Debunking Hang Li Po

I've been reading through the Malay Komsas today and found one interesting thing that I think I should share.

*Note that what I am about to write is the facts and nothing but the facts.



Okay, I'm sure all of you readers, if you are in Form 5 or older, you should know this literature character well, that is, Puteri Hang Li Po. We know her from a drama excerpt in our Malay Literature compilation "Kerusi".

Well, if you don't know her story, I'm going to do a bit of story-telling here.

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According to historical sources (from local authors), this Puteri Hang Li Po is the fifth wive of the Sultan Mansor Shah of Melaka who reigned from 1456 to 1477. Sultan Mansor Shah made an attempt to foster diplomatic ties with the Ming Empire of China, he sent Tun Perpatih Putih with a letter to a trip to China to meet with the emperor at that time, Emperor Yong Le (永乐). After the meeting, the Emperor was thrilled and stated that he greatly admires Melaka's supremacy over the South-Eastern region, he was so eager to forge a closer tie with Melaka that he sent his beautiful daughter the princess, Li Po to marry the Sultan of Melaka.

And so Li Po was sent to Melaka and she was married to Sultan Mansor Shah. She was later known as Hang Li Po when the Sultan granted her the title "Hang" for her affords to adapt to the Malay culture and life.

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Nice story, if it wasn't for that this was based on a real historical fact!

So, that was what the local version of books told us.

But... after a few hours of research and cross-references, I came out with one astounding discovery that surprised me.

Now, let me show you the flaws in the story of Puteri Hang Li Po:-

• First of all, Puteri Hang Li Po's real name is Hang Li Po (汉丽宝), the Hang there was her surname, 汉, which is quite a common surname for Chinese during that era. All those stories about the Sultan awarding her the title "Hang" is not true.
• The Emperor Yong Le was a true person no doubt. But, his reign was from 1402 to 1424. The history clearly states that Sultan Mansor Shah reigned from 1456 to 1477, which at that period of time in Ming Empire was ruled by Emperor Jing Tai (景泰) and then Emperor Tian Shun (天顺). For this to be true, one of the historical facts must be incorrect, which in this case, the Melaka one was more likely to be inaccurate.
• Thirdly, Hang Li Po's surname was Hang, 汉, or if the version of history above is true, should be Li, 丽. The usage of surname is a Chinese Tradition, all daughters and sons of a family must be named after the surname of their father. But the Emperors in the Ming Dynasty all had the surname Zhu, 朱, which is not the same as Hang or Li. So, based on this fact, I can say that Hang Li Po is not the daughter of the Emperor Yong Le.
• After an extensive search, I cannot find the other historical facts about Hang Li Po, except those written by local historians. And I've read an article saying that there's no historical record of Hang Li Po in the Chinese records.
• One thing to consider is the fact that the Ming Empire is the strongest empire in the world at that time (maybe sharing the rank with the Spanish Empire, who started to colonize the Latin America). And Melaka is just a small trading state in South-East Asia. Logically, as the emperor of the most powerful empire in the world, would you send your precious little daugther to a barbaric, technological-inferior, insignificant southern state? I mean, I'm not saying that Melaka was weak. Melaka was strong economically because of the trading activities, but definitely not military-wise. Imagine, Portuguese conquered Melaka with only 1000+ men and less than 20 warships? Come on, that's like only a weeny-tiny little fraction of the Portuguese army la! To marry your daugther to a inferior state, what would the other powerful nations think of the emperor? 面子何处?!
  
• Chinese Empires did not practice marriage-alliances, which means the emperors never marry their daughters to gain diplomatic relationship with other countries or states.
• The Ming court forbids the conversion of the aristocratic members into another religion, so the possibilty that a Ming princess converted into Islam before marrying a Sultan is still disputed.
  

Tons of flaws... How? LOL...



Okay, here is my theory regarding Hang Li Po:

• Hang Li Po couldn't have been the daughter of Emperor Yong Le due to the reasons above. But, she could have been the daugther of the emperor's court advisors, or maybe she was the emperor's unwanted concubine, OR Hang Li Po could have been a commoner or a peasant or a servant herself.
  The Emperor may have granted her the status of "Princess" before marrying her to the Sultan. This can be done, and probably was done to satisfy the egoistic Sultan who thought that the chick was the emperor's daughter.
  
• The fact that historical notes in China have no record of Hang Li Po leads me to another theory. Maybe Admiral Zheng He took matters into his own hands and sent a convoy to the Sultan and married the so-called "Princess Hang Li Po" to Sultan Mansor Shah, all without the emperor's knowledge. This explains that fact and also the other facts stated above.
  
• This story could have been fabricated with a political motive or propaganda.

So... Now that we know what really happened, we should examine the motives. Tell me why should Ming Empire even care for Melaka? Melaka posed no threat, they can't even win wars, much less invade China. So why?

The only logical reason is that Ming Empire wants to protect it's trading interest in the South-East Asia.

The Melaka Straits is the only sea route to the western civilazation, and Melaka itself is a strong trading state.

By sending his "daughter" to marry the Sultan of Melaka, the emperor further solidify the Ming Empire's influence on Melaka. The Sultan would certainly protect the welfare of Chinese traders that traded in the Melaka port. And also the route to India or Europe will be less of a hostile territory.

Also, this was to prevent Siam from attacking Melaka, which will severely distrupt the trading activities between Melaka and Ming Empire. Siam held their attacks because they knew Melaka had a good diplomatic relationship with Ming Empire.

So... It's all about politics in the end. The Ming Emperor was never interested in an alliance with Melaka, they just made it seem like so to protect their own interest.



Does this mean that we were taught the wrong thing all this while? Maybe one day I should debate with my Malay Teacher and see what he saids...Hmm

Till next time, cheers~