Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
By DONALD RICHIE The Japan Times
A RECORD OF CAMBODIA: The Land and Its People, by Zhou Daguan, translated with an introduction and notes by Peter Harris, foreword by David Chandler, and photographs by Julian Circo. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2007, 150 pp., 595 bhats (paper)
[KI-Media Note: It appears that this book will also be available in the US at Amazon.com]
In 1295, the same year that Marco Polo arrived back in Venice after his travels in China, a young Chinese — Zhou Daguan (circa 1270-1350) — set out on a shorter but no less interesting voyage to territories only somewhat less unknown.
He was headed for Champa (present-day southern Vietnam) and what is now Cambodia, and was part of an official delegation sent there by Kublai Khan's grandson, Temur, who had ascended to the imperial Chinese throne on the death of his grandfather.
Zhou's duty was to deliver an imperial edict securing recognition of Mongol suzerainty and its aim was to secure Cambodian tribute. Whether this aim was successful or not, the major result of the mission was this earliest record of life in the then newly reconstructed city of Yasodharapura — that great citadel we now know as Angkor.
It would not last all that long; 135 years after Zhou's visit, Yasodharapura, the first capital of the Khmer empire, was razed by the Siamese and reduced to the beautifully melancholy state we now find it in. This small account is then all that remains of the life that must once have filled it.
As Peter Harris tells us: "When you look at the plain stone edifice and worn stone lions of the Bayou, you will be reminded that this was once a gold tower, flanked by lions covered in gold. As you walk through the local markets, you will picture the women of Angkor selling their wares — many of these wares from China, much as they are now. And when you stroll around Phimeanakas and the grounds of the royal palace, you can picture it milling with guards, retainers, and the women of the palace."
Zhou modeled his report on what was expected. It is thus sometimes formulaic (lists of animals, fruits, birds), and follows its genre model, offering the template expected. At the same time, however, he was apparently so much impressed by what he saw that the surprise and the wonder reach us even now.
He found a mighty ecclesiastic capital (Angkor Thom) in the center of what was a great gold tower (Bayon), and further off an even taller bronze tower (Bapuon). There was one marvel after another, leading the writer to meditate: "I suppose all this explains why from the start there have been merchant seamen who speak glowingly about 'rich, noble Cambodia.' "
There was much to marvel at. In the middle of the Baray tower was a reclining Buddha with water constantly flowing from its navel. The population was (unlike the Chinese in China) much given to bathing. "Even the women from the great houses join in, without the slightest embarrassment. You get to see everything, from head to toe." Also "since none of the locals has a surname or given name, they don't keep a record of their birthdays. Many of them call themselves by the name of the day they were born on."
Nonetheless, there is no social irregularity. "From the king down, the men and women all wear their hair wound up in a knot, and go naked to the waist, wrapped only in a cloth." Trials are primitive, punishment is draconian (cutting off the toes is a favorite reprimand), and the economy is slave-based.
The slaves were "savages" who are "purchased to work as servants." Most Angkor families had a hundred or so and only the very poorest have none at all. The "savages" were what we would now call hill-tribe peoples, subjected to the hardships still common in countries such as Myanmar. If a slave becomes pregnant "the master won't try and find out where it is from, since the mother has no status and he will profit from the child, who can eventually become his slave."
Though Zhou's narrative has apparently lost a number of pages since the manuscript was first written some 700 years ago, it remains our only view of a civilization otherwise known only for its ruins. And this truncated account continues to have an influence. It is utilized in Cambodian schools, it informs tourists, and (less beneficially) it was used in the late 1970s by the atrocious Khmer Rouge regime that is said to have pushed for four harvests of rice annually because that was the number, according to Zhou, that the ancient Cambodia farmers brought in.
There have also been a number of translations, though only a few from the original Chinese. Paul Pelliot's 1902 French translation has served as basis for the several English translations that have later appeared.
Peter Harris has returned to the original and translated directly from the Chinese. In addition he has availed himself of recent scholarship and offers a number of appendixes (notes, other Chinese accounts, dynastic tables, a full bibliography) as well as this lively, valuable, new translation.
[KI-Media Note: It appears that this book will also be available in the US at Amazon.com]
In 1295, the same year that Marco Polo arrived back in Venice after his travels in China, a young Chinese — Zhou Daguan (circa 1270-1350) — set out on a shorter but no less interesting voyage to territories only somewhat less unknown.
He was headed for Champa (present-day southern Vietnam) and what is now Cambodia, and was part of an official delegation sent there by Kublai Khan's grandson, Temur, who had ascended to the imperial Chinese throne on the death of his grandfather.
Zhou's duty was to deliver an imperial edict securing recognition of Mongol suzerainty and its aim was to secure Cambodian tribute. Whether this aim was successful or not, the major result of the mission was this earliest record of life in the then newly reconstructed city of Yasodharapura — that great citadel we now know as Angkor.
It would not last all that long; 135 years after Zhou's visit, Yasodharapura, the first capital of the Khmer empire, was razed by the Siamese and reduced to the beautifully melancholy state we now find it in. This small account is then all that remains of the life that must once have filled it.
As Peter Harris tells us: "When you look at the plain stone edifice and worn stone lions of the Bayou, you will be reminded that this was once a gold tower, flanked by lions covered in gold. As you walk through the local markets, you will picture the women of Angkor selling their wares — many of these wares from China, much as they are now. And when you stroll around Phimeanakas and the grounds of the royal palace, you can picture it milling with guards, retainers, and the women of the palace."
Zhou modeled his report on what was expected. It is thus sometimes formulaic (lists of animals, fruits, birds), and follows its genre model, offering the template expected. At the same time, however, he was apparently so much impressed by what he saw that the surprise and the wonder reach us even now.
He found a mighty ecclesiastic capital (Angkor Thom) in the center of what was a great gold tower (Bayon), and further off an even taller bronze tower (Bapuon). There was one marvel after another, leading the writer to meditate: "I suppose all this explains why from the start there have been merchant seamen who speak glowingly about 'rich, noble Cambodia.' "
There was much to marvel at. In the middle of the Baray tower was a reclining Buddha with water constantly flowing from its navel. The population was (unlike the Chinese in China) much given to bathing. "Even the women from the great houses join in, without the slightest embarrassment. You get to see everything, from head to toe." Also "since none of the locals has a surname or given name, they don't keep a record of their birthdays. Many of them call themselves by the name of the day they were born on."
Nonetheless, there is no social irregularity. "From the king down, the men and women all wear their hair wound up in a knot, and go naked to the waist, wrapped only in a cloth." Trials are primitive, punishment is draconian (cutting off the toes is a favorite reprimand), and the economy is slave-based.
The slaves were "savages" who are "purchased to work as servants." Most Angkor families had a hundred or so and only the very poorest have none at all. The "savages" were what we would now call hill-tribe peoples, subjected to the hardships still common in countries such as Myanmar. If a slave becomes pregnant "the master won't try and find out where it is from, since the mother has no status and he will profit from the child, who can eventually become his slave."
Though Zhou's narrative has apparently lost a number of pages since the manuscript was first written some 700 years ago, it remains our only view of a civilization otherwise known only for its ruins. And this truncated account continues to have an influence. It is utilized in Cambodian schools, it informs tourists, and (less beneficially) it was used in the late 1970s by the atrocious Khmer Rouge regime that is said to have pushed for four harvests of rice annually because that was the number, according to Zhou, that the ancient Cambodia farmers brought in.
There have also been a number of translations, though only a few from the original Chinese. Paul Pelliot's 1902 French translation has served as basis for the several English translations that have later appeared.
Peter Harris has returned to the original and translated directly from the Chinese. In addition he has availed himself of recent scholarship and offers a number of appendixes (notes, other Chinese accounts, dynastic tables, a full bibliography) as well as this lively, valuable, new translation.
1 comment:
Although a number of precious pages were lost, it is still a dramatic account from the past. For all its glory, it did not bode well for those who worked as slaves and temple construction workers in those days.
Someone in Cambodia claimed to remember his past life during that period. Perhaps, Cambodian researchers should verify his account with that of Chiv Ta Kvan. He recounted that the wives of the temple construction workers were required to bring a large stone every time they brought food for their husbands at the site. This can be taken as a definite evidence that the temples were not constructed by a supreme power from heaven, but through sheer hard work and creativity of the Khmer people in that period. Perhaps, this practice had happened before the arrival of Chiv Ta Kvan, who only saw the temples in their final form, but such an account could shed more light on lives in time long past very much like what the archaeologists would try to establish and record.
Nonetheless, it was clear that lives in the subsequent centuries were not pleasant for everyone. The Siamese murdered and looted from the West, and the Yuons murdered and looted from the East. The Khmer civilisation almost became extinct as a result. It is a valuable lesson that we should unite as one rather than trying to tear each other apart. Learn from the Israelis that every life of their own is precious, but they would only eliminate those who put the survival of their nation at risk. The point is that everything they do would be through a thorough analysis, planning and execution as a team, not through someone's wildest imagination or judgment.
Political observers commented that the unity of a nation could be deduced from the number of political parties in existence. More political parties would be the telltale sign of a fractured unity. How many political parties do we have? How many Khmer Krom associations do we have? How many political parties do the U.S. and Britain have? Let's keep the rhetorics to a minimum and take a hard look at ourselves from time to time.
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