Si Ke Fa

Si Ke Fa is the Chinese name given to the ethnic Tai ruler who ruled over the Kingdom of Mong Mao from 1340 to 1371. Different transliteration of his name in his native Tai language give his name as "Hso Kip Hpa" or "Sa Khaan Pha".

Si Ke Fa engaged in repeated raiding on neighboring chieftainships and in 1348-49 the Yuan court sent an expedition under Marshall Dashibadu to put an end to it. The expedition failed to subdue him, but Si Ke Fa did send his son Mansa to the Yuan court to offer allegiance. The Bai Yi Zhuan reports that while Mansa "accepted the Court's calendar and offered tribute, his clothing, paraphernalia and system remained like those of a king." [Wade, 1996, appendix II, p. 1; Daniels, 2006, p. 28; Liew Foon Ming, 1996, p. 163] Both the Mong Mao and Hsenwi chronicles provide lists of the far-flung domains he is said to have controlled reaching to the border of the Kingdom of Dali in the north, Sipsongpanna to the south, Burma to the east, and Yongchang to the west. [Daniels, 2006, p. 29]

Si Ke Fa's has a privileged position in Mong Mao chronicle history as defining "an age when the Tay [Tai] lived in an expansive independent kingdom ruled by their own kings and use it as a point of departure for their accounts of post-fifteenth century history" [Daniels, 2006, p. 29]

References

* Daniels, Christian (2006) "Historical memories of a Chinese adventurer in a Tay chronicle; Usurpation of the throne of a Tay polity in Yunnan, 1573-1584," "International Journal of Asian Studies", 3, 1 (2006), pp. 21-48.

* Elias, N. (1876) Introductory Sketch of the History of the Shans in Upper Burma and Western Yunnan. Calcutta: Foreign Department Press. (Recent facsimile Reprint by Thai government in Chiang Mai University library).

* Liew, Foon Ming. (1996) "The Luchuan-Pingmian Campaigns (1436-1449): In the Light of Official Chinese Historiography". Oriens Extremus 39/2, pp. 162-203.

* Wade, Geoff (1996) "The Bai Yi Zhuan: A Chinese Account of Tai Society in the 14th Century," "14th Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA)", Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand [Includes a complete translation and introduction to the Ming travelogue "Bai-yi Zhuan", a copy can be found at the Thailand Information Center at Chulalongkorn Central Library]

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