According to the Cambodian tale "Thon-Chey", the Chinese learned to make noodle from the clever Khmer Thon-Chey (albeit it could be a "tall" tale also)Researchers discovered a group of ancient ethnic Khmers living in southern China
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
By Khmerization Source: RFA
Dr. Soum Chhum Bun, Secretary General of the Cambodian Royal Academy who is a researcher of cultural heritage and civilisation of the Asian region, has told RFA's reporter, Mr. Orm Oudom, on 26th April that researchers have discovered a group of more than 1,000 ancient ethnic Khmers living in Sisorng Phana region in southern China. He said this group of ethnic Khmers were descendants of Khmer mahouts and Khmer cooks sent by Khmer kings to help train elephants and cook Khmer food for the Chinese emperor in the 13th century which was at the end of the Angkorian era. "The Khmer king sent two Khmer families to help keep and care for the (Chinese emperor's) elephants. Later, when the Khmer king found out that emperor Ching Hong likes Khmer food, he sent another two families to cook for Emperor Ching Hong. That's why they (those ethnic Khmers) said that the four families of their ancestors came to China from Cambodia. Presently, there were about 1,000 ethnic Khmers living in their village and they can speak some ancient Khmer language which they still can remember", he said.
Dr. Soum Chhum Bun said the reason the Khmer kings sent Khmer mahouts and Khmer cooks to the Chinese imperial court in Sisorng Phana region was because at that time Cambodia had formed a very close tie with the Chinese imperial court in Sisorng Phana region due to Cambodia's long wars with the T'ai people, which presently known as Thais. Dr. Soum said the Cambodian Royal Academy will send its researchers to conduct study on this group of ancient Khmers in Sisorng Phana region very soon.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
By Khmerization Source: RFA
KI-Media note: In the Cambodian tale of “Thon-Chey”, Thon-Chey’s cleverness earned him the ire of the Khmer king who exiled him to China. Upon arriving there, Thon-Chey made “num banh-chok”, the Cambodian noodle, to sell to make a living. His food was the rave among the Chinese who never ate noodle before (most likely a mockery of the Chinese by Thon-Chey’s author). One day, the Chinese emperor ordered that Thon-Chey be brought to the palace along with his “num banh-chok” so that the emperor may have a taste of it. Prior to entering the palace, Thon-Chey was told that he is not allowed to look at the face of the emperor. This order made Thon-Chey even more curious. As the Chinese emperor was eating the noodle, he had to pick it up with chopsticks, tilt his head backward to gulp the long string noodle. Thon-Chey then took the opportunity to sneak a peek at the emperor’s face, after which he spoke to himself: “Muk sdach chen doch kdet chhker, muk sdach khmer to kher penh boramey” (The face of the Chinese emperor looks like the dog’s derriere, whereas the face of the Khmer king looks like a full moon). As it turned out, the Chinese emperor overheard Thon-Chey’s comment and ordered him to be thrown in jail. The tale went on to tell Thon-Chey making Khmer kites (khleng ek) while he was in jail, and how the noise made by the kite bothered the Chinese emperor enough that he ordered Thon-Chey be released and sent back to Cambodia. It appears that the tale of Khmer people teaching the Chinese is not a tale at all, but rather a fact.A group of Khmer cultural heritage and civilisation researchers have just discovered a group of ancient Khmers living in one region of southern China, reports Radio Free Asia.
Dr. Soum Chhum Bun, Secretary General of the Cambodian Royal Academy who is a researcher of cultural heritage and civilisation of the Asian region, has told RFA's reporter, Mr. Orm Oudom, on 26th April that researchers have discovered a group of more than 1,000 ancient ethnic Khmers living in Sisorng Phana region in southern China. He said this group of ethnic Khmers were descendants of Khmer mahouts and Khmer cooks sent by Khmer kings to help train elephants and cook Khmer food for the Chinese emperor in the 13th century which was at the end of the Angkorian era. "The Khmer king sent two Khmer families to help keep and care for the (Chinese emperor's) elephants. Later, when the Khmer king found out that emperor Ching Hong likes Khmer food, he sent another two families to cook for Emperor Ching Hong. That's why they (those ethnic Khmers) said that the four families of their ancestors came to China from Cambodia. Presently, there were about 1,000 ethnic Khmers living in their village and they can speak some ancient Khmer language which they still can remember", he said.
Dr. Soum Chhum Bun said the reason the Khmer kings sent Khmer mahouts and Khmer cooks to the Chinese imperial court in Sisorng Phana region was because at that time Cambodia had formed a very close tie with the Chinese imperial court in Sisorng Phana region due to Cambodia's long wars with the T'ai people, which presently known as Thais. Dr. Soum said the Cambodian Royal Academy will send its researchers to conduct study on this group of ancient Khmers in Sisorng Phana region very soon.
22 comments:
thon-chey story have some facts, otherwise, it wouldn't be in khmer literature.
Wow, actually Chinese also copying Cambodian.
What I don't understand is Thai. They came up with their name eventhough those were orignally from Cambodian.
Like Pad Thai, we made these as well and called it Koy Tiev Cha.
Another one I've found it irriated was Thai eggplant. Since when only Thai has this vegetable?
KhmerUSA,
Hopefully, researcher shown the truth otherwise it's just a tale.
I hope it is true though.
awesome news there, Khmerization.
you know, siem is trying to make the world who are ignorant of khmer thing that every food items are existed only in siem country. i doubt that; if the world's people come visit cambodia, they too will know that cambodia is a rich country in cuisine and more as well, not just siem, you know! i think khmer people should start naming everything food, fruits, vegetables, mints, etc, etc in our khmer language again from now on. of course, khmer people have names for everything found in our food as well, you know, not just siem, really! if you want to learn more about khmer food, etc, please come get educated in cambodia for you will have a rude awakening that cambodia is truly a rich country. it is only look poor due to mismanagement or being abused by some people, but overall, my country is very rich in food and more... please do come enjoy cambodia and you may not want to leave again. cambodia is a truly magical country to see, to visit, to live, to work, to relax, to discover, to sample our food, etc... god bless my country cambodia.
I enjoy Cambodia pussy. Yummy
oh come on guys. Siam food and Khmer food is as different as American and French. Stop saying it is the same.
Okay, the countryside cuisine are the same since they're mostly made up of Khmer and Laos people anyway and we eat the same way.
But the Bangkokians cuisine are distinctive and highly influenced by Chinese cuisine.
They are different from us. Stop saying everything is the same, it makes we look clingy like we got nothing of our own.
To say they copied or emulate our architectural design, okay, I can see its written on the wall. To say they adapted our bokator and pradal serey and called it Muay Boran and Muay Thai, okay, that's all carved on the walls.
To say they used our alphabets system as based, okay, it's written on their currency our numbers.
To say that they use adopted our divine god-king cult, alright, we can see Thai's god-king's influence today with the die-hard yellow shirts.
But... to say that they also copied our food! Come on, please! Give me a break guys!
Give the Thais some credits.
i love khmer nom bonchok. i love eating it everyday when i'm in cambodia. i think khmer nom bonchok is one of the national dishes of cambodia, really!
khmer have many names for our foods, fruits, vegetables, desserts, etc, etc... please help to promote our khmer food again in both cambodia and the world as well. god bless cambodia.
I strongly believe that many of Thai cookings were influenced by Khmer. For example, if one look closely, one would notice that most the name of the spices were in Khmer despite slight different in pronounciation. The spices that commonly use in Khmer cooking such as: ta krai (sleuk krey), ta prout (mareas prov) and Sdao ( sdao). These are just to name a few.
Khmer K
Yep, Khmer is the first guy tried to eat shit, but the dogs took all the credit. Fukc Khmer for long
Sipsong Phanna = (a thai term meaning 12,000 rice fields; this term came into existence in the area because the Tai people gained control of that region after Khmer presently just north of Laos, but in Southern China.
Sipsong Phanna was part of Khmer empire in ancient time. Khmer people should not be surprised that there are still 1000 Khmer people living there.
Khmer Loeu
In China there are 56 minoriteis recognize by the gov't. One of these minorities is called Wa Zu, or Wa national.
Lingquist list them as a branch of Mon-Khmer language family. There are half a million of them in Yunnan.
They look so much like the Khmer majority in Cambodia, dark skin and eyes a little wider. When I met them March of this year they thought I was one of them. I asked them to say something in their language, but I could not understand, though it is nothing like Chinese.
Maybe someone do research about them too.
And also Fireworks(feu d'artifice)that Chiv Takwan had written.
My khmer people even master mind the chinese very impresive.
legend also has it that Japanese merchants arriving in Oudong in the 18th century observed Khmers making these nom banchok noodles. they couldn't wait returning home with their discovery and thus was born the Udon noodles. no kidding.
4:03
show us some leads. we are all ears for the facts to the history of Khmer civilization and how far it spreads.
IF CHOPSTICK TO THE NOODLE. WHAT IS TO THE NOM BANCHOK. YOU CANT EAT NOM BANCHOK WITH YOUR FINGERS,CAN YOU?
it makes a lot of sense because during the period of khmer angkor civilization that flourishes from the 9th to the 13th century, it was a superpower in the region, thus do expect this kind of influence. this is a fact in world history and history of khmer civilization, you know!
That is one, but who showed The Japanese how to make Sushi about 1000 years ago or so ? Check out Num Ansom. That is a two thousand years old Khmer's cake with sticky rice, bean, pork, salt & pepper and green onion wrapping in banana's leave that we preserve all along. Yep. Num Ansom is the first Asian's Sushi!:)
Battambang
i know, khmer nom ansom is older than angkor wat, really! it's the power or energy food that khmer people throughout our history enjoyed and passed on from generation to generation. yes, nom ansom should also be one of our national cuisine as well. well, it's more a khmer dessert, actually. i love nom ansom as well. god bless cambodia.
Not surprise to me about khmer live in china, Nan Chey(nan chai) is part of early Khmer group that form khmer empire from southern china. (currently from Dali,in Yunan provice)So khmer is part of chinese break away people like vietman,thai.
vuth,usa
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