Tou Yuan or Tuó Huán () or Zhēn Tuó Huán () or Nòu Tuó Huán () or Rù Tuó Huán () was a short-lived ancient

Mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

political entity A polity is a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of political institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any group of people organized for governance ...

that existed on the coast near the present

Chanthaburi Chanthaburi (, ) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in the east of Thailand, on the banks of the Chanthaburi River. It is the capital of the Chanthaburi Province and the Mueang Chanthaburi District. The town covers the two ''tambons'' Talat an ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

or Tanintharyi Coast in southern

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. It was annexed to

Dvaravati Dvaravati () was a medieval Mon political principality from the 6th century to the 11th century, located in the region now known as central Thailand, and was speculated to be a succeeding state of Lang-chia or Lang-ya-hsiu (). It was describe ...

in 647. It was the

's settlements, bordered

to the southeast. Record of the

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...

, which ruled China in 581–618 CE, says Tou Yuan fought many wars against

Zhenla Chenla or Zhenla ( zh, t=真臘, s=, 真腊, p=Zhēnlà, w=Chen-la; , ; ) is the Chinese designation for the vassal of the kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late 6th to the early 9th century in Indochina. ...

, who, at the same time, also had a conflict with Línyì to the northeast.

Book of Sui The ''Book of Sui'' () is the official history of the Sui dynasty, which ruled China in the years AD 581–618. It ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written by Yan Shigu, Kong Yingda, and Zhangsun Wuji, ...

, volume 8 (in Chinese) In contrast, Zhenla established peace relations via

royal intermarriage Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of ruling dynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy for national interest. Although sometimes enforced by legal requirem ...

with two other neighbors, Zhū Jiāng (which is identified as

) and Cān Bàn. However, Cān Bàn later became Zhenla's vassal.

Location

According to the details given in the Chinese

leishu The ''leishu'' () is a genre of Reference work, reference books historically compiled in China and other East Asian countries. The term is generally translated as "encyclopedia", although the ''leishu'' are quite different from the modern notion ...

Cefu Yuangui ''Cefu Yuangui'' (冊府元龜) is the largest '' leishu'' (encyclopedia) compiled during the Chinese Song dynasty (AD 960–1279). It was the last of the '' Four Great Books of Song'', the previous three having been published in the 10th ce ...

, compiled during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

(960–1279 CE), ''Tou Yuan'' was situated southwest of

Linyi Linyi ( zh, s=临沂 , t=臨沂 , p=Línyí) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, China. As of 2011, Linyi is the largest prefecture-level city in Shandong, both by area and population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the eas ...

in the middle of the sea and is bordered by ''Duohuoluo'' (;

), and met the kingdom of '' Duō Miè'' () to the west. It is a three-month and several days journey from

Jiaozhi Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or , was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Commandery (; , ch� ...

(交趾). Geoffrey Goble speculates it is possibly on the

Malay peninsular The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

, whereas Lawrence P. Briggs located it in the east of Thailand near the present-

. Others suggest that the land of Tou Yuan is in the southeast of present-day

in the

Dawei Dawei (, ; , ; , RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the eastern bank of the Dawei River. The city is about ...

region. Some say it refers to

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, and some believe it refers to

Pyay Pyay, and formerly anglicised as Prome, is the principal town of Pyay Township in the Bago Region in Myanmar. Pyay is located on the bank of the Irrawaddy River, north-west of Yangon. It is an important trade center for the Ayeyarwady Delta, Centr ...

Society

''Tou Yuan'' became the vassal of

in 647. It sent envoys to the Chinese court several times between 644 and 647. In 647, Tou Yuan present a white parrot and baros ointment as tributes to China, yet they requested horses and copper bells and there was an edict granting them both. Its king's surname is ''Chashili 察失利'' and his given name is ''Pomopona 婆末婆那''. The land is without silkworms and mulberry. They make clothes of lustrous white and rosy dawn-colored cloth. They have rice paddies, barley, hemp, and legumes. They raise white elephants, cows, sheep, and swine. Their custom is that everyone lives in elevated buildings (樓) called ‘dry pavilions’ (ganlan 干欄). When their relatives die they do not eat in their room. After cremating the corpse they pick out the cremains and wash them in a pool. Thereafter, they will eat.

References

{{History of Thailand navbox History of Thailand Former countries in Thai history States and territories disestablished in the 7th century