land-based people, the Mongols had taken to the sea with remarkable
alacrity, but they had done so with insufficient preparation and plan-
ning, in a knee-jerk response to the treatment of their envoys. The
armada dispatched against Japan was substantial, but the fleet that
sailed for Java was insufficient to defeat a powerful kingdom. The
Javanese could take pride in the way they had, through tactical decep-
tion and martial ability, defeated the invaders. They had not had to
rely upon divine protection, as had the Japanese, but had simply used
their own guile and fighting skills. For the Javanese, therefore, a
danger lay in underestimating the Chinese threat.
Changing worldviews
The Yuan dynasty enjoyed only a century of power, the last few years
of which were a period of decline. This was a crucial time in the history
of Southeast Asia, for it saw the consolidation of new kingdoms that
would endure well into the sixteenth century, when they were first
visited by Europeans, and in most cases well beyond. More impor-
tantly, it saw the rise of new religions (Theravada Buddhism in
mainland Southeast Asia; Islam in the Malay world) that continue
both to characterise and divide the region. Theravada Buddhism was
already well established in Burma when, in the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries, it was adopted by the Siamese and Lao, and replaced
both Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism in Cambodia. Its worldview
shared much with Hinduism, particularly belief in karma (though the
Buddhist notion focused more on intention than on action: what one
thinks is as important for Buddhists as what one does). Theravada
Buddhism placed more emphasis on impermanence and individual
effort. Like Confucianism, it endorsed social hierarchy, but for very
different reasons that allowed more scope for individual initiative in
the face of social conformity. Most importantly for China–Southeast
Asian relations, however, Theravada Buddhism endorsed the Indian
Mongol expansionism