Making History in Borneo
Ong Sum Ping and His Others During the Late Yuan and Early Ming Dynasties
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2503976 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johannes L Kurz (0000-0001-6380-2068, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 79-104 |
| Publication date | 2018-07-12 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1823-6243 • E-ISSN: 1823-6243 |
| Publisher | Universiti Sains Malaysia (PUBLISHER • MY) |
| DOI | 10.21315/ijaps2018.14.2.4 |
| OpenAlex | W2884251463 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 3 |
The Genealogy of the Sultans of Brunei (Silsilah Raja-raja Brunei) introduces an \nalleged Chinese ancestor whose name has been transcribed as Ong Sum Ping. Ong is \nsaid to have been related to the imperial family of China, to have ruled over Sabah in \nnorthern Borneo, and having provided his sister as spouse to one of the early sultans \nof Brunei. The current paper examines Ong Sum Ping and his various appearances \nunder different names in especially Chinese texts from the twentieth century. These \ntexts emphasise early Chinese influence on northern Borneo. Sometimes Ong Sum \nPing is linked to Manarejiana, a Boni chieftain, who visited Nanjing, the capital \nof the Ming empire in 1408 to pay tribute and his respects to the Yongle emperor \n(r. 1402–1424). Through the association of the chieftain with the Ming empire, some \nwriters suggest that Ong Sum Ping may have been an admiral of Zheng He’s fleet \nwho came to Brunei and stayed there. At the core of the paper is an examination of \nmodern assumptions about: (1) the identity of Ong Sum Ping; (2) the existence of \na Chinese province in northern Borneo; and (3) the likelihood of an appearance of \nthe Treasure Fleet of Zheng He in Brunei in the early ffteenth century. I argue that \nwith the extant Chinese textual sources none of these claims can be verifed, and that \ntherefore they are reflecting local oral traditions
Ancestor · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art history · Asian studies · China · Dowry · Emperor · Empire · Fifteenth · Genealogy · Ping (video games · Raja · Theology · Treasure · Tribute · Asian Studies and History · History · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2024 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |