Chaloem Yongboonkerd
Chaloem [or Chalerm] Yongboonkerd [or Yongbunkerd] เฉลิม ยงบุญเกิด (2455=1912−2518=1975) was a Thai banking historian and theorician, a linguist and the author of the reference Thai translation of Zhou Daguan’s records of Chenla.
After studying Chinese loanwords in Thai language, Chaloem Yongboonkerd decided to go back to the Chinese original text of Records on the Customs of Chenla with the help of Thai specialist in ancient Chinese เลียง เสถียรสุต Liang Sathiensut in order to translate the sole written source on Angkor in the 13th century.
This work, reissued in 2014, defuses wrongful interpretations of medieval history still popular in modern Cambodia. Pol Ittharam noted in Silpa Magazine (30 Dec. 2023) [in Thai]
A few years ago, someone published (repeatedly) an article suggesting that the “Siamese” were the ones who built “Angkor Wat,” a gigantic temple currently located in Cambodia. It was stated that evidence supporting this claim appeared in the records of “Zhou Daguan,” a Chinese envoy who traveled to ask the Kingdom of Cambodia at that time to become a tributary state of the Yuan Dynasty. Since the author cannot read Chinese, I would like to quote some passages from the translation by Chalerm Yongboonkerd in “Records on the Customs and Traditions of Zhenla” for the readers to consider whether what Uncle Zhou wrote can be used to claim that “Siamese people” built “Angkor Wat”, especially in the part that the proposer cited regarding the silk weaving and embroidery skills of “Xian people” as follows: “The natives do not raise silkworms or grow mulberry trees, and the women are not familiar with using needles and thread or sewing. They only know how to weave cotton. They also do not know how to spin yarn, but use their hands to make thread. They do not have a loom to weave cloth, but tie one end of the cloth around their waist and work on the other end. As for the shuttle, they use bamboo tubes.[…] Recently, the Xian people came to live in that country. They raise silkworms and grow mulberry trees as a profession. Therefore, all the silkworm and mulberry tree species came from Xian. They do not have hemp, but only jute. The Xian people use silk to weave thin black silk cloth to use as clothing. The Xian women are good at sewing. If the locals make a rip, they have to hire the Xian women to help them patch it up.”
That is all the words that Zhou Daguan wrote about the story of “Silkworms and Mulberry Trees”, which involved “Xian people” (understood to be “Siamese people”) directly. From this episode, we can understand that “Xian people” are definitely foreigners and have only recently come to make a living in Cambodia. Another point that Zhou conveyed is that Xian people have knowledge of mulberry planting, silk raising, and sewing and weaving, while the local people (Cambodians) do not have knowledge in this area. However, to conclude that “If the local people cannot even weave cloth, how can they build Angkor Wat or Angkor Thom that are so big? Where did they get their technological knowledge?” is considered to be an interpretation that goes far beyond what Zhou wrote. For those who have read such records, you may be shocked and wonder, “Hey! Did I miss something?” Where did Uncle Zhou write it? What made the proposer believe that?…
Publications
- เช็ค กฎหมายและการปฏิบัติ [Check: Laws and Practice], Bangkok, 1965.
- ตั๋วแลกเงิน [Exchange Letter], Bangkok, Prah Nakhon, 2509=1966.
- โจวต้ากวาน, บันทึกว่าด้วยขนบธรรมเนียมประเพณีของเจินล [Zhou Daguan’s Records of the Customs of Chenla], Bangkok, 1967; reis. Bangkok, Matichon Press, 2014.
- ลิปิกรรมไทยจีน สมัยราชวงศ์หมิง [Thai-Chinese Scriptures, Ming Dynasty], Bangkok, Prah Nakhon, 2511=1968.
- ภาษาไทย ภาษาจีน [Thai and Chinese Languages], Bangkok, Prah Nakhon, 2512=1969.
- 30th Anniversary of Bank of Thailand (BOT), commemorative book compiled by Chalerm Yongbunkerd, Bangkok, 1972.
- เลตเตอร์ออฟเครดิตและเช็ค [Letters of Credit and Checks], memorial book for Chaloem Yongboonkerd, Bangkok, Siwaporn Pub., 1975.
- อนุสรณ์งานศพ เฉลิม ยงบุญเกิด ณ เมรุวัดธาตุทอง 16 ธันวาคม 2518 [Chalerm Yongboonkerd Funeral Memorial at Wat That Thong Crematorium, December 16, 1975.