by Youngae LIMyayim0105@naver.com
Yuan 222
In the Xin Tangshu, there are references to the Kunlunnu in their capacity as Tang dynasty musicians. In these excerpts, the Kunlunnu is either wearing a zhaoxiabu 朝霞布 wrapped around the shoulder and tied at the underarm, or various accessories. In both conditions, the text once again verifies the lion tamer’s identity as a foreign slave or Kunlunnu:
All of the musicians are Kunlun people [with dark skin] who wear dark red cotton and cover their knees with a zhaoxiabu also known as a geman 裓襔. The zhaoxiabu covers both shoulders and is tied at the underarms. Rings and bracelets made of gold and precious jewels adorn their feet and arms. (Xin Tangshu 222, 6341; Xin Tangshu 1039)
(1) Guangzhou: formerly Canton; A city of southern China on the Pearl River Delta near the South China Sea.
(2) Li: a Chinese mile, now standardised at 500m. (Has historically fluctuated between 323m and 645m)
(3) Mo-lin: must have been somewhere in the horn of Africa. Still being discussed.
(4) Habasha; the Arab name for Ethiopia.
(5) This whole paragraph is also found with way more information added in Ma Tuan-lin, (Wen-Hsien-t'ung-k'ao) (1295). There three religions are mentioned: Ta-shih : Muslim, 2;-Ta-ts'in: Monofysite Christians, 3;-Hsun-Hsun: traditional religion. This last one is the Zimzim.
The following authors give at least part of this text: Tu Yu (801), Yang Xiu and Song Qi (1066); Ma Tuan-lin (1295).
(6) Bolts are the rolls of cloth manufactured by a loom. In modern Britain one bolt represents a strip of cloth 100 yards (91.44 meters) long.
(7) see my webpage: Note on Inscriptions in Java
(8) see my webpage: See Note on Sangi Slaves
(9) Srivijaya was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra.