A Change of Guard

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Tuesday 27 April 2010

Researchers discovered a group of ancient ethnic Khmers living in southern China

By Khmerization
Source: RFA

A group of Khmer cultural heritage and civilisation researchers have just discovered a group of ancient Khmers living in one region of southern China, reports Radio Free Asia.

Dr. Soum Chhum Bun, Secretary General of the Cambodian Royal Academy who is a researcher of cultural heritage and civilisation of the Asian region, has told RFA's reporter, Mr. Orm Oudom, on 26th April that researchers have discovered a group of more than 1,000 ancient ethnic Khmers living in Sisorng Phana [Sipsong Phan Na (a Thai term meaning 12,000 rice fields] region in southern China. He said this group of ethnic Khmers were descendants of Khmer mahouts and Khmer cooks sent by Khmer kings to help train elephants and cook Khmer food for the Chinese emperor in the 13th century which was at the end of the Angkorian era. "The Khmer king sent two Khmer families to help keep and care for the (Chinese emperor's) elephants. Later, when the Khmer king found out that emperor Ching Hong likes Khmer food, he sent another two families to cook for Emperor Ching Hong. That's why they (those ethnic Khmers) said that the four families of their ancestors came to China from Cambodia. Presently, there were about 1,000 ethnic Khmers living in their village and they can speak some ancient Khmer language which they still can remember", he said.

Dr. Soum Chhum Bun said the reason the Khmer kings sent Khmer mahouts and Khmer cooks to the Chinese imperial court in Sisorng Phana region was because at that time Cambodia had formed a very close tie with the Chinese imperial court in Sisorng Phana region due to Cambodia's long wars with the T'ai people, which presently known as Thais. Dr. Soum said the Cambodian Royal Academy will send its researchers to conduct study on this group of ancient Khmers in Sisorng Phana region very soon.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excited news, if it is true. If they are found out to be ancient Angkorian Khmers, the Cambodian government should send khmer teachers to help teach them Khmer language and culture. Also should help them with some financial supports as well.

Anonymous said...

Amazing news. I wonder what they look like. Please show some of the photographs. What sort of words do they still remember. We must bring them home to see Angkorwat and other ancient monuments.


True Khmer

Anonymous said...

Yes, bring them to see their ancestral land, Angkor Wat especially, because it was built at the time when, or just before, their ancestors were sent to China. I love to see their pictures of how they look like. This is excited news!

Anonymous said...

It's an exciting news. I wonder if those Chinese-Khmer or Khmer-Chinese consider themselves Khmer at all. Today's Khmer isn't what we use to be, that could make them feel less attach to their modern day Cambodian brothers.

Anonymous said...

Many thanks to you Khmerization for keeping us all informed. Your contributions do make a difference.

Like some of other posters say, it would be nice if you can get some pictures to show how our remote brothers/sisters look like.

Anonymous said...

Yes. This is very good news indeed. It opens up my eyes how we khmers had relationship with China during the Angkorian time. I've learned something new every day from Khmerization posts. Thanks for sharing us all. Great article, I wish this Khmer-Chinese people would tell us more about their stories so we can know more from their past. I would hope Khmer governments would help and preserve them.

Khmerization said...

Dear commenters,

Thanks for all your compliments. When I am able to get more news or photos about these Chinese-Angkorian Khmers, I will share with you as soon as I can. Thanks for your supports.

Anonymous said...

I like this news very much