Subject: pirate
Culture: Visayan
Setting: piracy, South China Sea 12-14thc
Evolution:
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources,Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
"There was a time in the history of the world when the Chinese trembled when they heard the word Pi-she-yeh (Visayas), referring to the country and people of the eponymous region in the Philippines. Whenever word reached them of an incoming attack from Pi-she-yeh, they immediately retreated.
"And they were right to be afraid.
"A Chinese government official named Chau Ju-Kua was the first to document the Visayans as “ferocious raiders of China’s Fukien coast” who were thought to come from the islands south of Taiwan. At first, the Chinese thought the raiders were barbarians from Taiwan, but wondered whether they could be foreigners because they looked different and spoke a different language.
"In the 12th century, ancient Filipinos had earned a status of notoriety as masters of the sea and expert raiders. Their appearance on any shore was an ominous sign of impending catastrophe: Balanghay ships from the Visayas would carry hordes of ancient tattooed warriors known as Pintados, who would ransack and pillage every house in sight.
"But why would the ancient Visayans resort to piracy when their own country was endowed with riches such as gold and silver?
"According to ancient Chinese records, they were only after one thing only China produced so well and in exquisite quality—iron. Anything that was made of iron was taken away: from armor to door knobs, and jars to chopsticks.
"Historian Ambeth Ocampo shares an ancient Chinese text from the 12th century describing the people of Pi-she-yeh:
They showed a passion for iron vessels, spoons, and chopsticks. People would escape from their hands by shutting the door; then they would tear [these] off and take away the door knobs.
"When a spoon or a pair of chopsticks was thrown at them, they would stop to pick it up. When they saw an iron-clad cavalryman, they would rush forward to peel off his armor, showing no remorse even if their heads were lopped off left and right.
"In combat they employed javelins, to which was tied a rope more than a hundred feet long, for they valued the iron spearhead so highly that they could not let it be lost.
"They did not sail in a boat, but made a raft by tying bamboo canes together. When in danger they carried the raft on their shoulders down to the water and rowed away on it.
The Visayan raids on China during the 12th century occurred frequently, according to China’s Chu-fan-chi, a book which loosely translates to “A Description of the Barbaric People”. In this book, the fearsome warriors from the Visayas are frequently mentioned. Such raids focused on the southern part of Taiwan (Formosa). Friedrich Hirth and William Rockhill’s 1911 translation of the Chu-fan-chi offer a footnote describing the Visayan raids on China.
"“During the period A.D. 1174-1190 these raids on the Fukien coast were of frequent occurrence. The Pi-she-yeh were consequently established along the southwestern coast of Formosa at that time, but it seems probable that they were of Philippine origin.
"This belief is further strengthened by the statement of (Zhao Rugua) in the preceding chapter that the people of Liu-k’iu, the Formosans immediately to the north of the Pi-she-yeh, had regular trade relations with the Philippines (San-sii).
"It must be noted that the raiders came to China on rafts, not in boats as they would have done had they come directly from the Philippines.”"
Costume
* Limos 2020-03-10 online (quoting Wang Ta-yuan, 14th century)
"“The Visayas live in a remote land in the eastern sea, where the hills are flat and deserted and the fields are little tilled. There is not much planting. The climate is scorching hot. The natives are fond of pillaging.
"The males and the females both tie their hair in a topknot, tattoo their bodies here and there with ink, and wrap their heads with a piece of red silk to which a piece of yellow cloth is tied to make a tail.""
