trade. The accompanying ceremonial established status hierarchy, but
not vassalage in the Southeast Asian sense. It was acceptable
for envoys to show proper respect to the Chinese emperor, just as
Chinese envoys paid their respects to Southeast Asian kings; but with
the exception of Vietnam, no ruler of a major Southeast Asian
kingdom ever voyaged to Beijing to pay homage in person.
The differing understandings of what the tributary relationship
entailed are evident in an incident in October 1592 when King
Narasuan of Ayutthaya offered Siamese naval assistance to the Ming
court in its struggle to contain the depredations of Japanese pirates.
The offer was refused, for from the Chinese point of view it would
have been demeaning, and an admission of Chinese weakness, to have
accepted. In the mandalaworld of Southeast Asia, however, it was
usual for an ally to contribute military assistance in time of war. Nara-
suan may have hoped for some quid pro quo in his own conflict with
the Burmese, but his offer, and the Ming refusal, point to essential
differences in worldview.
Differing interpretations of the meaning of the ritual of diplomatic
intercourse enabled entirely different Chinese and Southeast Asian
cultures of international relations to find compromise in mutually
acceptable bilateral relations regimes. These necessarily built on certain
congruities. Both Chinese and Southeast Asian worldviews acknow-
ledged hierarchy as the natural order, both in their own societies and
in relations between polities. Both sought to maximise power through
manipulation of ideologies of legitimation and world order. But what for
the Chinese was the permanent order of the relation between Heaven,
Earth and humankind represented by the emperor was, for Southeast
Asian rulers, the temporary configuration of the ever-changing play
of karma. And what for the Chinese was tribute offered in submission to
the Son of Heaven was, for Southeast Asian rulers, polite recognition
of superior status as a prerequisite for mutually beneficial trade.
Rulers of early Southeast Asian kingdoms were ready to recognise
the superior power and status of China, even though most had never
A Short History of China and Southeast Asia