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Jump to navigationJump to searchCreated page with "*''Japanese'': ビルマ ''(biruma)'' Burma, or Myanmar, is a mainland Southeast Asian country bordering China to the northeast, India to the northwest, and Thailand to the s..."
*''Japanese'': ビルマ ''(biruma)''
Burma, or Myanmar, is a mainland Southeast Asian country bordering China to the northeast, India to the northwest, and Thailand to the southeast. It also has limited borders with Laos and Bangladesh. A number of Burmese kingdoms have risen and fallen over the centuries; in the early modern period, it was one of the most stable and thoroughly bureaucratized states in Southeast Asia, and maintained relations with the [[Ming Dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] Chinese courts. With the exception of [[Mongol]] conquests in the 1280s, however, Chinese military efforts against Burma, e.g. under the [[Qianlong Emperor]] in the late 18th century, were never successful.
==History==
The Burmese kingdom of Pagan ruled most of what is today also Burmese territory, until it was conquered by the [[Mongol Empire]] in the 1280s. Though Burma engaged in [[tribute|tributary]] relations with China throughout most of the medieval to early modern periods, the period from the 1280s until the 1330s seems to have been the only time when Burmese kings themselves recognized this as a tributary relationship; however, this is all according to Chinese sources. During the period, from 1289 to 1339, Burma sent more than twenty tributary missions to Beijing, and received a number of missions from China in return, including two investiture missions.
Burmese formal communications with the Chinese court were written in Burmese, and were translated into Chinese by Beijing's own Translation Bureau. As a result, the Burmese and Chinese archives reveal rather different accounts of the relationship, accounts which have not yet been reconciled by scholars. While Chinese sources often indicate that the Burmese court observed all the proper obeisances, for example the king kowtowing while receiving an official golden royal seal in [[1792]], the Burmese sources give no such indication.
By the mid-14th century, Burma was divided into the maritime Pegu kingdom, ruled by the Mon people, and the inland Burmese kingdom of Ava. Pegu was visited by [[Zheng He]], and responded with five tributary missions to [[Nanjing]] in the period from [[1407]] to [[1415]], while Ava cultivated a relationship with China in order to bolster its legitimacy against claims from rival clans. Despite Chinese sources representing Burma as a tributary, however, they also reveal that Burmese language and practice often did not accord to the idealized deferential behavior: Burmese letters referred to the Chinese emperor as "elder brother" rather than as "all-father," and Chinese envoys to Burma were made to [[kowtow]] to the Burmese king, rather than the reverse.
In the 1580s, the Burmese had a number of border skirmishes with the Ming, as did [[Ayutthaya]] (Siam).
Following the Qing conquest in [[1644]], one of the last [[Ming loyalists|Ming claimants]] to the throne, the [[Prince of Gui]], escaped into Burma. He was initially given sanctuary, but eventually the king of Burma changed his mind, executing most of the Prince's family and followers. After [[Wu Sangui]] led an army into Burma to get back the pretender emperor in [[1661]], the Burmese turned the Prince over; he was then executed in Yunnan the following year.<ref>Jonathan Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 38.</ref>
Burma was ruled from [[1752]] to [[1886]] by the Konbaung Dynasty, one of its strongest dynasties but also its last before colonization by the British. In the early years of this dynasty, the Burmese ignored the Qing, as they had been doing for some time. However, in [[1765]], conflict erupted between Burma and Qing China, resulting in a devastating border war for the Chinese. Numerous Chinese were felled in battle, and by disease, and by [[1769]], the Qing gave up their expansionist plans. After this, the Burmese refused to pay tribute, but did agree to send "goodwill missions" once every ten years. Around this same time, Burma fought a series of successful wars against the Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya, taking and destroying the Siamese capital city in [[1767]].<ref>Coedes, G. (H.M. Wright, trans.) ''The Making of South East Asia''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966, 164-165.</ref>
The Qing closed the border with Burma at this time, until [[1787]], when a group of [[Yunnan province|Yunnan]] merchants, desperate to reopen their trade relationships, sent a number of representatives, pretending to be formal Qing envoys, to reopen relations, and the Burmese agreed. Some ten or twenty missions were then sent from Burma to China over the remainder of the 18th-19th centuries.
During World War II, Burma was one of the many Southeast Asian countries to fall under Japanese control.
{{stub}}
==References==
*Anthony Reid, "Introduction," in Reid & Zheng Yangwen (eds.), ''Negotiating Asymmetry: China's Place in Asia'' (NUS Press, 2009), 13-14.
<references/>
[[Category:Geographic Locations]]
Burma, or Myanmar, is a mainland Southeast Asian country bordering China to the northeast, India to the northwest, and Thailand to the southeast. It also has limited borders with Laos and Bangladesh. A number of Burmese kingdoms have risen and fallen over the centuries; in the early modern period, it was one of the most stable and thoroughly bureaucratized states in Southeast Asia, and maintained relations with the [[Ming Dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] Chinese courts. With the exception of [[Mongol]] conquests in the 1280s, however, Chinese military efforts against Burma, e.g. under the [[Qianlong Emperor]] in the late 18th century, were never successful.
==History==
The Burmese kingdom of Pagan ruled most of what is today also Burmese territory, until it was conquered by the [[Mongol Empire]] in the 1280s. Though Burma engaged in [[tribute|tributary]] relations with China throughout most of the medieval to early modern periods, the period from the 1280s until the 1330s seems to have been the only time when Burmese kings themselves recognized this as a tributary relationship; however, this is all according to Chinese sources. During the period, from 1289 to 1339, Burma sent more than twenty tributary missions to Beijing, and received a number of missions from China in return, including two investiture missions.
Burmese formal communications with the Chinese court were written in Burmese, and were translated into Chinese by Beijing's own Translation Bureau. As a result, the Burmese and Chinese archives reveal rather different accounts of the relationship, accounts which have not yet been reconciled by scholars. While Chinese sources often indicate that the Burmese court observed all the proper obeisances, for example the king kowtowing while receiving an official golden royal seal in [[1792]], the Burmese sources give no such indication.
By the mid-14th century, Burma was divided into the maritime Pegu kingdom, ruled by the Mon people, and the inland Burmese kingdom of Ava. Pegu was visited by [[Zheng He]], and responded with five tributary missions to [[Nanjing]] in the period from [[1407]] to [[1415]], while Ava cultivated a relationship with China in order to bolster its legitimacy against claims from rival clans. Despite Chinese sources representing Burma as a tributary, however, they also reveal that Burmese language and practice often did not accord to the idealized deferential behavior: Burmese letters referred to the Chinese emperor as "elder brother" rather than as "all-father," and Chinese envoys to Burma were made to [[kowtow]] to the Burmese king, rather than the reverse.
In the 1580s, the Burmese had a number of border skirmishes with the Ming, as did [[Ayutthaya]] (Siam).
Following the Qing conquest in [[1644]], one of the last [[Ming loyalists|Ming claimants]] to the throne, the [[Prince of Gui]], escaped into Burma. He was initially given sanctuary, but eventually the king of Burma changed his mind, executing most of the Prince's family and followers. After [[Wu Sangui]] led an army into Burma to get back the pretender emperor in [[1661]], the Burmese turned the Prince over; he was then executed in Yunnan the following year.<ref>Jonathan Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 38.</ref>
Burma was ruled from [[1752]] to [[1886]] by the Konbaung Dynasty, one of its strongest dynasties but also its last before colonization by the British. In the early years of this dynasty, the Burmese ignored the Qing, as they had been doing for some time. However, in [[1765]], conflict erupted between Burma and Qing China, resulting in a devastating border war for the Chinese. Numerous Chinese were felled in battle, and by disease, and by [[1769]], the Qing gave up their expansionist plans. After this, the Burmese refused to pay tribute, but did agree to send "goodwill missions" once every ten years. Around this same time, Burma fought a series of successful wars against the Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya, taking and destroying the Siamese capital city in [[1767]].<ref>Coedes, G. (H.M. Wright, trans.) ''The Making of South East Asia''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966, 164-165.</ref>
The Qing closed the border with Burma at this time, until [[1787]], when a group of [[Yunnan province|Yunnan]] merchants, desperate to reopen their trade relationships, sent a number of representatives, pretending to be formal Qing envoys, to reopen relations, and the Burmese agreed. Some ten or twenty missions were then sent from Burma to China over the remainder of the 18th-19th centuries.
During World War II, Burma was one of the many Southeast Asian countries to fall under Japanese control.
{{stub}}
==References==
*Anthony Reid, "Introduction," in Reid & Zheng Yangwen (eds.), ''Negotiating Asymmetry: China's Place in Asia'' (NUS Press, 2009), 13-14.
<references/>
[[Category:Geographic Locations]]
