2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Review of the History of Sipsongpanna based on Tai Manuscripts

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21520713
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Asian history
Research Institution	Nagoya University
Principal Investigator	KATO Kumiko 名古屋大学, 文学研究科, 教授 (80252203)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2012
Keywords	シプソンパンナー / 西双版納 / 写本 / タイ族 / 東南アジア史
Research Abstract	Sipsongpanna, a Tai premodern state, was located in the southernmost area of Yunnan and became a part of China in 1950. It consisted of principalities, or autonomous political units, called moeng. This research used, as sources of information, Tai manuscripts to review the history of Sipsongpanna. Analyses show as follows: (1) The principalities given high titles by Moeng Cheng Hung, the capital moeng of Sipsongpanna, were divided into two categories: 1. older and more autonomous principalities that appeared by the first half of the fifteenth century in Cheng Hung Chronicle 2. principalities that were rarely referred to in Cheng Hung Chronicle before the eighteenth century, when the Qing Dynasty bestowed upon them the highest title of indigenous rulers (except Moeng Cheng Hung) in Sipsongpanna (2) When the political power of Cheng Hung imposed tributes or corvee on the people, it did not divide them into Tai and non-Tai people, but instead recognized all of them bythe concept of “phai moeng.” Similarly, they did not divide tributes from corvee, but instead recognized them under one concept of “Nguat Chao.”