1 John Smail, "On the Possibility of an Autonomous History of Southeast Asia," Journal of Southeast Asian History, 2, no. 2 (1961): 72.
2 O. W. Wolters, The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1970), ix.
3 Alexander Barton Woodside, Vietnam and the Chinese Model: a Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971; reprint, Cambridge: Council on East Asian Studies, 1988), 264-65.
4 Woodside notes that by the 1930's the smuggling of opium on official ships was a common offense, and that after 1836 the Boards of Finance and Public Works, as well as the Censorate, all had to send representatives to the returning ships to "jointly confer and investigate" before the passengers were allowed to disembark. Woodside, 266-67.
5 Chen Jinghe, "Les Missions Officielles dans les Ha châuê´ ou 'Contrées méridionales' de la Première Période des Nguyên," Bulletin de L'Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, 81 (1994): 102, 105, 113-15.
6 In terms of their destinations, the missions can be broken down as follows: 19 to Ha châu [This term changed in meaning over the years. At first it appears to have indicated Melaka and Penang (1788-1801), then until 1823 it was how the Vietnamese referred to Singapore, and finally, from 1826-1840, it was a designation for Singapore, Melaka and Penang, i.e. the Straits Settlements.], 13 to Batavia, 6 to Singapore, 3 to the "Small Seas to the West," 2 to Penang, 2 to Semarang, 2 to Luzon, 1 to Johor, and 1 to Goa and Melaka. Chen, 119.
7 Phan Huy Lê, Claudine Salmon and Ta Trong Hiêp, trans., Un Émissaire Viêtnamien à Batavia, Phan Huy Chú, "Récit Sommaire d'un Voyage en Mer" (1833) (Paris: Cahier d'Archipel, 1994), 7-19.
8 At the same time he was also invited to join a select poetry society that included imperial princes among its members. His response to this invitation augured the difficult times ahead, for Cao Bá Quát not only declined the invitation, but went on to state in a poem that their poetry was reminiscent of the stench from the rotting fish and shrimp carried by the ships from Nghê An (where fish sauce was produced). Woodside, 225-26.
9 Claudine Salmon and Ta Trong Hiêp, "L'Émissaire Vietnamien Cao Bá Quát (1809-1854) et sa Prise de Conscience dans les 'Contrées Méridionales,'" Bulletin de l'Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, 81 (1994): 126-28.
10 Richard E. Strassberg, Inscribed Landscapes, Travel Writing From Imperial China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 12.
11 Phan Huy Chú's account is presented in the Chinese original, as well as in French and Vietnamese translations in Phan Huy Lê, Claudine Salmon and Ta Trong Hiêp, trans., "Récit Sommaire." Hereafter, all citations to this text will be to the Chinese original and will be abbreviated as Htcl. As for Cao Bá Quát's poems, reference hereafter will likewise be to the originals as they are found in Cao Bá Quát, Cao Chu Thân thi tâp (The Collected Poems of Cao Chu Thân[i.e., Cao Bá Quát]) (Sài Gòn: Bô giáo duc, Trung tâm hoc liêu, 1971) Vol. II, which will be abbreviated as CCTtt. To aid in translating, I have also consulted, in addition to the works mentioned here and in note 9, the following two works: Nguyen Khac Vien and Huu Ngoc, eds., Anthologie de Litterature Vietnamienne, Tome II (Hanoi: Editions en Langues Etrangers, 1973), and Pham Thiêu and Dào Phuong Bình, eds., Tho Di Sú [Embassy Poetry] (Hà Nôi, Nhà Xuát Ban Khoa Hoc Xa Hôi, 1993).
13 See above, note 6 for the areas to which this this term referred.
14 "Châu" literally means "continent," but it was often used by the Chinese in the names of archipelagos or island chains.
15 Dashan Hanweng, Haiwai Jishi [Record of Overseas Events] (Taibei: Guangwen shuju youxian gongsi, 1969), 64. Dashan Hanweng was a Chan Buddhist monk who traveled to Viet Nam by invitation of the southern king, Nguyên Phúc Châu, in 1694 to spread the dharma.
17 Edward H. Schafer, The Vermilion Bird, Tang Images of the South (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), 245.
18 Anthony Reid, Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680, Volume One: The Lands Below the Winds (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), 42.
20 Cai Tinglan, Hainan Zazhu [Miscellaneous Notes from the Southern Seas] (Taibei: Taiwan yinhang yinshuasuo, 1959), 55. Cai Tinglan, the director of an academy on the island of Penghu in the Taiwan Straits, was blown off course in a typhoon in 1835 when he was returning to the island from the Fujianese port of Xiamen. After landing in central Viet Nam, he traveled overland to China, recording everything of interest along the way.
23 Stevan Harrell, Introduction to Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, ed. Stevan Harrell, (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), 10.
26 "Red Hairs" (Hông Mao) was actually the Chinese appellation for the British. Throughout his account, however, Phan repeatedly confused this term with that for the Dutch: "Hòa Lang," or, "Hollanders." In this passage he is again using the wrong term and should instead be referring to the "Hollanders."
28 Jean Gelman Taylor, The Social World of Batavia: European and Eurasian in Dutch Asia (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1983).
29 P. B. R. Carey, "The Origins of the Java War (1825-30)," The English Historical Review, 91, no. 358 (Jan. 1976): 52.
30 P. B. R. Carey, "Waiting for the 'Just King': The Agrarian World of South-Central Java from Giyanti (1755) to the Java War (1825-30)," Modern Asian Studies, 20, pt. 1 (Feb. 1986): 60-1.
31 P. B. R. Carey, "Changing Javanese Perceptions of the Chinese Communities in Central Java, 1755-1825," Indonesia, no. 37 (April 1984): 41.
34 "Master Chu" is Zhu Xi (1130-1200), the Song dynasty scholar who synthesized various strands of thought into what we now refer to in the West as Neo-Confucianism. Zhu Xi was born in Fujian province, and thus, the reference later in this passage to "the Teacher" is likewise to Zhu Xi.
35 "Ba" here indicates a mixed-blood Chinese-Javanese: what would now be referred to as a "baba" or "peranakan." Thus, the current kapitan of the Chinese community was the son of a Chinese father and a mixed, Chinese-Javanese mother.
45 Here the "Central Plain" refers to the Chinese Central Plain, the area where Chinese civilization originated. As for the "west wind," it is another reference to the West. The title of this poem is, "Moved while talking with Hoµng Lin Ph¨ng about overseas events, I brushed out a verse and presented it to him" ("Du Hoàng Liên Phuong Ngu Câp Hai Ngoai Su, Triêp Huu So Cam, Tåu Bút Du Chi"). CCTtt, 448.
48 Hô Môn (Chinese, Humen) is the area near Canton that is known in English as the Bogue. It is here a general reference to the events of the Opium War.
50 Anthony Reid, "Historiographical Reflections on the Period 1750-1870 in Southeast Asia and Korea," Itinerario, 18, no. 1 (1994): 83.