continental south asia and the islands 811247-1266: 3
1267-1276:^1842It can be seen that the early T’ang was a truly international period,
with the largest numbers of missions arriving during the reigns of
Emperor T’ai-tsung (627-649) and his successors until the end of the
reign of Hsüan-tsung (712-756). Then the missions fell off sharply.
After a hiatus for most of the Five Dynasties, government trade revived
forcefully during the Northern Sung and flourished even more than
in the early T’ang. But after the establishment of the Southern Sung
in 1127, the missions again became fewer and fewer. A little over 1/6
of all missions to the T’ang arrived after 755, and only a little over
1/4 of all missions to the Sung arrived after 1127. And yet, in both
dynasties the periods before and after 755 and before and after 1127
respectively were of roughly equal length.
In the case of the T’ang, the decrease was due to the rebellion of
An Lu-shan in 755 and its aftermath. This decrease was surely not
the wish of the court. But the central government was weakened, the
emperors became figureheads, power shifted to the regional command-
ers, and communications within China became probably less safe.
Under the circumstances, the foreign countries would have concluded
that missions were not worth the investment.
In the case of the Southern Sung, the decrease after 1127 is particu-
larly striking, since Lin-an, the capital of Southern Sung , was situated
near Hang-chou Bay and therefore, in contrast to the Northern Sung
capital of K’ai-feng, easily accessible by ship. Also, northern China had
been lost and an opening toward South Asia and the islands should
have been advantageous. Why then the drastic reduction of trade, not
only on the government level but on the private one as well?
This has been blamed i.a. on the gradual decline of “rivijaya and
on the disruptions caused by the crusades. If that were true, a country
like Chiao-chih/Annam should not have been affected. Foreign goods
brought to the Sung court from the spice islands and further west
came in larger volume via Champa than Chiao-chih, and events in
the Middle East and Sumatra were of little consequence to the latter.
Chiao-chih relied for its foreign trade chiefly on its own products,
especially elephant tusks, which were in high demand in China. Yet, as
(^184) 10-year period.