Prince Vijaya established a new dynasty and a new capital at
Majapahit, the name by which this Hindu kingdom became known.
Thus, the Mongol intervention again failed to achieve what it had set
out to do. It had, however, played a crucial enabling role in Javanese
history. Majapahit was a powerful kingdom, comprising as its core East
Java, Madura and Bali, but with important trading interests that
extended its influence, if not its political control, across much of the
Indonesian archipelago, including Brunei and the Borneo coast. Offi-
cial relations between Majapahit and China remained sporadic, but
were resuscitated by the early Ming dynasty (between 1369 and 1382).
Trading relations were more important until Majapahit declined in the
early sixteenth century.
Although the Yuan dynasty drew a distinction between tributary
and private trade, and encouraged the former, private trade was rela-
tively free. Chinese merchants sailed to Southeast Asia and returned
with lucrative cargoes. Substantial profit margins lured wealthy fami-
lies into the Nanyang trade. New trade networks were established,
sailed by larger and more seaworthy ocean-going junks. These linked
Chinese coastal towns with ports in Southeast Asia where resident
Chinese communities developed new and sophisticated regional
trading networks and strategies.
Mongol intervention also had significant repercussions on
mainland Southeast Asia. Yuan relations with much of this region
(excluding Vietnam, Champa and Cambodia) were through the gov-
ernor of Yunnan. It would seem at first glance that the founding of
the first Tai kingdoms was in some way related to the Mongol con-
quest of Yunnan in 1253. Yet there was no sudden massive migration
of population: the Tai peoples had been slowly on the move for cen-
turies. Nor is it likely, as some have surmised, that the Mongol
example suddenly stimulated Tai energy and imagination: other
examples of organised kingdoms had long been available (not least in
Yunnan.) The rise of the Tai kingdoms is better explained by the
steady decline in Khmer power after the reign of Jayavarman VII
A Short History of China and Southeast Asia