In this webinar, Dr Tai Yew Seng examined the historical roots of Banzu and Temasek cities mentioned in the records of Wang Dayuan, the first ancient Chinese trader who wrote about Southeast Asia in his travels. By cross-examining with other archaeological and historical records, Dr Tai identified Banzu as located in the present-day Rochor area, and Temasek at city area between Singapore River and Stamford Road. Dr Tai also offered new insight into the historical significance of Rochor underexplored in contemporary accounts.
TEMASEK HISTORY RESEARCH CENTRE WEBINAR
Wednesday, 9 June 2021 – The ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute held a webinar on “A Tale of Two Cities: Banzu and Temasek” delivered by Dr Tai Yew Seng, a Visiting Fellow of THRC and a ceramic archaeologist who specialises in excavating and handling ceramic from kiln sites, shipwrecks, ruins, and tombs. This webinar was moderated by Dr Geoffrey Pakiam, a Fellow of ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.
In summary, Dr Tai situated his discussion within his reading of Chinese trader Wang Dayuan’s fourteenth-century text on pre-modern Singapore, focusing on the origins of the cities of Temasek and Banzu. He suggested that the locations of Temasek and Banzu coincided with today’s Stamford Road and Rochor area respectively, and emphasised that the origins of modern Singapore should be attributed to Temasek instead of Banzu. He also drew attention to the changing economic, social and cultural significance of Banzu city over three centuries. His findings offered new insight into the archaeological significance of Rochor underexplored in contemporary accounts as well as pre-modern Singapore’s relationships with neighbouring dynasties and kingdoms.
Dr Tai began by analysing the geographical origins of Temasek in Wang Dayuan’s book Dao Yi Zhu Lue (1350). Contemporary accounts have largely identified the location of Temasek as the area north of the Longyamen passage near Batu Belayer, where modern-day Keppel Harbour or Telok Blangah lies. However, a closer reading of Wang’s text revealed alternative evidence relating to the geographical origins of Temasek. By scrutinising Wang’s accounts of Temasek, Dr Tai observed that Temasek had a fortified city wall protected by a moat. When cross-examining with other data and notably Scottish diplomat John Crawfurd’s historical records, it was found that Longyamen, despite once a busy passage, was not the location where Temasek was said to be established. Instead, affirming John Crawfurd’s records, Dr Tai suggested that the city of Temasek was built at the centre of modern Singapore, specifically between Singapore River and Stamford Road, before the fourteenth century and destroyed before the early sixteenth century.
Dr Tai also drew attention to Wang’s records of Banzu city (today’s Rochor). Through his cross-examination with other historical texts, Dr Tai found that the term ‘Banzu’ has been mistakenly conflated with several similar-sounding terms in different languages. Based on his extensive analyses, Dr Tai attributed Banzu to the modern-day Rochor area. In addition to the geographical attributes of Banzu, Wang’s records also offered in-depth insight into the social, cultural and economic characteristics of this city. The city of Banzu was said to be a forestry- and industry-based economy that produced hornbill casques, lakawood and fibre from kapok trees. It was also a rich source of raw materials such as bamboos for salt production as well as Job’s tears grains commonly used in rice wine production. In addition to its economic functions, the city of Banzu was also apparently a site of immense spiritual and cultural significance. To the locals at that time, Bukit Kawah (known as Mount Emily today) was considered as the guardian hill of the city, just like Bukit Larangan (modern-day Fort Canning) to Temasek and Bukit Malacca to Malacca.
Examining the origins of Banzu city in Wang’s text also showed that Rochor River used to be a rich source of tin, as evidenced from the large quantity of tin coins unearthed from the site. Archival records have also indicated the presence of tin at the central mountain range of Singapore, where labourers were involved in tin-mining as late as the early 1900s. These records were consistent with pre-modern Singapore’s location on the Eastern Tin Belt, lending further credence to Singapore’s erstwhile role as a bustling tin producer. Dr Tai emphasised that this discovery is important as it has implications for our understanding of the historical and archaeological significance of Rochor. Just as importantly, the discovery of Rochor River tin coins also indicated important clues of the cultural relationships that pre-modern Singapore shared with the Eastern Chalukyas dynasty. Such findings could inform our understanding of the origins of royal families in pre-modern Singapore, an underexplored topic at the present.
This webinar attracted 66 participants, many of whom were members of ISEAS, government agencies, the public, and universities, and research organizations from around the world. A lively Q&A session showed strong interests in the archaeological records and their chronological and spatial implications. The audiences were also eager to find out more about the history of salt-making in Banzu city and underexplored relationships between Banzu and Temasek.
