Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping And His Others During The Late Yuan And Early Ming Dynasties
The Genealogy of the Sultans of Brunei (Silsilah Raja-raja Brunei) introduces an alleged Chinese ancestor whose name has been transcribed as Ong Sum Ping. Ong is said to have been related to the imperial family of China, to have ruled over Sabah in northern Borneo, and having provided his sister...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press)
2018
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.usm.my/41404/ http://eprints.usm.my/41404/1/IJAPS-142_ART4.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848879280996483072 |
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| author | Kurz, Johannes L. |
| author_facet | Kurz, Johannes L. |
| author_sort | Kurz, Johannes L. |
| building | USM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The Genealogy of the Sultans of Brunei (Silsilah Raja-raja Brunei) introduces an
alleged Chinese ancestor whose name has been transcribed as Ong Sum Ping. Ong is
said to have been related to the imperial family of China, to have ruled over Sabah in
northern Borneo, and having provided his sister as spouse to one of the early sultans
of Brunei. The current paper examines Ong Sum Ping and his various appearances
under different names in especially Chinese texts from the twentieth century. These
texts emphasise early Chinese influence on northern Borneo. Sometimes Ong Sum
Ping is linked to Manarejiana, a Boni chieftain, who visited Nanjing, the capital
of the Ming empire in 1408 to pay tribute and his respects to the Yongle emperor
(r. 1402–1424). Through the association of the chieftain with the Ming empire, some
writers suggest that Ong Sum Ping may have been an admiral of Zheng He’s fleet
who came to Brunei and stayed there. At the core of the paper is an examination of
modern assumptions about: (1) the identity of Ong Sum Ping; (2) the existence of
a Chinese province in northern Borneo; and (3) the likelihood of an appearance of
the Treasure Fleet of Zheng He in Brunei in the early ffteenth century. I argue that
with the extant Chinese textual sources none of these claims can be verifed, and that
therefore they are reflecting local oral traditions. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T17:44:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | usm-41404 |
| institution | Universiti Sains Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T17:44:44Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press) |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | usm-414042018-08-20T01:53:35Z http://eprints.usm.my/41404/ Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping And His Others During The Late Yuan And Early Ming Dynasties Kurz, Johannes L. P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) The Genealogy of the Sultans of Brunei (Silsilah Raja-raja Brunei) introduces an alleged Chinese ancestor whose name has been transcribed as Ong Sum Ping. Ong is said to have been related to the imperial family of China, to have ruled over Sabah in northern Borneo, and having provided his sister as spouse to one of the early sultans of Brunei. The current paper examines Ong Sum Ping and his various appearances under different names in especially Chinese texts from the twentieth century. These texts emphasise early Chinese influence on northern Borneo. Sometimes Ong Sum Ping is linked to Manarejiana, a Boni chieftain, who visited Nanjing, the capital of the Ming empire in 1408 to pay tribute and his respects to the Yongle emperor (r. 1402–1424). Through the association of the chieftain with the Ming empire, some writers suggest that Ong Sum Ping may have been an admiral of Zheng He’s fleet who came to Brunei and stayed there. At the core of the paper is an examination of modern assumptions about: (1) the identity of Ong Sum Ping; (2) the existence of a Chinese province in northern Borneo; and (3) the likelihood of an appearance of the Treasure Fleet of Zheng He in Brunei in the early ffteenth century. I argue that with the extant Chinese textual sources none of these claims can be verifed, and that therefore they are reflecting local oral traditions. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press) 2018 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/41404/1/IJAPS-142_ART4.pdf Kurz, Johannes L. (2018) Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping And His Others During The Late Yuan And Early Ming Dynasties. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 14 (2). pp. 79-104. ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243 http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IJAPS-142_ART4.pdf |
| spellingShingle | P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) Kurz, Johannes L. Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping And His Others During The Late Yuan And Early Ming Dynasties |
| title | Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping
And His Others During The Late Yuan
And Early Ming Dynasties |
| title_full | Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping
And His Others During The Late Yuan
And Early Ming Dynasties |
| title_fullStr | Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping
And His Others During The Late Yuan
And Early Ming Dynasties |
| title_full_unstemmed | Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping
And His Others During The Late Yuan
And Early Ming Dynasties |
| title_short | Making History In Borneo: Ong Sum Ping
And His Others During The Late Yuan
And Early Ming Dynasties |
| title_sort | making history in borneo: ong sum ping
and his others during the late yuan
and early ming dynasties |
| topic | P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) |
| url | http://eprints.usm.my/41404/ http://eprints.usm.my/41404/ http://eprints.usm.my/41404/1/IJAPS-142_ART4.pdf |