Asian Century or Asian Millennium?

Traditional medical knowledge expresses values suggestive of all things ancient, animated and venerable and when the next leaf settled on the cave floorit signaled the importance of the role of preservation and transmission of original texts.TheDonguibogam, or Principles and Practices of Eastern Medicine,was nominated by the Republic of Korea and inscribed in the International Register in 2009. Initiated by royal instruction in 1596 by order of King Seonjo it was finished in 1610, the 2nd year of King Gwanghaegun's reign. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty state that the editorial task of synthesizing centuries of Chinese and Korean medical knowledge into one work was assigned to scholars, Yang Ye-su, Jeong Jak and the royal physician, Heo Jun. The King's instructions were to prioritise preventive medicine, to understand the gist of medicine and to identify medicinal ingredients in the Korean alphabetso that the humble public could readily secure the way of cure.

Their achievement was a multi-volume, illustrated encyclopedia arranged into five chapters: Naegyeong (Overview of the Inner Body), Oehyeong (External Appearance), Japbyeong (Various Diseases), Tangaek (Liquid Medications) and Chimgu (Acupuncture and Moxibustion). Heo Jun discussed the relationship between the mind, formed from ancient beliefs in vital energy gi, essential energy jeong, spiritual energy shin, and blood, hyeol, and the "five viscera and six bowels" that controlled the human body. He meditated on the correspondences between the elements water, earth, air and fire and man's constitution, the causes and symptoms of disease, approaches to diagnosis and treatment and the efficacy of herbal remedies.

When Donguibogam was first published in 1613 by the Nae-ui-won or Royal Clinic it was partly printed in Chinese and partly in Hangul, the alphabet of the realm, promulgated by Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, in an effort to differentiate the Korean language from the Chinese. The encyclopedia was distributed to government agencies across the country; it was reprinted numerous times over the ensuing centuries and widely referenced throughout China, Japan and Vietnam.

So who and what foreshadowed its demise? Throughout the nineteenth century Russian, French, American and German military forces negotiated treaties in Korea in order to secure foreign residence in certain ports and cities. From these bases missionaries entered the country and began promulgating Christianity. Charles Corfe, a retired English naval chaplain, was consecrated Anglican Bishop of Korea in 1889. He landed in the treaty port of Chemulpo in 1890 with American medical missionary Dr Eli Barr Landis. Two years later the Korean Mission was engaged in a range of medical programs conducted through its hospitals and dispensaries. Landis directed medical practice at St Luke's Hospital at the same time as he was writing articles on Korean pharmacopoeia, geomancy, dyes and mourning costume – all based on his translation of Donguibogam.

Many of the leaves that have fluttered down to the cave floor are predicated on a model of a universe in which the human and cosmic realms are connected through the medium of man. It is fitting to bring this essay to a close with an inscription that locks man to the cosmic dance of creation. Indonesia and the Netherlands nominated twomanuscript versions of I La Galigoor Sureq Galigo, a 14th century Bugis epic, to the International Register in 2011. The Indonesian manuscript contains one complete episode of I La Galigo. The twelve volume Dutch version contains the longest known fragment running to 2851 folio sized pages, one third of the whole corpus. Published in 1872 in Buginese without translation it was the result of collaboration between the queen of Tanete, Colliq Pujié, and the linguist and Dutch missionary B.F. Matthes.

I La Galigo tells the story of La Patiganna, ruler of the Upperworld, who sends his son Batara Guru to earth to become the first king of Luwuq, the Bugis kingdom located at the head of the gulf of Boni. Batara Guru marries We Nyili'tomo', the daughter of the king of the Underworld. Their son La Tiuleng fathers twins: a son, Sawérigading, and a daughter, Wé Tenryabéng. They play a central role in the developing narrative. When the invincible Sawérigading desires his beautiful sister it is forbidden. Sawérigading must sail for Cine where his predestined bride, Wé Cudai, lives. The gods provide him with a boat, Welenrengnge, crafted from a sacred tree they fell. It emerges from the sea with a fleet of vessels. Humbled by this sacrifice Sawérigading leaves Luwuq swearing never to return. He travels to places inhabited by dwarfs, pygmies and dark skinned peoples before he arrives in Cine, marries Wé Cudai and has a son, La Galigo. La Galigo grows into a fearless sea captain, whose hunting and gambling adventures recall those of his father, while his numerous marriages earn him the reputation of a reckless lover. The cycle ends with La Galigo's son, La Tenritatta, the last of the legendary Luwuq kings. Different versions of the story circulate throughout Indonesia and Malaysia and families that claim descent from Sawérigading are highly respected.

A new leaf now dances in the breeze, it fascinates us and it draws our attention: suddenly Sawérigading and La Galigo's voyages bring us to Australian shores. On 17 February 1803 the following encounter took place: after clearing the passage between Cape Wilberforce and Bromby's Isles, Lieutenant Matthew Flinders, aboard the Investigator, came upon an armed canoe and six vessels anchored off an island near the Arhnem Land coast. Thinking the vessels were "piratical ladrones" a pendant and ensign were hoisted. With a Malay cook acting as interpreter Flinders later learned the vessels were part of a fleet of 60 prows belonging to the Rajah of Boni, one of the most powerful rajahates in Celebes (present day Sulawesi) at the time. Their chief was a short, elderly man named Pobassoo and, according to him, the fleet and its 1000 strong crew had left Macassar two months before with the northwest monsoon. Now organised into smaller groups, they were collecting and processing black and grey trepang to sell to Chinese traders in Timor.

We learn from Pobassoo how the trepang was processed and its commercial value (in Spanish dollars). We learn from Flinders that his vessel was armed with two Dutch cannon and the crew with daggers, what their supplies comprised, their religion and manner of writing. Pobassoo told Flinders he had made the journey six or seven times during the past twenty years without the aid of charts - his only nautical instrument was a small Dutch pocket compass. Two days later the prows (now thirteen in number) left to resume diving in the Gulf of Carpentaria. As soon as they departed Flinders named the bay where the Investigator was anchored, Malay Road, the island Pobassoo's Island and the whole cluster the 'English Company's Islands'. To this day Pobassoo's island reminds us of the indomitable seafaring Buginese.

The Asian century? Surely these Memory of the World inscriptions serve to remind us of the narrowness of the timeframe. Asia is so varied, so vast, so multidimensional and its influence so apparent that, rather than clinging to the idea of the Asian century, as if the past was without consequence, we would do better to acknowledge that economic and cultural activity has swung high and low on Asian interests. But when we drink careless draughts of long forgetfulness what can we expect? The original nomination forms for each inscription, the source documents for this essay, can be found at the UNESCO website, Volume 2 of Flinders Journal (1802-1803) at the National Library of Australia.