The maritime influence. Special circumstances affecting
Shrivijaya-Palembang toward the end of the 7th century are
consistent with this conclusion. In the centuries before the
Chinese undertook long voyages overseas, they relied on foreign
shipping for their imports, and foreign merchants, trading with
China, required a safe base in Indonesia before sailing on to
China. This seaborne trade, regarded in China as "tributary"
trade with the "emperors' barbarian vassals," had developed
during the 5th and 6th centuries but languished in the second
half of the 6th century as a result of the civil war in China
that preceded the rise of the Sui and T'ang dynasties. Chinese
records for the first half of the 7th century mention several
small harbour kingdoms in the region, especially in northeastern
Sumatra, that were pretending to be Chinese vassals. The rulers
of Palembang, hoping for a revival of trade under the new T'ang
dynasty, must have been anxious to monopolize the China trade
and eliminate their rivals. They