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Note on the Zangi slaves offered as tribute to China.
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All possible mentions of Sengki slaves to the Chinese emperor are mentioned on my website as they are very often quoted as being African slaves. The word Sengki would be the equivalent of Zanj and Arab inflence in the Indian Ocean spread the word as well as the slaves to Java.
Sui shu (History of the Sui dynasty for year 607)
Yuan 82 Biographies 47
(about the kingdom of Chitu, in Cambodia)
The king has three wives and the kingdom embraced Buddhism. (The king) lives in the city of Sengzhi with a series of three gates about 100 bu from each other.
Lingwai daida by Chou Ch�u-fei (1178)
The most important festival of the country (Dai Viet) is on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, when every family exchanges presents with others. The officials present Shengkou (Zeng-ki)(slaves) to the king, who will give the officials a feast on the 16th day in return.
The chanches that the officials presented african slaves to the king every year again is rather small. Several authors mention that what is mentioned here is a kingdom in Siam-Cambodja with capital Sengki. We have to consider that the Zangi slaves offered to the Chinese emperor through the centuries might also have been from a different origin than Africa.
More reasons for this is that the earliest gift of Sengki slaves from Java was in 613 which is way to early (meaning the Muslim influence which would have brought the word Zanj to South East Asia still did not exist) and the last in about 850. The first mentions of jenggi slaves in Java itself are from 1030.Older mentions in Java have all turned out to be later copies.
It is often mentioned that these slaves came from Kalinga in Java. The new more correct name is Ho-ling. This was an early kingdom in central Java.