Wednesday, 12 November 2025

NINE-DASH LINE - SOUTHEAST ASIA MARITIME PEOPLE

Credit: SEA Heritage & History

Is ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ง๐š'๐ฌ claim of ๐๐ข๐ง๐ž-๐ƒ๐š๐ฌ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž based on ๐’‰๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’๐’“๐’š relevant in modern times today? ๐ˆ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ญ, ๐’๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐š ๐ฆ๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž controlled first the Nine-Dash Line before China accepted the transfer of navigation technology across the vast ocean via the Southeast Asian maritime people / Islanders (๐Š๐ฎ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง).
Did you know that Chinese maritime shipping did not exist until the end of the Song dynasty, before that their ships were river ships. However, large Austronesian merchant ships that docked in Chinese ports with four sails were recorded by scholars as early as the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). They are called kunlun bo or kunlun po (ๅด‘ๅด™่ˆถ, lit. "ship of the dark-skinned Kunlun people"). They were ridden by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims for trips to South India and Sri Lanka.
The 3rd century book "Strange Things from the South" (ๅ—ๅทž็•ฐ็‰ฉๅฟ—) by Wan Chen (่ฌ้œ‡) describes one of these archipelago ships as capable of carrying 600–700 people along with more than 10,000 hu (ๆ–›) cargo ( according to various interpretations, means 250–1000 tonnes—600 tonnes deadweight according to Manguin). The large ship is more than 50 meters long and 5.2–7.8 meters high above the water. When viewed from above the ships look like topped galleries. He describes the ship's sail design as follows:
๐‘€๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ง๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘, ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘š๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘ข๐‘ (๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘ ) ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›. (...) ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘ฆ, ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ฆ, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘ฅ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›, ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘–๐‘ก. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘’, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘’๐‘“๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ. ๐ผ๐‘“ ๐‘–๐‘ก'๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘š, (๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ) ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ . ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™, ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ, ๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฅ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก. ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘ข๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘” ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘ , ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘ . — ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐ถโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘›,
The South Chinese junks were based on the multi-bladed and keeled Southern/Austronesian country ships (known to the Chinese as po, actually from the Javanese word "prau" or Malay "perahu"—formerly a big ship). South China junks exhibit Austronesian characteristics: V-shaped, double-ended hulls with keel, and use of tropical wood. This was in contrast to the northern Chinese junks, which were developed from flat-hulled riverboats. Northern Chinese ships had a flat bottom hull, no keel, no frame (only watertight bulkheads), box/square-shaped stern and bow, made of pine or spruce, and the boards were fastened with iron nails or pins.
๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ผ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฏ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ (๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฑ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐˜†)
The Song dynasty developed the first junks based on Southeast Asian ships. During this era they had also adopted the sails of Austronesian junks. Song dynasty ships, both commercial and military, became the backbone of the next Yuan dynasty's navy. In particular, the Mongol invasion of Japan (1274–84), as well as the Mongol invasion of Java (both failed), largely depended on their newly acquired Song naval capabilities. Worcester estimates that the Yuan junks were 11 m (36 ft) wide and more than 30 m (100 ft) long. In general they do not have a keel, front crest, or back crest. They do have a midboard, and watertight bulkheads to strengthen the hull, which adds to the weight. Further excavations show that this type of ship was common in the 13th century. Using a comparison between the number of soldiers and ships, Nugroho concluded that each ship could carry a maximum capacity of 30 or 31 people, while using the data presented by John Man it would yield a capacity of 29–44 people per ship. David Bade estimates a capacity of 20 to 50 people per ship for ships used on expeditions to Java.
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If China claims the nine-dash line based on history. Supposedly, the Indonesians who have the right to inherit the Kunlun nation should have the right to claim the NINE-DASH LINE, because they were the first to control this sea area, the peak of its glory was in the era of the Sriwijaya Empire. the Chinese were very late in developing their first Ocean ship, which was only in the 12th century AD, while the Indonesians had sailed in the ocean before AD.
Claiming ocean areas based on ancient history is absurd and irrelevant to geopolitical developments.

Reference:
  1. Heng, Derek (2019). "Ships, Shipwrecks, and Archaeological Recoveries as Sources of Southeast Asian History". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History: 1–29. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.97.
  2. L. Pham, Charlotte Minh-Hร  (2012). Asian Shipbuilding Technology. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. ISBN 978-92-9223-413-3.
  3. Kang, Heejung (2015). "Kunlun and Kunlun Slaves as Buddhists in the Eyes of the Tang Chinese" (PDF). Kemanusiaan. 22 (1): 27–52.
  4. Dick-Read, Robert (2005). The Phantom Voyagers: Evidence of Indonesian Settlement in Africa in Ancient Times. Thurlton.
  5. Manguin, Pierre-Yves (September 1980). "The Southeast Asian Ship: An Historical Approach". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 11 (2): 266–276. doi:10.1017/S002246340000446X. JSTOR 20070359.
  6. Christie, Anthony (1957). "An Obscure Passage from the "Periplus: ฮšฮŸฮ›ฮ‘ฮฮ”ฮ™ฮŸฯ•ฮฉฮฮคฮ‘ ฮคฮ‘ ฮœฮ•ฮ“ฮ™ฮฃฮคฮ‘"". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 19: 345–353 – via JSTOR.
  7. "Strange Things of the South", Wan Chen, dari Robert Temple
  8. Manguin, Pierre-Yves. 2012. “Asian ship-building traditions in the Indian Ocean at the dawn of European expansion”, in: Om Prakash and D. P. Chattopadhyaya (eds), History of science, philosophy, and culture in Indian Civilization, Volume III, part 7: The trading world of the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800, pp. 597-629. Delhi, Chennai, Chandigarh: Pearson.
  9. Rafiek, M. (Desember 2011). "Kapal dan Perahu dalam Hikayat Raja Banjar: Kajian Semantik". Borneo Research Journal. 5: 187–200.
  10. Sunyoto, Agus (2017). Atlas Walisongo. South Tangerang: Pustaka IIMaN.
  11. Worcester, G. R. G. (1947). The Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze, A Study in Chinese Nautical Research, Volume I: Introduction; and Craft of the Estuary and Shanghai Area. Shanghai: Order of the Inspector General of Customs.
  12. Man, John (2012). Kublai Khan: The Mongol King Who Remade China. Reading: Random House. ISBN 9781446486153.
  13. Bade, David W. (2013). Of Palm Wine, Women and War: The Mongolian Naval Expedition to Java in the 13th Century. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
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