Hang Li Po
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hang Li Po (Chinese: 汉丽宝) was the fifth wife of Malacca's Sultan Mansur Shah (reigning from 1456 to 1477). It is disputed whether such a person exists because she was never recorded as a princess in the Chinese court of the Ming Dynasty in the Ming Chronicles. At the time of the arrival of the Sultan's envoy, the reigning Ming Emperor was Jingtai Emperor. Records of his reign was expunged following the ascension of Tianshun in 1457. It is likely that if she were a princess in the Ming court, records of her might not exist. In many historical text, she was said to have been a princess in the court of the Yongle Emperor(1402-1424).
However, in China, the emperor has the power to bestow the title of "princess" on women who served the nation or court honourably despite being of peasant origin. It is possible that she was a mere servant-girl who was randomly picked and bestowed the title to make her more presentable to the Sultan of Malacca, since Malacca, being a small, unimportant and relatively new country, was only one of the many nations that had diplomatic ties with China.
[edit] Malacca-Ming diplomatic relations
According to Malay Annals (Sejarah Melayu), the sultan dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to Ming (China) and carried a letter to the Emperor, it was mentioned that Hang Liu was sent to Malacca to be the bride of the Sultan. Li Po came to Malacca along with 500 other female attendants, many attendants later married officials serving Mansur Shah as Li Po married the sultan after she accepted the conversion to Islam. After their marriage, the sultan built a palace for Li Po and her attendants were given a permanent home at Bukit Cina which serves as a cemetery for the local Chinese. Princess Li Po became known as Hang Li Po when she was awarded the honorific "Hang" by the sultan of Melaka.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/lofiversion/index.php/t3886.html
- http://www.kakiseni.com/articles/reviews/MDUwNA.html
- http://special.time.net.my/e-life/ai_ling.cfm
 |
This Malaysian location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
