Sulu, China Relations Date Back To 1700s, Sulu, China relations date back to 1700s Options

[BishoujoHunter]

Sulu, China relations date back to 1700s

By Go Bon Juan , Research Director Kaisa para sa Kaunlaran, Inc.

Sulu’s relations with China spanned a much longer period than Philippine relations with China. This was what I discovered while sorting through the documents contained in the second volume on the Philippines of the Qing Dynasty Archive Materials on Southeast Asian countries.

The volume has 420 documents, 74 of which are about Sulu. The earliest document is dated 5th year 7th month 13th day of Yong Zeng emperor (August 21, 1727 in the Gregorian calendar), and the latest in the 53rd year 9th month 21st day of Emperor Qian Rong (October 13, 1788). [All subsequent dates are based on the Western calendar, which is different from the lunar calendar.]

Only one document was from the Yong Zeng period. The rest came from the Qian Rong period. The earliest Qian Rong document is dated September 2, 1740, and the latest in 1788, or a total of 48 years. This means an average of two documents on Sulu or related to Sulu a year. It shows the extensive relations between China and Sulu in the Qian Rong period. Historians, however, have failed to take note of this significant information.

What explains the extensive relations in these 48 years? After Spain colonized the Philippines in 1565, kingdoms like Luzon and Pangasinan, which used to have official relations with China, ceased their tribute missions to China. But Spain subjugated Sulu only in 1876. The Sulu sultanate was thus an independent political entity that continued to carry out diplomatic and trade relations with China.

Sulu sent its first tribute mission to China in the 15th year (1417) reign of the Ming emperor Yong Le. The last mission in the Ming Dynasty was in the 22nd year of Yong Le (1424). During the Qing Dynasty, Sulu resumed the tribute mission on the 4th year of Yong Zeng (1726); the last was in the 19th year of Qian Rong (1754). Trade relations, however, continued up to 1788, or the 53rd year of Qian Rong.

From 1417, the start of Sulu’s tribute mission to China, to 1788, when trade relations were halted, is a total of 371 years. Undoubtedly, this is a long period of relations, and is based only on official records. This indicates that official relations between China and Sulu were longer than the relations between China and the Philippines when it gained independence.

After Spain’s occupation of the Philippines in1565, official relations with China were undertaken under the auspices of the Spanish regime. This is certainly different from that between Sulu and China because Spain’s representation could not have come from the mandate of the Filipino people. In contrast, from beginning to end, the Sulu-China relations were undertaken by the Sulu people themselves.

Other places had tribute relations with China—Butuan in 1003, Luzon in 1375, Pangasinan in 1408—but could not sustain these until relations stopped when Spain colonized the Philippines. After Butuan sent its last tribute mission to China in 1011, such missions were no longer mentioned in Chinese annals and records. Thus, the close relations between China and Sulu are beyond compare. The historical ties probably explain why the Sulu people have always been especially friendly to the ethnic Chinese.

The Third Jose Rizal Awards are a project of The Manila Times. The awardees will be known later this month. 

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/j...040619top7.html

[Forumwalker]

i think China-Sulu relations pre-dates the spanish era somewhere between 12th-14th century.

[dalawapo]

what are all the kingdoms spoken about in legends of the philippines?

the visayans are srivijaya descendants
the maharlika
the ujuada princess of the pangasinan kingdom

etc. etc..

can someone complie this in chronologicall order and is there already a book of these kingdoms from legend to accounts of our neighboors...

[BishoujoHunter]

classes of ancient filipinos
Datu
Maharlika(rich)
Timawa(free men)
Aliping namamahay
Aliping sagigild

Taoist temple in cebu

[Ek-ek]

that is a lot of history

[dalawapo]

cool! but what about the specific kingdoms of the philippines both recored in legend and in the annals of neighbooring country like one khmer guy said that the khmer have inscriptions that the philippines used to be called the kingdom of Maharlika or something? do you guys know anything about that?