Ong Sum Ping () is a legendary figure.Johannes L. Kurz "Making History in Borneo: Ong Sum Ping during the Late Yuan and Early Ming Dynasties" International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 14.2 (2018) http://ijaps.usm.my/?page_id=4256 Identified as Pengiran Maharaja Lela of

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

. The

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

name implies that Ong Sum Ping was a native of

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Career

During the Mongolian invasion of China, Ong Sum Ping reportedly fled from Fujian with his siblings and traveled to

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo/Kalimantan. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the cu ...

, according to The Philippine Islands, a book authored by H. Clark Company in 1903. According to Wen Xiongfei 温雄飞 in the 《南洋华侨史》, Ong Sum Ping came to Brunei in 1375 during the early years of China's

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

.Muhammad Jamil Al-Sufri (1990). Tarsilah Brunei- Sejarah Awal dan Perkembangan Islam. Bandar Seri Begawan: Jabatan Pusat Sejarah The Brunei History Centre presents a rather incredible story in which Ong Sum Ping later married Princess Ratna Dewi, the daughter of Sultan Muhammad Shah of Brunei. For that he was conferred the nobility title of Pengiran Maharaja Lela and elected Chief of Kinabatangan. Some authors speculate that Ong Sum Ping could have been an admiral of

Zheng He Zheng He (also romanized Cheng Ho; 1371–1433/1435) was a Chinese eunuch, admiral and diplomat from the early Ming dynasty, who is often regarded as the greatest admiral in History of China, Chinese history. Born into a Muslims, Muslim famil ...

's navy who visited Brunei and stayed there due to the chieftain's connection to the Ming dynasty. Local Brunei Malay folklore suggest that there was a Chinese settlement in present-day Kinabatangan,

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

. Linguistic evidence does not support the view held commonly by the Brunei History Centre that "Kinabatangan" could mean "Chinese river". According to early accounts which survive only in copies dating back to the 19th century such as ''Salasilah Raja-Raja Brunei'' (Genealogy of the Brunei Kings) which was possibly first compiled during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Hassan (1582–1598) and subsequently copied and updated from time to time and also the

Sejarah Melayu The ''Malay Annals'' ( Malay: ''Sejarah Melayu'', Jawi: ), originally titled ''Sulalatus Salatin'' (''Genealogy of Kings''), is a literary work that gives a romanticised history of the origin, evolution and destruction of the Malacca Sultanat ...

(written by Tun Seri Lanang in 1612), Ong Sum Ping "succeeded his father-in-law. He was known as Sultan Ahmad and ruled Brunei". This version, however, contradicts later account engraved on the '' Batu Tarsilah'' (Genealogical Tablet of the Sultans of Brunei) founded in 1807 that Sultan Ahmad was a brother of Sultan Muhammad Shah and he was not Ong Sum Ping. The latter version is the accepted official history of Brunei. During the Brunei Civil War (1661–1673), Sultan

Muhyiddin of Brunei Muhyiddin ibni Abdul Jalilul Akbar (Jawi script, Jawi: ; reign 1673–1690) was the 15th Sultan of Brunei and the fourth son of Abdul Jalilul Akbar, Sultan Abdul Jalilul Akbar. He took the throne after defeating his opponent, Abdul Hakkul Mubi ...

called for the assistance of Sultan of Sulu to help defeat Sultan Abdul Hakkul Mubin promising them independence as well as the territory of present-day (north-eastern)

to be given to the

Sultan of Sulu The Sultanate of Sulu (; ; ) is a Sunni Muslim subnational monarchy in the Republic of the Philippines that includes the Sulu Archipelago, coastal areas of Zamboanga City and certain portions of Palawan in today's Philippines. Historically ...

. The promised territory was or included Kinabatangan.

Tomb

In the early 20th century, a Chinese trader, Huang Zhuoru 黄卓如 claimed that he visited the

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

of Ong Sum Ping located on a hill 1 li (about half km) from the Brunei capital at that time and there were Chinese inscriptions 黄总兵之墓 on the tombstone which meant 'Tomb of Commander Huang'. In another version of this story a Chinese trader from

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, Huang Qhuo Qi, allegedly discovered the tomb of Ong Sum Ping by accident in 1942, during a business trip to Brunei. However, the present whereabouts of this tomb is unknown and remains a mystery.

Investigation

The only Malay source that mentions Ong Sum Ping, is the ''Salasilah Raja-Raja Brunei'' (Genealogy of the Brunei Kings). Ong Sum Ping and his variation counterparts are not mentioned in the Yuan (1279–1368) or Ming (1368–1644) dynasties' official Chinese sources. Yet Ong has been referred to in Borneo lore as, among other things, the admiral of Zheng He's fleet, the governor of a purported Yuan province in Sabah, a Ming dynasty ambassador, and many more. The current study critically assess the plausibility of these various identities formed by Chinese writers, particularly from the turn of the 20th century.

Legacy

In 1947, a reef in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

for a short while was named 'Senping reef' 森屏礁 by the Government of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

in honour of Ong Sum Ping. In the Brunei capital of Bandar Seri Begawan, there is a street named after him, Jalan Ong Sum Ping, which is the only street in Brunei with a Chinese name.

In popular culture

Ong Sum Ping has been repeatedly cited as one of the main subjects in the legend of Mount Kinabalu. The legend tells of two Chinese delegates of the Ming – Ong Sum Ping and his well-built assistant Wang Kong – sent to capture a precious

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

from the mountain which was being guarded by a

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

. Using his wits, Ong Sum Ping swapped the pearl for a lit glass bottle. Wanting to get all the credit, Wang Kong snatched the retrieved treasure and ran away. Bitterly appalled by his trusted assistant's behaviour, Ong Sum Ping chose to stay behind in Brunei.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ong, Sum Ping Ming dynasty people Bruneian royalty Bruneian people of Chinese descent Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown