Southeast Asian “Island Barbarians” as Perceived by a Fujian Official He Qiaoyuan 何喬遠 (1558–1632) in the Late Ming Dynasty

Abstract

Min shu 閩書 (The Book of Min; finished in 1620) written by He Qiaoyuan 何喬遠 (1558–1632), a native of Quanzhou, is a relatively well-known source among researchers studying the local history of Fujian province. However, apart from the information on the administrative division of the province, its customs and various aspects of local history it does also contain a section entirely dedicated to the description of the foreign island nations entitled Daoyi zhi 島夷志 (“A Description of Island Barbarians”). The present article analyzes the structure and the contents of this section, provides translations of several passages from it connected with the polities of Southeast Asia. Apart from that, a comparison of borrowings from the first edition of a Yuan dynasty treatise Daoyi zhilüe 島夷誌略 (A Brief Description of the Island Barbarians; 1349/1350) which was at the disposal of He Qiaoyuan and by which the name of the section was probably inspired has been carried out. Most importantly, drawing on the data from the text this paper shows how the outside maritime world to the east and south of China was perceived from the perspective of a South China resident who dealt with and gathered information about the foreign both as an official and as a common person. All in all, the present study is meant to build a basis for the future studies of Min shu and its contents in relation to the foreign countries and people as well as other understudied late Ming – early Qing geographical works.