A Short History of China and Southeast Asia

Burma. Following the defeat in 1659 of the last Ming armies, the
young Ming pretender and a few hundred retainers sought asylum in
the Burmese capital of Ava. In the meantime, thousands of leaderless
Chinese soldiers and ‘bandits’ ravaged much of upper Burma, at a time
when Burma was also at war with Siam in the south. As the Burmese
king seemed incapable of dealing with the crisis, his brother deposed
him in a palace coup. The Ming prince was handed over to an invad-
ing Manchu army, to be put to death. No tribute at this time was either
demanded or offered, and in fact the first Burmese tribute mission to

A Short History of China and Southeast Asia

Chinese ocean-going junk, eighteenth century.

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