Cathay known China under names similar to "Cathay", that country was known to the peoples of South-East Asia and India under names similar to "China" (cf. e.g. "Cina" in modern Malay). Meanwhile, in China itself, people usually referred to their nation state based on the name of the ruling dynasty, e.g. "Da Ming Guo" ("the kingdom of the Great Ming"), or as the "Middle Kingdom" ("Zhongguo" 中國); see also Names of China for details. When the Portuguese reached South-East Asia (Afonso de Albuquerque conquering Malacca in 1511) and the southern coast of China (Jorge Álvares reaching the Pearl River estuary in
Đại Cathay and swallow a live cockroach in front of his crew, which Cathay vomited in disgust. Despite that, he still would not incriminate his fellow brothers and sisters. In face of such stubbornness, the police sent Đại to the Thủ Đức Juvenile Reformatory. These reformatory facilities’ sole purpose however was to house kids until they became old enough to be conscripted into the military, earning them a reputation as a "birthplace of thugs". It was in these halls that Cathay later befriended some of his later comrades that would assist him during his reign of Saigon. After leaving the reformatory, Cathay