Included among the groups reputed to have first engaged in the trade in African slaves upon its inception were peoples of the East Indies or, in modern parlance, Indonesian heritage, such as those of the state of Śrivijaya and of Kalinga (then 'Heling' in Chinese; modern-day Java). Through one of the many nonofficial histories of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618-907), we are informed that, in 724, Buddhism-observant Śrivijaya dispensed an African female to the imperial Chinese court in homage to the reigning emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756) in his role as Devaputra ('Son of Heaven') (Schafer, 1963, pp. 47, 291). Via both versions of the official history of the Tang, we are apprised that what is now the State of Java, within the six-year span between 813 and 818, dispatched three tribute missions to the court of then-reigning emperor Xianzong (r. 806-820), supplying the monarch with exotica comprising a live rhinoceros, a five-coloured parrot, and a collection of African servant boys and girls (Schafer, 1963, pp. 47, 103, 291; Wyatt, 2010, p. 155).  
These recorded instances in which Śrivijayan and Javanese representatives purveyed slaves in tribute to the courts of the Chinese Tang dynasty during the early years of the eighth and ninth centuries, respectively, are surely informative. However, whether considered in tandem or separately, the episodes challenge us to discern across time just how African were the slaves described as being delivered. In other words, we must foremost ask: Were these slaves truly Africans? Removed in time as we are, absolute certainty on this question will always elude us. However, we can know that the Chinese of Tang times believed that they were because it is discernible from the names that they affixed to them.