Jo u rn a l o f M arin e a n d Isla n d C u ltu res (2012) 1, 63-86
M A R IN E A N D
IS L A N D C U LTU R ES
Journal of Marine and Island Cultures
www.sciencedirect. com
The “China Seas” in world history: A general outline
of the role of Chinese and East Asian maritime space
from its origins to c. 1800 ^
Angela Schottenhammer
G hent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
R eceived 19 Septem ber 2012; accepted 7 N ov em b er 2012
A vailable online 16 Ja n u a ry 2013
KEYW ORDS
A b s tra c t
C h in a seas;
M a ritim e history;
E a st A sia n M ed iterran ean ;
M a ritim e space;
M a ritim e trad e;
E xchange relatio n s
m a in ta in e d n e tw o rk s o f tr a d e a n d ex ch a n g e re la tio n s . H is to ric a lly , th ese w a te rs c o n s titu te d n o t
T h ro u g h th e E a s t A s ia n w a te rs its n e ig h b o u rin g c o u n trie s h a v e since ea rly tim es o n
o n ly a k in d o f b o r d e r o r n a tu r a l b a r rie r b u t f ro m v ery e arly tim es o n a ls o a m e d iu m fa c ilita tin g
a ll k in d s o f e x c h a n g e s a n d h u m a n a c tiv itie s, a m e d iu m t h r o u g h w h ic h in p a r tic u la r p riv a te m e r ­
c h a n ts b u t a ls o g o v e rn m e n ts a n d o fficial in s titu tio n s e s ta b lis h e d c o n ta c ts w ith th e w o rld b e y o n d
th e ir b o r d e rs . T h e seas w ere so m e tim e s c o n s id e re d a b a r r ie r b u t a b o v e all a c o n ta c t zo n e , a m e d iu m
th a t d e s p ite its d a n g e rs a n d d ifficu lties e n a b le d p e o p le to e s ta b lis h a n d m a in ta in m a n if o ld ex ch a n g e
re la tio n s.
T h is a rtic le in te n d s to p r o v id e a g e n e ra l o u tlin e o f th e h is to ric a l ro le a n d significance o f E a st
A s ia n m a ritim e sp a ce f ro m its o rig in s to a p p ro x im a te ly 1800, in c lu d in g th e E a s t C h in a S ea, th e
B o h a i S ea, th e Y e llo w S ea (H u a n g h a i), th e s o u th e rn se c tio n o f th e J a p a n e s e S ea, a n d p a r ts o f
th e S o u th C h in a S ea (n o w u su a lly c a lle d N a n h a i) . I t fo cu ses especially , a lth o u g h n o t exclusively,
o n C h in a ’s tr a d itio n a l tr e a tm e n t o f a n d refe re n c e to th is m a ritim e re a lm . A lso in o r d e r to m a in ta in
th e s p a tia l c o n c e p t o p e ra b le , w e h a v e d e c id e d to c a ll th is m a ritim e sp a ce th e “ C h in a S e a s” .
© 2012 In stitu tio n fo r M a rin e a n d Isla n d C ultures, M o k p o N a tio n a l U niversity. P ro d u c tio n a n d h o stin g
by Elsevier B.V. A ll rig h ts reserved.
E -m ail address: an gela.schottenham m er(® ugent.be.
* T his study co n trib u te s to the M C R I (M ajo r C o llab o rativ e R esearch Initiative) p ro ject spo n so red by the Social Sciences a n d H u m an ities
R esearch C o u n cil o f C a n a d a , carried o u t a t the H isto ry D e p a rtm e n t, In d ia n O cean W o rld C entre (IO W C ), M cG ill U niversity. T his p a p e r was
originally p resen ted u n d er the title “ T he C hinese ‘M e d ite rra n e a n ’; T he C h in a seas in w orld history (from its origins to c, 1800)’’ a t E m o ry
U niversity, A tla n ta , U S A , In te rn a tio n a l C onference “ Sea R overs, Silk a n d S am urai: M a ritim e C hina in G lo b al H isto ry ", 27-29.10.2011,
28.10.2011.
P eer review u n d er responsibility o f M o k p o N a tio n a l U niversity.
Production an d h o stin g by Elsevier
2212-6821 © 2012 In stitu tio n for M a rin e a n d Isla n d C u ltu res, M o k p o N a tio n a l U niversity. P ro d u c tio n a n d h o stin g by Elsevier B.V. A ll rig h ts reserved.
http://d x .d o i.O rg /1 0 .1 0 1 6/j.im ie.2012.ll.002
64
A. S chottenham m er
Introduction
E ast A sia is a region th a t has recently gained increasing g eo p o ­
litical im portance a n d in the course o f g lobalization m ay well
becom e the new w orld-centre in the fu tu re .1 T h ro u g h th e E ast
A sian w aters its neig hbouring countries m ain ta in to d ay a g lo ­
bal n etw o rk o f trad e a n d exchange relations. B ut in teg ratio n
into local an d supra-regional netw orks is n o t only a m o d ern
phenom enon. Elistorically, these w aters co n stitu ted n o t only
a kind o f b o rd e r o r n a tu ra l b arrier b u t from very early tim es
on also a m edium facilitating all kinds o f exchanges a n d h u ­
m a n activities, a m edium th ro u g h w hich in p artic u la r private
m erchants b u t also governm ents a n d official institu tio n s e sta b ­
lished contacts w ith the w o rld b eyond th eir borders. G enerally
speaking. E ast A sian m aritim e space w as used by fisherm en,
private an d official trad ers, governm ents (nations) a n d g overn­
m ent institutions, p irates, a n d travellers fo r b o th com m ercial,
m ilitary, diplom atic a n d p rivate purposes, such as m ig ratio n
o r voyages. The seas were som etim es considered a b arrier
b u t above all a contac t zone, a m edium th a t despite its dangers
an d difficulties enabled people to establish a n d m ain tain m a n ­
ifold exchange relatio n s.2 This article intends to provide a gen­
eral outline o f the historical role a n d significance o f E ast A sian
m aritim e space th a t includes the E ast C hina Sea, the B ohai ?|j]
Sea, the Y ellow Sea (E luanghai If'jJf), th e so u th ern section
o f the Japanese Sea, a n d p a rts o f the S o u th C hina Sea (now
usually called N an h a i IffjJf), focussing especially, alth o u g h
n o t exclusively, on C h in a ’s tra d itio n a l treatm en t o f a n d refer­
ence to this m aritim e realm . A lso in o rd er to m ain tain the sp a­
tial concept operable, we have decided to call this m aritim e
space the “ C hina Seas’’, a term th a t m ay n o t be m isu n d ersto o d
in the sense th a t this E ast A sian b o d y o f w ater as a w hole o r all
o f the sections th a t we address in this p a p e r a t any tim e b e­
longed to C hina o r w ere p a rt o f C hinese sovereignty.3 N o t­
w ithstanding the fact th a t the focus o f this article lies in the
im portance a n d role o f m aritim e space fo r a n d in C h in a’s his­
tory, we will now a n d again also discuss developm ents th a t
to o k place in Japanese o r K o re a n co astal w aters.
A t the sam e tim e, it m ay at least n o t be neglected th a t d u r­
ing p ro b ab ly m o st o f the tim e periods from a n tiq u ity th ro u g h
the m iddle to the early m o d ern perio d it w as in fact C hina th a t
w as the, if n o t alw ays political, b u t a t least econom ic a n d cul­
tu ral centre o f the m acro-region, w hich - alth o u g h it w as
undou b ted ly prim arily a co n tin en tal p ow er - w as also quite ac ­
tive in m aritim e space.
K O REA
JA PA N
East China Sea
CHINA
Fujia
Pacific Ocean
Inom w e
^ « -M iy s fc o
a ^A-C^-Uhigaki SaJ
TA IW A N
-N -
East China Sea Region
F irst being a regional “ M ed ite rran e an ’’,4 the C hina Seas
soon developed as a sprin g -b o ard an d startin g -point for
long-distance trad e, a n d by Song tim es a t the latest w ere firmly
in teg rated into the w orld-w ide exchange system as it existed at
th a t tim e, a n “ in te rn a tio n a l’’ exchange system th a t adm ittedly
w as n o t yet a global one b u t th a t w as “ substantially m ore com ­
plex in organ izatio n , greater in volum e, a n d m o re sophisti­
cated in execution, th a n anything the w o rld h a d previously
k n o w n ’’.5 R egional seas grew m o re an d m ore to g ether an d
w ere gradually in teg rated in to global structures - w ith in ter­
ru p tio n s a n d setbacks o f course.
This brings us to th e qu estio n o f sea routes, w hich can u n fo r­
tu n ately n o t be discussed in m ore detail w ithin the scope o f this
article. Basically we can discern n o rth e rn , eastern, so uthern an d
w estern routes, w hich can generally be sum m arized as follows:
1 The “ n o rth e rn ro u te s’’ (beihang hi
la F ro m F u jian fmi®, Z hejiang ?}/rïI a n d Jiangsu ÎX Ü , or
from S h andong [ X lí, to the eastern a n d so u th ern coasts
o f K o rea a n d fu rth er to Ja p a n (E lakata
N agasaki
Ä ß)
1 T his is also reflected by discussions a b o u t a n E ast A sia n in te g ra ­
tio n . beginning w ith a u n ifo rm m a rk e t a n d gradually developing in to a
closer p o litical an d m ilitary c o o p eratio n , sim ilar to the E u ro p e a n
U n io n . E ven ideas like a n E ast A sia n currency (sim ilar to the E uro)
have b een raised.
2 See A ngela S ch ottenham m er. R o d e rick P ta k (Eds.). M aritim e
Space in Traditional Chinese Sources. in: E ast A sian M a ritim e H istory.
(W iesbaden: O tto H arrasso w itz, 2006). vol. 2.
3 W e are well aw are o f the fact th a t th e sp atial concept o f E ast A sia
itself is a highly com plex a n d n o t u nproblem atic one.
4 W hen we speak o f a n E a st A sia n “ M e d ite rra n e a n ", a term b o rro w ed
fro m the F re n c h h is to ria n F e rn a n d B rau d el th a t co n n ected the
n eigh b o u rin g countries in the m acro-region, the term is used only as a
m ethodological to o l to em phasize th e b ro a d variety o f m u lti-layered
exchange relations. F e rn a n d B raudel (1902-1985). L a M éditerranée et le
m onde m éditerranéen à l ’époque de Philippe II. (Paris: 1949; Paris.
A rm a n d C olin. Le Livre de poche. 1990. rééd.). vol. 3.
3 A b u -L u g h o d , Ja n et. B efore European H egem ony. The W orld S ystem
A .D . 1250-1350. (New Y ork: O x fo rd U niversity Press. 1989). 353.
The “ C hina Seas’’ in w o rld history: A general outline
asa
„as
Portugal
65
**«
N“*»
SP *"/
£14IS ( » iii
•
R I B (**>
(4 * 1
i* * “
«M*
ungiMu
£*»«»«
Saudi Aral**
lV.Hl SB J
IC«H) • ,
H I*
A*
ft
P acific O c ia n
'm
5<iuiti China
" WHÊ*
A »
Afnf »
;
X to r i*
Bay of Bengal
A/jtunSH
I CM«) .
\ /
*
*■=*
S/iUtik*
<*tt*
.
/ Philippinei
.....
**'0W\
»*14
Indian Ocean
Atlant* Ocean
_ _ _ _ _
» f f « » » . 'SARU
The S e a Communication Chart of Asia belonging to th e Tang a n d S ong dynasties.
- F ro m D engzho u S;lT[ a n d Penglai S lstl in S h andong
along the B ohai a n d D a lian Bay iK M t t to the m o u th
o f the Y alu R iver
- F ro m Jiangsu or Z hejiang via F luksan ü l Li Ï J to the west
coast o f K orea
lb The “ eastern ro u te ’’ (donghang lu
from F u jian
or Z hejiang via th e R yükyüs to so uth ern Ja p a n
2 E astern routes (also donghang lit)
2a F ro m F u jian via the n o rth e rn tip o f T aiw an to N a h a §13
H on the R yükyüs
2b F ro m F u jian a n d Z hejiang directly to so u th ern Ja p a n
3 S outhern routes (nanhang lu IflÂ/tfô)
3a The “ eastern ro u te ’’ (again donghang lu) fro m F u jian to
L uzon an d the Sulu region
3b The so-called “ w estern ro u te ’’ (xihang lu Ë3ÎTÏ&) from
Jiangsu via Z hejiang, F u jian , G u an g d o n g a n d th e n fu r­
th er to the S o u th C hina Sea - via Flainan, V ietnam a n d
the area o f m o d ern S ingapore - a n d to the In d ian O cean
(this ro u te h ad m an y branches w ithin S o u th east A sia)6
6 A ngela S ch o tten h am m er. “ T he Sea as a B arrier a n d C o n tac t Zone:
M aritim e Space a n d Sea R o u tes in T ra d itio n a l C hinese Sources an d
B o o k s". 9. in A ngela S chottenham m er. R o d e rich P ta k (eds.), M aritim e
Space in Traditional Chinese Sources: see also the m any p u b licatio n s o f
R o d e rich P ta k th a t discuss sea ro u tes, fo r exam ple. China, the
P ortuguese, and the N anyang. Oceans and R outes, R egions and Trade
( c. 1000-1600). (A ldershot, etc,: A shgate P ublishing L td .. 2004).
V a rio ru m C ollected Studies Series CS 111: R o d e rich P ta k . “ Jo ttin g s
o n C hinese Sailing R o u tes to S o u th east A sia. E specially on the E astern
R o u te in M in g T im es", in Jorge M . dos S an to s A lves (coord.).
P ortugal e a China .Conferencias nos encontros de historia luso-chinesa.
(Lisbon: F u n d a ç à o O riente. 2001). 107-131; “ T he N o rth e rn T rade
R o u te to the Spice Islands: S o u th C h in a Sea - S ulu Z one - N o rth
M oluccas. (14th to early 16th C e n tu ry )". A rchipel 43 (1992). 27-56.
M an y guides an d descriptions o f sea ro u tes existed in C hina.
A n an o n y m o u s M ing m ap , fo r exam ple, the Gu hanghai tu
kaoshi
shows the tra d e arteries fro m the B ohai
area dow n to the m o u th o f the P earl R iver n e a r G uangzhou.
In som e cases, th e ro u tes are depicted as lines (chuanlu !□£&),
in others they are described in w o rd s.7 Sea ro u tes o f course
also som etim es changed over tim e a n d w ith th em the in- or
decreasing im portance o f coastal a n d p o rt cities. In fo rm atio n
o n sea routes a n d coastlines w as com piled into ro u te m aps,
star ch arts, a n d “ com pass-needle m a n u a ls’’ (zhenjing ill® )
o r so-called “ ru tte rs’’.8 D u rin g th e fam ous expeditions led
by Z heng H e Jt|3j€ (1371-1433), fo r exam ple, a n enorm ous
q u a n tity o f in fo rm atio n on sea routes a n d coastlines w as col­
lected a n d com posed as ru tters a n d m aps. U n fo rtu n ately ,
m uch o f this geographical m aterial w as late r b u rn t by the
M in ister o f W ar, L iu D axia ÿilK M . (1437-1516). N everthe­
less, the geographical know ledge related to th em w as n o t en ­
tirely lost.
T he condition sine qua non fo r the practical use o f m aritim e
space were b o ats a n d ships. W hen exactly the Chinese first
7 T im othy B ro o k . Geographical Sources o f M ing-O ing H istory. (A nn
A rb o r: C e n te r for C hinese Studies. T he U niversity o f M ichigan. 1988).
43.
8 T he first p rin te d ru tte r w as ap p aren tly the D uhai fangcheng
I I by W u P u í l j'f '. w hich w as pu b lish ed in 1537. Cf. T ia n R u k a n g ES
Ä J * . “D uhai fangcheng - Z h o n g g u o diyiben keyin de sh uilubu Ï Î Î Î 7 J
11 - S^SSI?— iS 'jË P É L U k fô îî" . in Li G u o h a o
et aí. (eds.).
E xplorations in the H istory o f Science and Technology in China.
(Shanghai: S hanghai guji chubanshe, 1982). 301-308. I t is also briefly
discussed in T im othy B ro o k . “ C o m m u n icatio n s a n d C o m m erce", in
D enis T w itchett a n d F re d erick W . M o te (eds.). 1998. The Cambridge
H istory o f China, vol. 8: The M ing D ynasty, 1368-1644, P a rt II.
(C am bridge: C am bridge U niversity Press). 579-707. 696-691.
A. S chottenham m er
66
I
2 # [fcO-7 4 * S J 5 2 ' J ] . Kraft-Katalog Nr. 274; KS
7/295/4 (Muromachi monogatari); NSN 13f; Sawai 2 S. 101-130; Mjm 5
Nr. 103; A 27. Reprinted with kind permission of the Staatsbibliothek
Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin (Libri japon. 450).
began to build b o ats is hard ly reconstructable. E arly sources,
generally speaking, co n tain little evidence on ships o r seafar­
ing. T he Yijing
(chapt. Xici S l f ) traces ships fo r tra n s ­
p o rta tio n purposes b ack to the tim e o f the Y ellow E m p ero r
(Eluangdi H i ) . T he Shijing ¡#£5 contains various references
to b o ats a n d ships.9 B ut these very sh o rt entries c an n o t provide
any fu rth er in fo rm atio n a b o u t shipbuilding; in ad d itio n , they
m ostly refer to river shipping. V arious archaeological relics
including bo ats, oars, a n d ru d d e rs10 d atin g to periods betw een
6000 an d 2000 BC, encouraged C hinese scholars to conclude
th a t already during the earliest tim es o f C hinese civilization,
d u ring the X ian to u lin g Ä S I 5 I culture (6500-5000 BC), in
G u an g zh o u dug -o u t canoes w ere used to venture into the open
w aters. B ut even w hen we assum e th a t these dates are correct,
they do n o t allow any fu rth e r conclusions concerning ship­
building. A rchaeologists fu rth erm o re fo u n d m etal rings d atin g
to the W arrin g States P erio d (475 or 463-221 BC) th a t su p p o s­
edly were used to fortify ship p lan k s.11 B ut we do n o t possess
any definite p ro o f fo r this. It w ould seem to be safe to say only
th a t by Shang tim es at the latest (16th—11th centuries BC) the
coastal p o p u latio n used simple devices to float along the c o ast­
al w aters.12
W ritten sources only rarely speak a b o u t co n stru ctio n form s
o f ships (for exam ple Shiji, chap t. 30 a n d 118). The “ first sea­
w o rth y vessel’’13 according to som e C hinese h istorians, is re ­
corded in the Bamboo Annals (Zhushu jinian
com posed at the tim e o f the W arrin g S tates.14 W hen H u an g d i
TC^r ascended the th ro n e, a big fish th a t h ad been cau g h t in
9 Jam es Legge. The Chinese Classics. W ith a Translation, Critical and
E xeg etica l N otes, Prolegom ena, and Copious Indexes, in Five V olum es,
vol. IV . The She King. (R eprint. T aibei: S M C P ublishing. 1992). vol.
IV . 38. 71. 74. 102. 280. 338. 404. 435. 443.
10 X i L ongfei JffiÜ/fls. Z hongguo zaochuan shi ^ S S l M n Í ! . (W uhan:
H u b ei jia o y u ch u b an she, 2000). 2.
X i L ongfei. Z hongguo zaochuan shi, 38.
" X i L ongfei. Z hongguo zaochuan shi, 21. 27-29.
13 G a n g D eng. Chinese M aritim e A ctivities and Socioeconom ic D evel­
opm ent, c. 2100 B .C -1 9 0 0 A .D . (W estport. C o n n ecticu t. L ondon:
G reen w o o d Press. 1997). 23.
14 G a n g D eng. Chinese M aritim e A ctivities and Socioeconom ic D evel­
opm ent, 22-23.
the coastal w aters, w as rep o rted ly sacrificed.15 K ing M an g
C is recorded as having cau g h t a big fish in the sea.16 B ut such
entries o f course provide n o valuable in fo rm atio n concerning
shipbuilding.
A sp ectacular find w as excavated in 1974 in G uangzhou,
w hen archaeologists discovered th e rem ains o f an old shipyard
th a t w as d ate d to the tu rn o f the second to th ird century B C .17
A ccording to estim ations ships o f a length o f u p to 30 m a n d a
w id th o f 8.4 m could have been co n stru cte d th e re .18 In situ v a r­
ious Q in a n d H a n coins, c arp en ters’ tools, arro w heads an d
daggers w ere excavated. T h ro u g h com p arativ e analysis schol­
ars concluded th a t this w as m o st p ro b ab ly a state-supervised
shipyard used fo r m ilitary p u rp o ses.19
E ventually, du rin g H a n tim es, shipbuilding technology w as
o n a g reat upsw ing. P rogress w as m ade n o t only in term s o f
hull co n stru ctio n , m asts, rudders, oars o r sails. B ut, as w ritten
sources confirm , there existed different types o f ships th a t
could be used fo r different fu nctional p urposes - naval, com ­
m ercial, fo r com m odity o r h u m a n tra n sp o rta tio n across sm all
an d large rivers or coastal w aters.20
13 G a n g D eng. Chinese M a ritim e A ctivities and Socioeconom ic D evel­
opm ent, 23; Z hushu jinian tongjian
by X u W enjing
Sra- (Taibei: Y iw en y inshuguan 1966). j . 1, 5a (87).
16 Z hushu jinian tongjian, j . 3. 18a (181).
17 T h o m as H ö llm an n , “ P anyu: D ie südliche P forte n ach C h in a
w äh ren d der H a n -Z e it", in M a rg arete P rü ch , u n ter M ita rb e it v on
S tep h an v o n der S chulenburg (ed.), Schätze fur K önig Z ha o M o. D as
Grab von N an Yue. (H eidelberg: B rau s V erlag. 1998). 109-113. here
110; G u a n g z h o u w enw u guan lich u JífK ífcíS líT iJÉ L “ G u an g zh o u
Q in H a n zao ch u a n gongchang yizhi shijue J * f K l i í J t j o |n I í í j j S í l t 'i Í
ÍS " . W enwu 4 (1977). 1-16.
18 G a n g D eng. Chinese M a ritim e A ctivities and Socioeconom ic D evel­
opm ent, 77.
19 G u a n g z h o u w enw u guanlichu. “ G u a n g z h o u Q in H a n zao ch u a n
gongchang yizhi shijue".
20 L in F en g jian g Í 4 M Í I . C h e n X iu ju a n
“ H a n d a i de zaochuanye yu haiw ai m aoyi Í J t f t jo f tn lS Í ^ Í f
Longjiang sheina
ke x u e il} IÜ ifig rf 4 '¥ 6 (1994). 65-67.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
E ssential fo r sailing th e seas were the periodic m o n so o n
w inds, w hich determ ined seafaring all over the In d ia n O cean
over centuries.21 These w inds com prise a system o f regularly
altern atin g w inds an d currents u nique to the In d ia n O cean
an d S outh an d E ast C hina Sea. F ro m A pril to Septem ber, as
the A sian land m ass heats up, h o t a ir rises pro d u cin g a v ac­
uum , w hich sucks in the a ir from the ocean, creating the so u th ­
w est m onsoon. D u rin g th e o th er six ‘w in ter’ m o n th s o f the
year, the o pposite reactio n occurs, creating the n o rth e a st m o n ­
soon. T hey were later called xinfeng ÍE & (reliable w inds), jifeng
(seasonal w inds) o r maoyifeng M SiM , (trade w inds)
in Chinese. E arly evidence th a t th e C hinese knew a b o u t these
w inds can be fo u n d in the Shiji. I t m entions the n o rth w est
w inds
the n o rth w inds
the n o rth e a st w inds
IS M , the east w inds
the so u th east w inds
the
east w inds ÍR M , the southw est w inds î f l f i a n d the w est w inds
MUM.22
B ut the invention o f the sail constitutes a problem . W e can
only speculate th a t p ro b ab ly as early as S hang tim es simple
form s o f sails were in use.23 F u n ctio n al sails were pro b ab ly
n o t used before the fifth century BC, certainly late r th a n in
E gypt.24 Scholars basically agree th a t sails were m o st pro b ab ly
invented by n o n H an-C hinese peoples such as the Y ue M . This
co ntrad icts the legend th a t the sail (fan ifiFL) h a d already been
invented by the G rea t Y u
durin g the X ia M D ynasty
(trad. 2205-1766).25
Early mythology and ideology
A lready in the first m illennium BC the sea h ad a definite place
in C hinese ideology. A bronze inscription from the 10th cen­
tu ry BC m ention s the term “hai A “ already in its m eaning
as “ sea” , while the term “yang A “ is still restricted in m eaning
to signify a “ vast, expansive space” .26 The earliest C hinese lit­
erary source attesting to the fact th a t the sea w as originally re ­
g arded as a kind o f frontier, m argin, o r delim itation - a n d a t
21 T he m o n so o n w inds w ere k n o w n to m o st o f the seafarers. G reeks
a n d R o m an s knew th e w inds according to its “ discoverer” H ippalos,
w h o p ro b ab ly lived in th e first cen tu ry BC. H e d a re d to sail over the
o p en sea a n d cou ld , th u s, sh o rte n trem endously th e sea voyage to
In d ia. A lso th e In d ian s knew a b o u t th e m o n so o n w inds a n d highly
resp ected th e sto rm y so u th w e st m o n so o n . B o th th e an o n y m o u s
co m po ser o f th e Periplus o f the Erythraen Sea as well as P linius the
O lder in his N atural H istory d istrib u ted the discovery o f these w inds” .
F o r d etails see fo r exam ple D ie tm a r R o th erm u n d , “ D er Blick vom
W esten a u f d en In d isch en O zean v o m < P eriplus > bis zur < Sum a
O rien tal > ” , in D ie tm a r R o th e rm u n d , S usanne W eigelin-Schw iedrzik
(H rsg.), D er Indische Ozean. D as afro-asiatische M ittelm eer als Kulturund W irtschaftsraum. (W ien: P rom edia, 2004), 9-35.
22 Shiji, j . 25, 1243-1248. A ccording to G a n g D eng 1997, 43, the
m o n so o n w inds w ere called bozhuo fen g
in sayings o f the
p e a sa n t p o p u la tio n d u rin g H a n tim es. T his w o u ld im ply know ledge
a n d d istrib u tio n o f th e ch aracter $10.
X i L ongfei, Zhongguo zaochuan shi, 48-50.
G a n g D en g , Chinese M aritim e A ctivities and Socioeconomic D evel­
opment, 32; L in H u a d o n g W ï j f ï , “ Z h o n g g u o fengfan tan y u a n
H aijiaoshi yanjiu i l x i SftjH 2 (1986), 85-88; X i Longfei,
Zhongguo zaochuan shi, 51-52.
25 O n th e in v en tio n o f th e sail d u rin g Shang tim es, see X i Longfei,
Zhongguo zaochuan shi, 49-50.
26 B e rn h ard K arlg re n , “ G ra m m a tic a Serica R ecensa” , Bulletin o f the
M useum o f Far Eastern Antiquities 29 (1957), 947 a n d 732.
67
the same tim e as a m ythological place - is the D ao ist w o rk Liezi ^!l~p (3 rd -4 th century BC; fl. 398 BC), w hich refers to five
m o u n tain s in the m iddle o f a n abyss b eyond the B ohai Sea
(lil'Ä in the E ast - the first one D aiy u Î 5 Ü , the second Y uanjia o MIS, the th ird F an g h u T r is , the fo u rth Y ingzhou
a n d the fifth Penglai ä ls tl.27 The E astern Sea w as considered
the fro n tier o r m arg in to w ard s im m o rtality a n d a space in
w hich the islands o f the im m ortals are located - Penglai M
5tï, F an g zh an g J i 3 t a n d Y ingzhou IHI'M- T om b N o. 1 from
the M aw an g d u i M i i # com plex con tain ed a m u ral w ith a re p ­
resen tatio n o f the Penglai Islands. In C hinese m y thology these
w ere considered the em pire o f im m o rtality w here the elixir o f
im m o rtality could be fo u n d .28 Q in Shihuang itÎ tê M (r. 2 2 1 210 BC) is said to have searched fo r these islands to o b tain
the im m o rtality drug. Sim ilar stories are rep o rted a b o u t E m ­
p ero r H a n W udi îJ tife ir (r. 140-87 B C ).29 In 130 BC, a certain
Li S haojun
to ld the em p ero r a b o u t the process o f
ob tain in g im m o rtality as supposedly also carried o u t by C h i­
n a ’s first a n d m ythical em p ero r H u an g d i Ä S . These stories
a t least reveal th a t the sea seems to have possessed quite a
strong m agical-m ythological a ttra c tio n fo r C hinese em perors
a n d o th er m em bers o f the social elite. T hey also a tte st to their
interest in a w o rld beyond - be it a m ythical one o r a vast u n ­
k n o w n w orld beyond C h in a ’s borders. Interestingly, these
m ythical ideologies all refer to the E astern Sea (donghai Í
:fiI), the d irection in w hich the sun rises. A ccording to Chinese
views C hina w as su rro u n d ed by th e F o u r Seas (sihai E9'Ä), lo ­
cated close to three oceans (yang A ) . T he E astern Seas in ­
cluded the B ohai Jfjl'jJf Sea, the H u an g h a i m A Sea or
Y ellow Sea, the D o n g h ai ^ . A Sea or the E ast C hina Sea
a n d the N an h a i Ifl'ilf o r S o u th C hina Sea.
Early imperial China (Qin-Han)
T he first contacts on sea ro u tes w ere o f course established w ith
close neighbours in the region. F ro m appro x im ately the fo u rth
century BC relatively lively shipping developed in the N o rth ­
east A sian w aters, in p artic u la r betw een C hina a n d K orea.
O riginally, the increase in shipping activities in the E astern
Seas certainly also has to be traced b ack to E m p ero r Q in Shih u an g d i’s itÎ tê M (r. 221-210 BC) search fo r the islands o f the
im m ortals. The sea ro u te led fro m S han d o n g either via various
sm all islands o r directly along the coastline in the d irection o f
K o re a .30 V ia K o re a C hinese influence eventually also reached
Ja p a n , b u t we still know relatively little a b o u t concrete routes
a n d co n tac t in this early period. T he first h u m a n m ovem ents
a n d m ig ratio n to Ja p a n from the C hinese m a in la n d also to o k
place via K o rea. In ad d itio n , the sea w as fro m early tim es o n ­
w ards used fo r com m ercial a n d m ilitary purposes. B ut it m ust
be m en tio n ed th a t in term s o f m aritim e com m erce the Chinese
27 L iezi t y i f , in Z huzi jicheng §)j~Eliijfe. (Beijing: Z h o n g h u a shuju,
1954), vol. 3, chpt. 5 (Tangwen diwu ÎHPoISîIÏl), 52.
28 M ichel L oew e, W ays to Paradies. The Chinese Quest f o r Im m or­
tality. (R ep rin t, Taibei: S M C Publishing, 1994), 37.
29 Hanshu í H # by B an G u ifi[H (32-92). (Beijing: Z h o n g h u a shuju,
1964), j . 25B, 22a (according to L oew e, 37).
30 Z h an g X u n jjüül, Woguo gudai haishang jiaoton g
S - (Beijing: S hangw u yinshuguan, 1986), 1-2; YÜ Y ing-shi, Trade and
Expansion in H an China. A Study in the Structure o f Sino-Barbarian
Economic Relations. (Berkeley, L os A ngeles: U niversity o f C alifo rn ia
Press, 1967), 182.
A. S chottenham m er
68
rem ained relatively passive un til appro x im ately the 11th cen­
tury. They seem to have trad ed early o n (in the Q in -H an p e r­
iod) w ith locations in K o re a an d a b it later also Ja p a n , b u t did
n o t venture to trad e w ith S o u th east A sia, n o t to speak o f the
In d ian O cean, until the la tte r h a lf o f the 11th century. In this
context, one should m ake a d istinction betw een C hinese activ­
ities in N o rth e a st A sia a n d S o u th east Asia.
In search o f the wealth o f the south
E arly contacts w ith S o u th east A sia basically w ent via the
South C hina Sea an d C a n to n o r P an y u W-ßt as the m a jo r po rt.
O n P an y u the fam ous h isto rian Sim a Q ia n B jJ f S (145-86 BC)
rep o rts th a t it co n stitu ted a n im p o rta n t com m ercial centre
w here pearls (zhuji EfeiH), rhinoceros h o rn (xi JÇ), tortoise
shells (daimao Iftlg ), fruits a n d fabrics (guo hu
were ex­
changed.31 B ut com m ercial relations becam e really im p o rta n t
betw een S outh C h in a (G uangdong), In d o -C h in a an d the M a ­
lay A rchipelago only a t the beginning o f o u r time. In 111 BC
E m p ero r H a n W udi subjugated the N an Y u e M U E m pire in
the south to get access to the w ealth fro m the N a n h a i region.
W e know th a t in 29 A D Jiao zh o u 5¿Pit (m o d ern V ietnam ) u n ­
der the supervision o f its local g o v ern o r still volu n tarily sent an
em bassy to the H a n c o u rt “ paying trib u te ” (5¿PltíX §Pl8$"fc
ëP y fe^F jafiË ^Jt)-32 A t th a t tim e m an y C hinese h a d already
m igrated to the region fro m the n o rth . B ut soon problem s a r ­
ose an d W udi sent a punitive m ission to the so u th (see below).
L ater descriptions provide evidence th a t the C hinese were, for
exam ple, especially interested in the co p p er w ealth o f the
region.33
M an y C hinese histo rian s claim th a t the m erch an t ju n k s
(guchuan ID Id) th a t were also used by H a n envoys aro u n d
100 BC w ere b u ilt in C hina an d o p erated by C hinese sailors.
T he Official H istory o f the Han D ynasty, the Hanshu Î J ® ,
how ever, clearly states th a t these envoys h a d to rely o n foreign
“ b a rb a ria n ju n k s” (manyi guchuan S U H f p ) to travel along
the coasts. Still the T an g perio d Tang yulin jiF¡liW¡ by W ang
D an g i l l refers to “ foreign ships called haibo jíflfÉ” , w hich
year fo r year com e to G u an g zh o u fo r trad e, the largest ones
com ing from the “ L io n ’s C o u n try ” (Shizi guo I f i H ) , th a t
is Sri L anka. W henever these o r o th er foreign ju n k s reached
G u angzhou, the local p o p u la tio n w as full o f excitem ent.34
H ep u izrîjt in So u th C hina w as very fam ous fo r its richness
in pearls.35 Even th o u g h it w as econom ically speaking ra th e r
a n undeveloped region - fav o u red as a place o f exile fo r offi-
31 Shiji ÎÈ g2 by Sim a Q ia n KLUIS (145-86 BC). (Beijing: Z h o n g h u a
shuju, 1994), ƒ 129, 3268.
32 H ou Hanshu fl'? # l r by F a n Y e ?B0f (398-446). (Beijing: Z h o n g h u
shuju, 1985), j . 1 shang, 41.
33 H e rb e rt F ra n k e , Geschichte des Chinesischen Reiches. Eine D ar­
stellung seiner Entstehung, seines Wesens und seiner Entwicklung bis zur
neuesten Z eit. (2nd ed itio n o f th e new , revised edition. Berlin, N ew
Y ork : W alter de G ru y ter), vol. 1, 390-391.
34 F o r fu rth er details cf. Jam es K . C hin, “ P o rts, M e rch a n ts, C hief­
tain s, a n d E u n u ch s. R eading M a ritim e C om m erce o f E arly G u a n g ­
d o n g ” , in Shing M ü ller, T hom as, O. H ö llm a n n P u ta o G u i (Eds.),
Guangdong: Archaeology and Early Texts [Archäologie und frühe
Texte], (W iesbaden, O tto H arrasso w itz, 2004), 217-239, 222-223.
35 H ou Hanshu, j. 76, 2473; E d w a rd Schafer, “ T h e P earl F isheries o f
H o -p ’u ” , Journal o f the American Oriental S ociety 72:4 (1952), 155—
168.
cials w ho h a d fallen in to disgrace - the p earl fishing w as very
lucrative. O n H a in a n Island, th a t w as called Z huyai Bfc/li a t
th a t tim e, tw o com m anders, Z h u y ai a n d D a n ’er fltE f were
established. B ut due to revolts b o th com m anders were sus­
p en d ed again in the first century BC a n d all the evidence we
possess suggests th a t the island did n o t play a n im p o rta n t role
in C h in a’s early sea routes th a t ra th e r used to follow the c o ast­
al line to the south.
P ro b ab ly the m o st im p o rta n t source concerning C h in a’s
m aritim e co n tacts a n d ro u tes in the N a n h a i region during
the H a n D y n asty is p rovided by a m uch q u o te d a n d discussed
entry in the Hanshu. Scepticism a b o u t th e auth en ticity o f the
passage as well as th e assu m p tio n th a t it w as n o t actually w rit­
ten by B an G u MISI (32-92) him self has been raised. B ut there
can be little d o u b t th a t the en try provides a relatively authentic
p icture o f C h in a ’s m aritim e relations a t th a t time. C ontacts
w ith places in In d o -C h in a, N o rth S u m atra, M y a n m ar an d
S o u th In d ia are m en tio n ed .36
Follow ing this en try in the Hanshu a n d co m paring it w ith
archaeological evidence along the coasts o f S o u theast A sia
an d In d ia, ships in these tim es sailed from H ep u n “® o r X uw en
first to F u n a n
(Phnam ; S o u th ern A nnam ),
the first im p o rta n t k ingdom in S o u th east A sia,37 a n d then
reached Oc Eo, the p o rt o f F u n a n .38 F ro m there they travelled
via the G u lf o f T h ailan d to the E ast co ast o f the Isthm us o f
K ra on the M alay P eninsula. G o o d s were u n lo ad ed a n d then
tra n sp o rte d o n la n d p ro b ab ly crossing the narro w est passage
o f the isthm us a t K ra Buri in o rd er to reach the W est coast.
F ro m there ships sailed in the d irection o f the G u lf o f Bengal
36 H anshu,]. 28, 1671: É B l f P ï f t
x ít s í T É r r a a m e « «
m m i n m x
b r is is
u m
p a z,
ü ín i,
pi
»
i t
fis
SÄWD8, « m 2 . WJ&X, 9MÁ. X sliS îK îi
5t,
i«,
W E iiê K , ï m ê i t , m m
É Ü f M 'S Î T K A a m
« K tK
si b m ***#£.
m, t e m
F o r a n E nglish tra n sla tio n o f th e passage see Y ü Y ing-shi, Trade and
Expansion, 172-173, aiso Y ü Y ing-shi, “ H a n F o re ig n R e la tio n s” , in
D enis T w itchett, M ichael L oew e (eds.), The Cambridge H istory o f
China. Vol I. The C h ’in and Han E m pires, 2 2 1 B .C .-2 2 0 A .D .
(C am bridge: C am bridge U niversity Press, 1986), 376^162.
37 See for exam ple Y oshiaki Ishizaw a, “ C hinese C hronicles o f th e 1st—
5 th C en tu ry A D F u n a n , S o u th ern C a m b o d ia ” , in R o sem ary S co tt &
Jo h n G uy, S o u th E a st A sia & C hina: A rt, Interaction & Commerce.
Colloquies on A rt & Archaeology in Asia No. 17. H eld June 6th-8th,
1994. (L ondon: Percival D av id F o u n d a tio n o f C hinese A rt, 1995), 1131; P au l Pelliot, “ L e F o u -n a n ” , in Bulletin de VÉcole Française de
l ’Extrêm e O rient 3: 57 (1903), 248-303.
38 O n th e role o f O c E o, a m a jo r city o f F u n a n , see also Pierre-Y ves
M a n g u in , “ T he A rchaeology o f F u n a n in th e M ek o n g R iver D elta: the
O c E o C u ltu re o f V ietn am ” , in N . T ingley (ed.) A rts o f Ancient
Vietnam: From River Plain to Open Sea. (N ew Y o rk , H o u sto n : A sia
Society, M u seu m o f F in e A rts, H o u sto n , Y ale U niversity Press, 2009),
100-118; E ric B o u rd o n n eau , “ R éh ab iliter le F u n a n . O c E o o u la
p rem ière A n g k o r” , Bulletin de l ’École Française d ’Extrêm e-O rient 94
(2007), 111-157; or on th e large n etw o rk o f canals o f th e city th a t
actually req u ired a fu nctioning a n d centralized p o lity see also E ric
B o u rd o n n eau , “ T h e A n cien t C a n al System o f th e M ek o n g D e lta P relim inary R e p o rt” , in A n n a K a rlströ m a n d A n n a K âllén (eds.),
Fishbones and Glittering Emblems. Southeast Asia Archaeology 2002.
(Stockholm : M u seu m o f F a r E a ste rn A ntiquities, 2003), 257-270.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
an d th en fu rth er to the east co ast o f Sri L a n k a or they reached
an o th er South In d ian p o rt, A rikam edu, o r an o th e r p o rt along
the coast o f C o ro m an d el.39 The re tu rn voyage h appened
accordingly o r via the M alacca Strait. F u n a n w as an im p o rta n t
stopover in the In d o -Ira n ia n a n d P a rth ia n sea tra d e o f th a t
tim e. A m ong the archaeological relics o f its form er cap ital d a ­
ted to the second to fo u rth century archaeologists excavated a
R o m an coin o f 152 A D w ith the im age o f the R o m a n E m p ero r
M arcu s A urelius (reg. 161-180). U n d o u b ted ly , this find does
n o t tell us anything a b o u t how a n d w hen the coin g ot there.
B ut there is also no convincing reason to deny the existence
o f a relatively ro b u st sea trad e in F u n an . B oth P a rth ia a n d In ­
dia are recorded in the Hou Hanshu as tra d in g w ith th e R o ­
m ans by sea an d conducting a very lucrative com m erce. The
seafaring trad e o f the R o m an E m pire, thus, finally connected
Southeastern E urope a n d the O rien t w ith the w est co ast o f In ­
dia, it connected the R ed Sea to the A ra b ian Sea a n d p o rts in
In d ia,40 a n d from there links existed th a t led into the C hina
Seas, even th o u g h they were n o t yet routine.
Human movement and migration
The sea - certainly also u n d e rsto o d figuratively in the sense o f
escaping to a rem ote place - including islands located close to
the litto ral b u t also countries like K o re a a n d Ja p a n were rela ­
tively early on considered or used as a place o f refuge or exile.
K ongzi f l~ p (551-479 BC) is claim ed to have already said he
w ould go into exile on the seas w ith a raft, should his political
ideas n o t be accepted (Lunyu ¡É l§ , B ook 5, chpt. 7).41 T he first
concrete case o f a n exile by sea is re p o rted fro m the year 473
BC. A fter the state o f Y ue h a d annexed W u, F a n Li j n f e , orig­
inally advisor to the victorious K ing G o u Jia n /ñ]£í, w ent over­
seas fearful o f the revengeful p ersonality o f the king {Shiji,
Y uew ang G o u Jian).42 W hen in 277 BC the state o f Q in c o n ­
quered the state o f Y ue in S o u th east C hina (m odern Z hejiang
an d F ujian), local in h ab itan ts are said to have fled in g reat
num bers overseas. O ne renow ned m o d ern histo rian , Z hang
X u n 5 8 Ü , even claim ed in this con tex t th a t the original settlers
o f the P enghu
Islands as well as o f T aiw an were originally
descendants o f these Y ue refugees w ho w ere k n o w n as fisher­
m en w ith sh o rt h air an d tatto o s. A first official state-sup p o rted
em igration to lands overseas is tran sm itte d from the th ird cen­
tu ry BC. E m p ero r Q in S hihuang is said to have sent a fleet
w ith 3000 young em igrants, m en a n d w om en, as well as w ith
grain, seeds an d a g rea t q u a n tity o f tools in the d irection o f J a ­
p a n .43 W hen D o n g Z h u o ü í (m urdered 193) to o k over
pow er th ro u g h a coup d ’é ta t to w ard s the end o f the E astern
H a n D ynasty, m any scholars a n d literati are said to have em i­
grated to L iaodong S í by crossing the B ohai Sea.
39 B e rn h ard D ah m , “ H an d el u n d H e rrsc h a ft im G renzbereich des
In d isch en O zean s“ , in D ie tm a r R o th e rm u n d , S usanne W eigelinSchw iedrzik (H rsg.), D er Indische Ozean. D as afro-asiatische M ittel­
m eer als Kultur-und W irtschaftsraum. (W ien: P ro m ed ia, 2004), 105—
122, here 109.
40 L iu X in ru , The Silk R oad in W orld H istory. T h e N ew O xford
W o rld H isto ry . (O xford: O x fo rd U niversity Press, 2010), 33 a n d 40.
41 Jam es Legge, The Chinese Classics. (Taibei: S M C Publishing,
1994), vol. 1.
42 Shiji, j. 41, 1740.
43 Shiji, j. 118, 3086.
69
M ilitary purposes
Follow ing the Zuozhuan
naval battles h a d becom e quite
p o p u la r by late E astern Z h o u times. In 549 BC K in g G ong f t
o f C hu M sent o u t his fleet to a tta c k the k ingdom o f W u
In
525 BC, W u
subsequently d isp atch ed its fleet twice to attack
C hu. I t has been calculated th a t betw een 549 a n d 476 BC a fu r­
th er 20 sea battles to o k place betw een W u a n d C hu alone.44
B ut we can say w ith relative certainty th a t the w ar ships n av ­
igated only in the close co astal w aters an d in river estuaries. A
real sea b attle d id n o t tak e place before 485 BC w hen F uchai
Í 7 Í , K ing o f W u
sent a fleet fro m the so u th a n d defeated
the navy o f the K in g d o m o f Qi pF in the n o rth (A igong
y ear 10). In 482 BC the K in g d o m o f Y ue M in the south a t­
tack ed W u from the sea a n d eventually defeated a n d annexed
the co u n try nine years later. All these references a tte st to the
use o f the seas a ro u n d C h in a fo r political m ilitary purposes,
b u t first only along the coastal line o f w h a t is now C hina.
B ut soon rulers v entured a b it further.
In 109 BC the E m p ero r H a n W udi d ispatched a fleet w ith
5000 soldiers from S h an d o n g via the B ohai Jfjl'jJf Sea to K o rea
in o rder to a tta c k the co u n try a n d establish C hinese prefec­
tures or com m anderies th ere.45 The C hinese soldiers were su p ­
posedly tra n sp o rte d to K o re a on m u lti-sto ried ships called
“ louchuan t§ |fn ” . S ubsequently, th e H a n E m pire established
three com m anderies o n K o re a n territo ry , L elang
Z henfan U S a n d L in tu n Emtfe.46 A lso a first C hinese occupation
o f the island o f H ain an , a t th a t tim e designated as D a n ‘er
a n d Z huyai, is recorded from H a n times. The cam paign to o k
place in the w in ter o f the year 6 o f the reign p erio d Y uanding
tQPft (112 BC) o f H a n W udi. T he Hanshu speaks o f 100,000
soldiers th a t are said to have p a rticip ated in the cam paign.47
E d w ard E. Schafer in this con tex t also m entions th e fam ous
H a n general M a Y u an M IS (14 B C -49 A D ) w ho w as involved
in m an y cam paigns in the south: “ These garriso n ed territories
seem to have been little d istu rb ed by th e im m igrants o f settlers
w ith th eir strange w ays durin g the earlier H a n period. B ut in
the first century o f the C h ristian era, after the definitive co n ­
quest o f those lands by the sep tu ag en arian hero M a Y iian,
the soldiers were follow ed by colonists a n d th eir m agistrates,
bringing all the p arap h e rn a lia o f official culture w ith them .
P arts o f N am -V iet to o k o n the superficial b u t pleasing aspect
o f a respectable Chinese province” .48 These exam ples clearly
a tte st to the fact th a t by H a n tim es a t the latest the Chinese
E m pire w as expanding its influence via the sea to close-by
44 Z h an g X u n , Zhongguo hanghai kejishi
■ (Beijing:
H aiy an g ch u b an sh e 1991), 23.
45 Shiji, j. 115, 2987-2989.
46 C oncerning th e developm ent o f these com m anderies see Lee Kib aik, A New H istory o f Korea. T ra n sla te d by E d w ard W . W agn er, w ith
E d w a rd J. Schultz. (C am bridge, M ass., L o n d o n : H a rv a rd U niv ersity
Press, 1984), 19-21; E rling v o n M ende, China und die Staaten a u f der
koreanischen H albin sel bis zum 12. Jh. Eine Untersuchung zur
Entwicklung der Formen zwischenstaatlicher Beziehungen in Ostasien.
(W iesbaden, F ra n z Steiner V erlag, 1982), 30-46; also Y ü Y ing-shi,
“ H a n F o re ig n R e la tio n s” , 451-457.
47 Hanshu, j , 6, 188; also W an g X iangzhi zE M -Z (Jinshi 1196 afterl2 2 1 ), Yudi jisheng flUSftSIIj. (Taibei: W enhai chubanshe, 1962),
j. 89, 2a.
48 E d w ard H . Schafer, The Vermilion Bird. T ’ang Im ages o f the South.
(Berkeley, L o s A ngeles: U niversity o f C alifo rn ia Press, 1967), 16.
70
neighbouring territories. The use o f the C hina Seas fo r naval,
m ilitary purposes has, thus, a long trad itio n .
D iplom atic purposes
Sources tell us m uch less a b o u t early p rivate trad e relations.
L ittle has been recorded - often we possess only indirect evi­
dence - an d also archaeology can so fa r provide us w ith only
m ore general tendencies. Officially a t least, m aritim e tra d e in
N o rth east A sia w as m o re o r less closely linked u p w ith
diplom acy.
F irst w ritten evidence o f a visit o f a Japanese envoy to C h i­
na stems from the year 57. In the H ou H anshu it is m entio n ed
th a t the W o \* - this is the old C hinese d esignation o f Ja p a n h ad b ro u g h t tribute to the C hinese co u rt th a t year. T he H a n
E m p ero r G uangw u A iK (reg. 25-57) is even said to have c o n ­
ferred, via the Japanese envoy, a golden seal to the “ K ing o f
W o ’’.49 A n inscription confirm ed the Japanese ru ler as the king
o f his country. T his w ritten reco rd seem ed to have been veri­
fied w hen in 1784 a golden seal w as u n earth ed o n the Island
o f S hika-no-shim a /Cu' M t-5) in Ja p a n - supposedly exactly the
sam e seal th a t h ad been conferred u p o n the Japanese king
by the H a n em p ero r.50 In d eed this seal has m eanw hile been
considered as authen tic am ong J a p a n ’s archaeological experts;
a solid p ro o f th a t this really is the seal th a t is m en tio n ed in the
H ou H onshu is this, how ever, adm ittedly not.
A s trib u te the Japanese are said to have sent goods such as
textiles, sapan w ood, bow s a n d arrow s, slaves, a n d w hite
pearls. C hinese gifts o n the o th er h a n d included silk fabrics,
gold objects, bronze m irro rs, pearls, lead a n d c in n a b a r.51
B ronze m irrors as well as num erous o th er bronze a n d iro n o b ­
jects stem m ing from the H a n perio d have been excavated in
various places in b o th K o rea a n d Jap an . U n d o u b ted ly , bronze
m irro rs co n stitu ted one o f the early trad e com m odities an d
diplom atic gifts o f the tim e. Even b ronze coins cast u n d er
the rulership o f W ang M an g j/Ef? (r. 9 -23) have been u n ­
earth ed from some places in K y ü sh ü A W -52
T he C hina Sea w as o f course also used by fisherm en since
earliest times. C oastal residents o f S handong, Jiangsu a n d Z h e­
jian g obviously w ere highly qualified shipbuilders a n d already
d u ring Z h o u tim es w ere using the coastal w aters fo r fishing
an d tra d in g .53 B oats fo r tw o can p ro b ab ly be d ate d b ack to
the E astern Z h o u D y n asty Í J 1 ] (770-221 v. C hr.). Relics o f
49 H o u H anshu, j . 85. 2821. T his seal is to d a y on display in the
H isto rical M u seu m o f F u k u o k a . Ja p an . F o r the historical assessm ent
o f th e seal cf. Seyock A u f den Spuren der Ostbarbaren. Z u r Archäologie
protohistorischer Kuituren in Südkorea und W estjapan. (M ünster:
L itV erlag .. 2004). 207-211. B u n k a. T ü b in g er in terk u ltu relle un d
linguistische Ja p an stu d ien . Illu stra tio n s m ay be d o w n lo ad ed from
h ttp ://w w w .w e b .n c h u .e d u .tw /~ le e h sin /Ja p a n -l.h tm . http ://w w w .o to m iy a .c o m /fish in g /g u id e /g u id e l3 .h tm l. h ttp ://w w w .w w w 3 .fam ille .n e.
jp /~ o -k o g a /k u m a /k ira m e k i/S u p e r-H is to ry /s h _ 0 1 .h tm , h ttp ://w w w .
b fo rtu n e.n et/so cial/seso /n ih o n -ed o /k in in .h tm .
30 YÜ Y ing-shi. Trade and E xpansion in H an China. 186; A lfred
W ieczorek, S ah ara M a k o to . Z e it der M orgenröte. Japans Archäologie
und Geschichte bis zu den ersten Kaisern. (M annheim : R eiss-E ngelhorn
M u seu m . 2004). 225.
31 H o u H anshu. j. 30. 857-858.
3~ Y ü Y ing-shi. Trade and E xpansion in H an China. 186.
33 Z h an g X u n . W oguo gudai haishang jiaotong. 3 4.
A. S chottenham m er
ru d d ers are m u ch older a n d have been estim ated to date back
to 7000 BC o r earlier.
M ig ratio n , m ilitary, political-diplom atic a n d com m ercial
p urposes were, thus, the d o m in atin g factors o f activities in
the C hina Seas in this early period. T he sources provide us
w ith the im pression th at, officially a t least, m ilitary an d d ip lo ­
m atic purposes prevailed while trad e w as only o f m in o r im p o r­
tance. T his certainly does n o t reflect the w hole range o f the
picture. A n d it is clear th a t official relations w ent along w ith
cu ltural exchange, a fac to r th a t becam e ever m ore im p o rtan t
parallel to the sharp increase in com m ercial interchange an d
interaction. The routes still closely follow ed coastlines a n d is­
lands in the m o re shallow w aters.
The period o f division (Sanguo - 1 , 220-265, 280; Nanbei chao
T his p erio d is ch aracterized by grow ing official a n d non-offi­
cial relations w ith K o rea a n d Jap a n , w hich rose as independent
states at th a t tim e, a process th a t w as also facilitated by
increasingly frequent travels o f B uddhist m onks. A s K orea
a n d Ja p a n converted to B uddhism , C hina becam e a m ajo r pil­
grim age d estin atio n fo r m o n k s seeking edu catio n an d texts
a n d , thus, also increasingly fu nctioned as a m e d ia to r o f C h i­
nese culture. The C hina Seas were used increasingly fo r private
voyages a n d increasingly fu nctioned as a cu ltu ral exchange
zone. G o o d s a n d technologies in tro d u ced to these countries
by m erch an ts u n d o u b ted ly greatly facilitated the a d o p tio n o f
C hinese culture th ro u g h o u t the C hina Seas.
A t th a t tim e, K o rea w as divided in to three kingdom s,
K o g u ry ö
(37 B C -668 A D ), Silla fffH (57 B C -953
A D ) an d Paekche 5 Î Ü (18 B C - 660 A D ). M u tu a l relations
w ith C hina a n d Ja p a n were, generally speaking, characterized
by m ilitary considerations. T he C hinese state o f W ei t f (220—
265) a tta c k e d K o rea, in p artic u la r K o g u ry ö th a t h a d a jo in t
la n d b o rd e r w ith C hina, a n d vice versa. All three K o re a n king­
dom s, on the o th er h an d , tried to tak e ad v an tag e o f C h in a’s
separatio n a n d use nom adic peoples as well as Ja p a n fo r its
ow n m ilitary purposes. P aekche, fo r exam ple, asked fo r J a p a ­
nese tro o p s to assist in attack in g Silla.54 P aekche also devel­
oped as the sp rin g -b o ard fro m w hich aspects o f Chinese
culture as well as B uddhism w ere fu rth e r tran sm itted to Japan.
B ut despite these n o t really pacific politics th a t continued
th ro u g h o u t the N an b eich ao p eriod, it w as a tim e w hen the ru l­
ing a n d social elites in K o rea a d o p te d m an y elem ents o f C h i­
nese culture as well as Buddhism .
W ei also m ain tain ed official relatio n s w ith Jap an . Twice the
W ei ru ler sent em bassies to Ja p a n , betw een 238 an d 247 an d
vice versa fo u r Japanese em bassies cam e to C hina. The chapter
“ D escrip tio n o f the E astern B arb arian s’’ (D ongyi zhuan í H
ÍS) in the W ei annals o f the H istory o f the Three Kingdom s
(Sanguo zh i ^ . H / S ) described the W o \* people in relative d e­
tail. The various peoples o f the W o co u n try , it is said, can be
reached, as a rule, by each tim e crossing an o th e r sm all sea. The
geography a n d the m o st im p o rta n t local p ro d u cts are d e­
scribed, as well as the n u m b er o f households, if know n, the
nam e o f the responsible official, as well as distances. T he W o
co u n try is m entio n ed as the co u n try o f the Q ueen H im iko ^
34 K i-b aik Lee. A N ew H isto ry o f Korea, 45-46.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
SSof, supposed to have been located in the regions o f X iem ayi
ï f P J f ï , in Japanese Y a m a ’ichi.55
J a p a n ’s contacts w ith C hina fo r a long tim e w ere m a in ­
tained basically via K orea. This has o f course also to do w ith
the m anaging o f the sea routes. It w as easier to sail along the
coasts a n d passing islands th a n to tak e the d irect sea ro u te via
the open sea, a ro u te th a t w as first officially tak en in T an g
times. J a p a n ’s interest in K o re a in this respect basically only
existed in her role as interm ediary to C hinese culture. O ne
w as interested in scholars, books, calendars a n d a rt objects.
It w as also via K o rea th a t B uddhism reached Ja p a n , m ainly
via Paekche. A last Japanese em bassy to C h in a h a d reached
the c o u rt o f the W estern Jin Ë § et (265-316) in 266, a follow ing
em bassy is n o t m entio n ed before 413, w hen it reached the
c o u rt o f the E astern Jin # j8 r (317-420).56
W ith the unification o f N o rth C hina u n d er the T oba-W ei
IÏISÎÜ! (386-534) the N o rth e rn Bei W ei state becam e K oguryö’s m ost im p o rta n t p artn er. A fter 425 fo r m o re th a n a cen­
tu ry regular tribute a n d trad e relations existed betw een b o th
countries. A t the sam e tim e, K oguryö tried to m ain ta in d ip lo ­
m atic relations w ith C h in a’s S o u th ern dynasties, w h at tu rn e d
o u t to be n o t as easy as hoped. In 480 a n d 520, fo r exam ple,
tw o em bassies o f K og u ry ö to the S o u th ern Qi a n d th e L iang
D ynasty were cau g h t by the Bei W ei.
The influence o f C hinese civilization, as well as im m igrants
from b o th C hina an d K o re a th a t were tro u b led by w ars b e­
tw een 365-645, left far-reaching signs in the h ith erto still re la ­
tively prim itive an d trad itio n ally organized Japanese society
th a t w as based u p o n a clan system (uji Be). A Japanese w o rk
datin g from 815, the Shinsen shoji roku U f í S t t É ü , contains
genealogies o f 1182 aristo cratic people from K y o to a n d five in ­
ner provinces. M ore th a n 30% o f these aristo cratic fam ilies
w ere o f foreign origin (bambetsu jÇSll), 176 from C hina, 120
from P aekche, 88 from K o m a (K oguryö) a n d 18 from Silla.
A lso num erous K o rea n peasan ts a n d craftsm en em igrated to
Ja p a n d u ring this tim e.57
D u rin g this tim e period, the E ast C hina Seas also started to
becom e the spring-bo ard fo r locations b eyond in S o u th east
Asia. In this context, it is intriguing to see th a t the Chinese
ch aracter fo r ocean-going ju n k “ bo IfÉ” seems to a p p e a r for
the first tim e in the th ird century. In 260, K an g T ai 1 * ^ , re ­
ceived the o rd er o f the ruler o f W u, Sun Q u an J S Ä (reg.
222-252), to travel to S o u th east Asia. H e left a re p o rt a b o u t
his travels, the Wushi waiguo zhuan
(Description
o f foreign countries during the time o f Wu), p arts o f w hich have
55 M a tsu sh ita K e n rin I ß T M W , w h o in tro d u c e d th is tex t in to
Ja p an ese scholarship, su p p o sed th a t th e last character, “y i S ” , w as
a ty p o a n d rep laced it by the ch aracter “ tai -¡e ” . F ro m th is the nam e
Y a m a ta i fo r th e la n d o f th e Q ueen o f th e W o resulted, a nam e th a t has
rem ain ed in use u n til to d a y despite critical tex tu al analysis. L ater in the
fifth cen tu ry Y a m a to in C e n tral J a p a n w as th e seat o f the central
Ja p an ese governm ent. In th is co n tex t it h as b een suggested th a t the
Y a m a ta i o f th e W ei A n n als is actually identical w ith Y a m a to . M o re
recen t research, how ever, claim s th a t th e Y a m a ta i o f th e W ei A n n als
ra th e r referred to th e n o rth e rn p a r t o f K yüshü. B u t even tak in g in to
co n sid eratio n arch aeo logical evidence, the residence o f H im ikos,
Y a m a ’ichi, c a n n o t be identified w ith ab so lu te accuracy.
56 Jean R eischauer, R o b e rt K a rl R eischauer, Early Japanese H istory,
40 B C - 1167 A D . (G loucester, M ass.: P eter Sm ith, 1967), 17.
57 Jean R eischauer, R o b e rt K a rl R eischauer, Early Japanese H istory,
19-20.
71
survived in later encyclopaedias. A n en try in the Taiping yulan
A ^ H ÍP IÍ by Li F a n g * 1 © (925-996) provides us w ith a b rief
passage o f the Wushi waiguo zhuan. A ccordingly, a t th a t tim e
overseas ju n k s existed th a t were equipped w ith seven sails (IfÉ
‘jfi'fc'lft).58 A n o th er entry quotes th e Nanzhou yiwu zhi Iff M U
f lk S by W a n Z h en Ä H an d speaks o f people b eyond C h in a’s
b orders, w hose ships w ere equipped w ith u p to fo u r sails
according to th eir size ( 9 f 'i k A P S Ä ^ /J''^6i/F H l,Ä ).59 Sun
Q u an rep o rted ly already possessed ships o f a size to be able
to tra n sp o rt up to 3000 soldiers a n d officials a n d could sail
along the big rivers an d stream s (A lfp ^ T ifE IÄ ^ iftE IA lfä id c
^ ¡ t 2 ± H ^ A | S | P E e * ï I ï t ) . 60
Interestingly, the c h aracter fo r “ho IfÉ” is w ritten in tw o dif­
ferent w ays in the Wushi waiguo zhuan ( 0 AíÉlfÉ'jfi'fc'llR; see
also Nan Q ish u ,j. 11, 195: )fÉ, Ê tË ), w hich m ay suggest th a t
it originally em erged fro m a certain p honem e (in C antonese
p ro n o u n ced “ b a h k ” ), p erh ap s by a d o p tin g a foreign language
term related to the A rab “ b a h r” o r the G reek “ b a ris” . A ccord­
ing to Pierre-Y ves M an g u in, th e expression “kolandio phonta”
in a passage in the Periplus o f the Erythrean Sea has been in ter­
preted as a c o rru p t G reek form “ kunlun bo H, S lfÉ ” , referring
to ships th a t sailed from In d ia to S o u th east A sia.61 They are
described as ships u p to 50 m in length, carrying ab o u t
300 to n s o f goods a n d hun d red s o f passengers, equipped w ith
m ultiple sails a n d m asts a n d plan k s fastened w ith vegetal fi­
bres.62 N au tica l archaeologists call these vessels “ stitchedp lan k a n d lashed-lug tech n iq u e” .63 F o reig n shipbuilding tra d i­
tions consequently greatly influenced S o u th C h in a’s sh ipbuild­
ing industry. As late as the T an g D y n asty coastal people o f
G u an g d o n g learned how to build ju n k s w ith o u t using nails,
nam ely by tying to g eth er planks a n d beam s w ith the fibres o f
58 Taiping yulan A W I b y Li F a n g Í B S (925-996), j . I l l , 5b, S itu
congkan, fasc. 35-55.
59 Taiping yulan, j. I l l , 5b.
60 Sanguozhi buzhu
by H a n g Shijun IjttË S I. (Shanghai:
S hangw u yinshuguan, 1937), j. 6, 6b (1023).
61 Pierre-Y ves M a n g u in , “ S o u th east A sia n shipping in th e In d ia n
O cean d u rin g th e 1st m illennium A D ” , in H im an sh u P ra b h a R ay an d
Je an -F ran ço is Salles (eds.), Tradition and Archaeology. Early M aritim e
Contacts in the Indian Ocean (L yon/N ew D elhi: M a n o h a r/M a iso n de
l’O rien t M é d ite rran éen /N IS T A D S , 1996), 181-198, here 190. Ia n
G lo v er early on h a d already tu rn e d sc h o lars’ a tte n tio n to th e role o f
S o u th east A sia as a link betw een In d ia, S outheast A sia a n d beyond;
see his E arly Trade between India and Southeast Asia: A L ink in the
D evelopm ent o f a W orld Trading System . (H ull, U niversity o f H ull,
C e n tre for S o u th east A sia n Studies, 1989). Occasional paper, N o . 16.
62 F o r a d escription see Pierre-Y ves M a nguin, “ T he S o u th east A sian
Ship: A n H isto rical A p p ro a c h ” , Journal o f Southeast Asian Studies 11
(2) (1980), 266-276; also P au l P elliot, “ Q uelques textes chinois
co n cern an t l’In d o ch in e hindouisée” , in Etudes asiatiques publiées â
I” occasion du vingt-cinquièm e anniversaire de l ’Ecole Française
d ’Extrêm e-Orient. (Paris: E F E O vol. II, 1925), 243-263.
63 See Pierre-Y ves M a n g u in , “ S o u th east A sia n S hipping in th e In d ia n
O cean durin g the 1st M illen n iu m A D ” , 184ff; also Pierre-Y ves M a n ­
guin, “ T rad in g ships o f th e S o u th C h in a Sea: Shipbuilding T echniques
a n d th eir R ole in th e D evelopm ent o f A sian T ra d e N e tw o rk s” , Journal
o f the Economic and Social H istory o f the Orient, 36 (1993), 253-280;
on the role o f th e M a lay P eninsula in early m aritim e tra d e relatio n s see
also M ichel Ja cq -H e rg o u alc’h, tra n sla te d by V icto ria H o b so n , The
M alay Pensinsula: Crossraods o f the M aritim e Silk R oad ( 100 BC-1300
A D ). (Leiden, B oston, K öln: E. J. Brill, 2001).
72
A. S chottenham m er
the “guanglang tfúW tre e ” , a k in d o f pallii (Arenga pinnata).64
T he greatest perio d o f ad vancem ent in C hinese shipbuilding
technology occurred durin g the Song a n d Y u a n dynasties.65
T he m ost fam ous C hinese overseas vessels are th e so-called
“ sand ships” (shachuan î'M'p) fo r shallow w aters, the “ b ird
ships” {wu o r niaochuan JM S) w ith a sharp b o tto m , proficient
in sailing in the open w aters, as were th e “ F u ch u a n Im fp” (F u j­
ian ships) th a t w ere equipped w ith a keel a n d th e “ G uangchua n l # | p ” (G uangdo n g ships) - b u t these have basically to be
d ated into the Song dynasty (960-1279). Song ships, as the fa ­
m ous Q u anzhou shipw reck th a t w as excavated in 1974 o ff the
coast o f Q u anzhou (Q u an zh o u Flouzhu Song chuan
7 ^ |p ) m ay show , w ere already divided by b u lkheads in to ship
co m p artm en ts.66
Som e tim e later, we m eet the expression also in O fficial H is­
tories o f the N anbei chao period, such as in the Songshu 5 ^ # ,
the N an Qishu IflP F lr, the Jinshu t a l r o r the Liangshu § Î J r .67
A nalysing the q u o tatio n s fro m these histories we learn th a t
b o th p rivate m erch an ts a n d official persons crossed the sea
on such bo |É . The Liangshu, fo r exam ple, explicitly speaks
o f foreign m erchan ts (9M H M À ) w ho arriv ed on bo a n d also
m entions the m ultiple profits th a t could be m ade from m ari-
64 Jam es K . C h in . “ P o rts. M e rch a n ts. C hieftains, a n d E unuchs.
R ead in g M aritim e C om m erce o f E arly G u a n g d o n g ". 222-223.
63 Jacq u es D ars, “ L es jo n q u e s chinoises de h a u te m er sous les Song et
les Y u a n " . Archipel 18 (1979). 41-56; also Pierre-Y ves M a nguin.
“ T rad in g Ships o f the S o u th C h in a S ea" (1993). F o r the h isto ry o f
shipbuilding techniques in E ast A sia also J u n K im u ra, “ H istorical
developm ent o f shipbuilding technologies in E ast A sia ", c h a p te r 1.
d o w n lo ad ed via http ://w w w .sh ip w reck asia.o rg /w p /d o w n lo ad .p h p 7 id
(31.08.2012), w here a few concrete w recks are in tro d u ced . H isto rian s
a n d u n d erw ater arch aeologists including J u n K im u ra. X i L ongfei. Cai
W ei. Sally C h u rch a n d oth ers also sta rte d a w ebsite, see h ttp ://w w w .
shipw reck asia.o rg /p rojects/.
66 See fo r exam ple the excavation re p o rt in F u jian sh en g Q u an zh o u
haiw ai jia o to n g sh i b o w u g u an
(ed.).
Quanzhouwan Songdai haichuan faju e yu yanjiu J f t 'M íS ^ í lf /í f tn f íí E
(Beijing: H aiy an g chubanshe, 1987).
67 Songshu, i . 97. 2377: Ü J S > S Ü H . A Í É f i X 'M X l f S t S l f . S *
î f W H A . fflA H tB E A M .
M M E W fr];
Songshu, j. 97. 2380-81: A í ü — A .
Æ rË P S ? .
II
E m fit i t i fit PS S : Nan Oishii, j. 11. 195: H JfT ffiE
& Ï Â îf îf lf iâ É L M , Ê ff i. T - I f ö f n s ê llE r Î T Ê i Î J M: Nan Oishii,j.
31. 573:
Í l í £ í 5 m P S j É $ l f 'M ît: Nan Oishii. /.
41. 724:
Î R « B S i S î i . Í#At*fÉÍfi. Ü f f i x A I : Nan
Oishii, /. 58. 1015: X B : r g / H t a í í » * I ^ Í T # M * S , . X 2 5 M A f? iW
» A S î I Î 'J W g . H U P E Ä Ä .
W M M : Nan Oishu. i. 58: 1018: Î Ë / B : « # r ^ j g ^ g j . g i t j j g
m i s . M B s m s î i f s . ¿ m ä h s s . p s m m . î u t t S A . « o j p i » . it w - z s
@. H â â j â l i . Ç iÈ IÎI'W . É Â X J â S â :. f f l f S ï J # : Jinshu, /. 97. 2547: Ä
s tm
M im
tim e trad e, basically by buying cheaply a n d th en reselling the
g oods fo r higher prices {Liangshu, j. 33, 470). A lso C hinese pil­
grim s like F ax ian } ¿ H (c. 337-422) p rovided descriptions o f
these ocean-going vessels. This is a clear indicatio n fo r th a t
states n eighbouring the C hina Seas started to venture into this
b o d y o f w ater on a m o re reg u lar basis betw een the 3rd an d 5th
century A D .
T he C hina Seas were increasingly used fo r p rivate com m er­
cial activities - reflecting, according to o u r thesis, a general te n ­
dency aw ay fro m official m ilitary, political a n d diplom atic
relations to w ard s m o re p rivate exchange - alth o u g h, as m en ­
tio n ed above, the C hinese basically still rem ain ed passive
receivers along the coast, especially as far as relations w ith
the N a n h a i are concerned. B ut it is u n d isp u ted th a t m ajo r
changes to o k place in the C hina Seas du rin g this period. A lso
the increasing im p o rtan ce o f B uddhism has to be m entioned.
W ang G u ngw u provides a very g o o d overview o n early C h i­
nese trad e in the N a n h a i a n d the g rad u al rise in im portance
o f B uddhist religion, culture a n d com m odities.68
In Ge H o n g ’s ÎIÎÂ (284-343) Shenxian zhuan fíflllflí {Re­
cords o f D eities), the D ao ist im m o rtal M a G u
once told
a n o th e r im m o rtal, W ang Y u an ÿEüâ, th a t since m eeting him ,
the E astern Sea h a d been tu rn e d in to m u lb erry fields three
tim es.69 F ro m this story com es an old C hinese saying, “canghai
sangtian i l î i f JgEB” , w hich literally m eans tu rn in g the sea into
m u lb erry fields, b u t w hich has been w idely used to indicate any
great tran sfo rm atio n . The th ird to appro x im ately the early sev­
en th centuries w ere in fact a p erio d o f g reat changes in the C h i­
na Seas. In this context we can speak o f a perio d o f the com ing
to g eth er o f the E ast a n d the S o u th C hina seas as well as its
g rad u al linking up w ith the In d ia n O cean, the g rad u al grow ing
to g eth er o f w h at h a d form erly been a “m aritim e p atch w o rk ”
(Flickenteppich), to use the w o rd o f m y colleague R oderich
P ta k .70
Early middle period China (Sui-Tang)
D u rin g the Sui D y nasty ß/| (589-617) official a n d diplom atic
relations still seem ed to prevail. B ut p rivate traffic, especially
o f m o n k s a n d m erch an ts, increased. The first Sui E m peror,
W endi X i ? (r. 581-604), still co n cen trated o n the consolida­
tio n o f the newly unified em pire. In 598, he sent tro o p s to K o r­
ea o n b o th lan d a n d sea routes to subdue the country.
G enerally, he looked to w ard s n o rth C hina a n d the w ealth o f
the so u th ra th e r seem ed to have been a th o rn in his flesh. In
598, he even tried to restrict m aritim e com m erce in the south
by p ro h ib iting the co n stru ctio n o f large ships. All ships th a t
w ere built in the so u th an d were longer th a n 30 Chinese feet
w ere confiscated ( Â Î I U lî^ W , A f f l % f r p Ä H 5 t E i l , S I S A
HT).71 H ow ever, this is n o t only a clear sign o f the existing
f f i A î f : Liangshu, /. 33. 470: A l s « .
« * . Ç É b S ifîiA m .
ÿ P H H A I îl
HÄÄ.
X W M B P * . Â i 'J I W E S K È l Ü f f i :
Liangshu, j . 54. 787: m m . Î I Ü Î B A » t A » M . 1 ® * * * ) * * . »8
Liangshu, /. 54. 788: í * |f [ S Í Q * § § . ... Â l t Î M H .
m,
S I H A M A » . îI Ü S iE B P lg j* .. . «
i m m m x m , ® A i* m * h g . » h a " _ j i m s . m i z ,
Ä M . ..: Liangshu. /. 56: 842:
^ » A M /lM . JI* S M .
á s m
ü ïîs m m m * . É L ± T m m m t
IB .
ÍÍÍÍSJsí'Íb. P au l Pelliot. “ L e F o u -n a n " , in Bulletin de
l'École Française de l'Extrèm e Orient 3:57 (1903). 248-303. here 271.
277; Shuijing :hu 7 k J î î i by Li D a o y u a n iß iÜ T t (late 5th or early 6th
century), j. 1. 9a.
68 W an g G u ngw u. “ T he N a n h a i T rade: A S tudy o f the E arly H isto ry
o f C hinese T rad e in th e S o u th C hina S ea". Journal o f the M alayan
Branch o f the R oyal A siatic S ociety 31:2 (1958). 1-135; also L iu X in ru ,
The Silk R oad in W orld H istory, 60-61.
69 Shenxian zhuan W idliH by G e H o n g H Î # (284-343). in S h o u Y izi
Z — ~p (ed.), D aocang jinghualu
(H angzhou: Z h ejian g guji
chubanshe. 1990). B o o k 2. j . 2, 7.
70 R o d e rich P tak . D ie m aritim e Seidenstra&e. (M ünchen: C .H . Beck
V erlag. 2007). 54.
71 Suishu P H # by W ei Z heng * 1 ® (580-643). (Beijing: Z h o n g h u a
shuju. 1997)../. 2. 43.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
com m ercial w ealth in th e so u th th a t accrued fro m m aritim e
trade; this political m easure also attests to the fact th a t the
sea w as regarded u n d e r political criteria b u t th a t a t the same
tim e trad e relations th a t h a d developed m o re o r less in d ep en ­
dently contin ued to exist.
M ilitary purposes
The second Sui E m peror, Y angdi
(r. 605-617), how ever,
actively p ro m o ted m aritim e trad e a n d “ called fo r m en to
establish contacts w ith far-aw ay regions” .72 Several m issions
w ere sent to various countries in S o u th east Asia. A lth o u g h
he, too, used the sea fo r m ilitary p urposes (in 612, 613 a n d
614 in the three cam paigns th a t w ere u n d erta k en to K o rea)
an d h undreds o f ships are said to have been co n stru cted to sail
from S handong to K o rea, Y angdi a t the sam e tim e p a id g reat
atte n tio n to the w ealth th a t could be derived fro m m aritim e
trade.
H e eventually also ord ered th e co n stru ctio n o f a fleet a n d
u n d erto o k m ilitary expeditions to L iuqiu ïJfcïR.73 It is still u n ­
clear to w hich island this actually refers, the R y ükyü Islands or
T aiw an. U n til to d ay scholars have n o t arrived a t a definite
conclusion. A ccording to T s’ao Y ung-ho
the m ajo rity
o f historians considers it to be T aiw an .74 T his is a t least the
first tim e th a t L iuqiu is officially m entio n ed an d , thus, an o th e r
p a rt o f the E ast C h in a Seas w as explored fo r the first tim e offi­
cially. H ow ever, the m ission w as n o t successful. A lo t w as
ap p aren tly destroyed a n d th o u san d s o f captives tak e n w ho
w ere later tak en to C hina as slaves. B ut n o trad e o r d iplom atic
relations w ere established. W hen the Chinese arm y proceeded
fu rth er in to C hinese territo ry - if we accept th a t this entry
actually referred to T aiw an - m o st o f the soldiers were infected
w ith m alaria or died o f o th er diseases.75 A fter this cam paign,
T aiw an a t least officially seems to have disap p eared ag ain from
Chinese consciousness.
D iplom acy
W hen the ruling elite o f Ja p a n cam e to know a b o u t the unifi­
catio n o f C hina, betw een 581 a n d 600 a first em bassy w as sent
to the C hinese court. In 607, d u rin g the reign o f the Japanese
Q ueen Suiko H ilii (592-628; according to N elson) w ith O no
no Im o ko 7 M f Ä “P, the first official Japanese envoy w as sent
to the C hinese court. The Japanese letter th a t w as h a n d ed over
to the C hinese em pero r designated Ja p a n as the “ C o u n try o f
the R ising S un” , while C hina w as addressed as “ C o u n try o f
the Setting S un” . Im o k o referred to the C hinese em p ero r as
“ the B odhisattva Son o f H eaven w ho dedicates his full pow er
to the su p p o rt o f B uddhist teachings” . N evertheless, the letter
w as seen as a bone o f co n ten tio n , as, in the eyes o f the Chinese,
the Japanese ru ler h a d placed him self o n the sam e level w ith
the C hinese Son o f H eaven. B ut in spite o f d iplom atic irrita ­
tions a n d the alleged insult, E m p ero r Y angdi sent his ow n en ­
voy, Pei Shiqing S t Ë 'i f , b ack to Ja p a n w ith O no in 608. They
72 S u ish u J. 82, 1817.
73 Suishu, j. 81, 1822-1823 (D ongyi # 5 1 ) states:
ItiÉ S iïW i,
74 T s’a o Y u n g -h o ffzIcíD (C ao Y onghe), Zhongguo haiyangshi lunji
Í ’S S ÍÍ Í P Í ! s itlíí. (Taibei: L ian jian g chubanshe, 2000), 40.
75 Suishu, j. 24, 367.
73
sailed via S handong, Paekche S Í H , T sushim a l i f t a n d Iki ■§
l í fu rth e r east. T his m eans th a t they still to o k the ro u te along
the coastline a n d islands avoiding deep w aters. Pei Shiqing la ­
ter b ro u g h t some Japanese students w ith him w ho th en spent
som e tim e in C hina a n d learn t th e basics o f C hinese culture.
In this context, we see th a t the sea ro u te from Ja p a n to C hina
also w as startin g to becom e a ro u te fo r scholars a n d people w ho
w ere in search o f know ledge a n d B uddhist teachings. Official
students fro m K o re a a n d Ja p a n cam e to C hina to learn ab o u t
B uddhism a n d C hinese culture. Ja p a n a d o p ted n o t only a rt
a n d culture from C hina b u t m ore o r less its com plete adm inis­
trativ e system. C ertainly the m o st fam ous Japanese m onk
w ho cam e to C hina a t th a t tim e w as E nnin H i t (c. 793-864),
w ho left us an interesting diary a b o u t his travels in the T ang em ­
pire. A m ong C hinese m o n k s w ho w ent to Ja p a n Jianzhen H H
(688-763) has to be m entioned. All this attests to the im portance
o f culture a n d religion in m u tu a l exchange relations. T rad e rela­
tions o f th a t tim e were also greatly influenced by B uddhism ,
B uddhist texts a n d artefacts ranging highly am o n g them . A t
the sam e tim e, the sea routes expanded on a p e rm an en t basis
to places such as In d ia a n d the Persian G ulf.
Between 623 a n d 684 alone num ero u s m issions n o t only
from In d o -C h in a b u t also from countries fu rth e r aw ay reached
C hina, such as Jav a H eling ¡°[® , P an p a n S S , Juloum i H¡]jl
§5, D a n d a n H H o n the M alay P eninsula, Srivijaya (Sanfoqi
a n d Jam bi (M o luoyou U (^ )H ïB Ï(S I)) o n Sum atra.
Im p o rta n t also are the em bassies fro m In d ia betw een 656
a n d 658, a m ission fro m Sri L a n k a in 670 (the first one since
527), as well as m issions fro m the P ersian rulers. A lready in
638, fo r exam ple, the Persian king Y azd g ard III (r. 632-651)
sent a m ission to the C hinese E m p ero r T aizong Tfcüjs (r. 6 2 7 649) asking fo r help to repel the A rabs. S tarting w ith the A bb asid C aliphate in 750, m erch an ts g radually becam e m ore
im p o rta n t th a n diplom ats. Since the overland ro u tes were tem ­
p o rarily ra th e r o b stru cted by political a n d m ilitary clashes, the
m erch an ts w ent by sea. T h u s since T an g tim es, the m a jo r com ­
m u n icatio n ro a d betw een the Persian G u lf an d C hina cam e to
be the sea route. This has o f course also to be traced back to
the upsw ing o f navig atio n in the Islam ic w orld.
W e have clear evidence th a t Y angzhou, located on the
G ra n d C an al a b o u t 15 k m n o rth o f its ju n c tio n w ith the Y angzi, w as n o t only k n o w n to M uslim A rab a n d Persian traders,
b u t th a t it w as one o f th eir m a jo r trad in g centres a t th a t time.
T he Xin Tang shu U r f t # refers to several th o u sa n d A rab an d
P ersian m erch an ts being killed in a local d istu rb an ce a t Y angz­
h o u du rin g the 750s (D ashi Basi gu hu sizhe shuqian ren ik.'È.llfö.
sha shang hu Bosi shuqian ren S jS É H ÍÍS /f
IX ^P À ).76 In 785, A rab s a n d Persians are said to have p lu n ­
d ered G u an g zh o u (Dashi, Bosi kou Guangzhou ikdfl, Î Î Sir reí
1*)T|).77 A lso A rab m aritim e accounts, such as the Akhbär
al-Sin wa-l-Hind o f 8 51,78 give detailed descriptions o f A rab
76 Xin Tangshu U r J a lr by O u y an g X iu iXßHIS (1007-1072) a n d Song
Q i 35S3 (998-1061). (Beijing: Z h o n g h u a shuju, 1974), j . 141, 4655 an d
j . 144, 4702.
77 Xin Tangshu, j. 6, 161.
78 T his d a te w as given by A b u Z aid, th e a u th o r o f the Silsilat altawärikh w ritte n in th e ten th century, w hen he edited the fo rm er w ork.
74
settlem ents in C hina. A ccording to A b u Z aid, by 878 a b o u t
120,000 foreign m erch an ts h a d settled in C h in a.79 Elsewhere
I have already argued th a t it w as in fact P ersian a n d A rab m e r­
chants w ho actually carried long-distance m aritim e trad e to
C hina an d initiated the age o f active m aritim e trad e th e re .80
T rad e contacts betw een C hina an d the Persian G u lf are also
attested to by archaeological evidence, p rim arily ceram ics.
T an g artisans copied artistic influences w ith w hich they cam e
into contact, ad o p tin g a n d ad ap tin g m an y exotic styles. N ative
styles w ere com bined w ith shapes a n d decorative m otifs from
Persia, India, G reece a n d Syria. A g reat q u an tity o f T an g p e r­
iod bronze coins has been excavated a t the p o rt o f old H o r­
m u z.81 These coins m o st p ro b ab ly reached H o rm u z by sea.
In the course o f the T an g D y n asty the E ast C hina Seas
eventually w itnessed a fresh p henom enon. The Y angzi area
w ith the city o f Y an g zh o u developed as a leading com m ercial
centre w ith a significant presence n o t only o f Chinese a n d E ast
A sian or S o utheast m erchants, b u t a rem ark ab le com m unity o f
P ersian (Bosi ÎJ^Sjf) trad ers. T he Y angzi a re a w ith the city o f
Y an gzhou im'IM developed as a leading com m ercial centre w ith
a significant presence n o t only o f C hinese a n d E ast o r S o u th ­
east A sian m erchants, b u t a rem ark ab le com m unity o f Persian
an d A rab trad ers - so-called M uslim o r H u i 0 m erchants, as
they are called since Y u an tim es in C hinese sources.82 T rad e
con tacts betw een C hina a n d the Persian G u lf are attested to
by b o th w ritten a n d archaeological evidence, prim arily
ceram ics.
T he C hina Seas w ere consequently fu rth e r linked up via the
In d ian O cean to the P ersian G ulf. A n d also the q u ality o f
tra d e d p ro d u cts changed - m o re a n d m o re luxury goods from
far-aw ay countries reached C hina. In this context, a city like
Y an gzhou (and o f course G u an g zh o u in S o u th C hina) also
em erged as g reat cu ltu ral centres th a t a ttra c te d b o th dom estic
an d foreign intellectuals, scholars, m onks, etc. T he coastal
province o f Z hejiang a n d the region a ro u n d the Y angzi area
increasingly cam e to the fore o f the o u ter w orld, also Ja p a n
an d K orea. A nd in this w ay N o rth e a st A sia, in p artic u la r J a ­
p an , w as also linked up w ith the S o u th C h in a Sea. A n d co m ­
m ercial an d cu ltu ral centres like Y an g zh o u a t the sam e time
functioned as the gatew ay to in lan d C hina.
U se o f the sea fo r m ilitary purposes, how ever, rem ained
prevalent also d u rin g T an g times. Sources repeatedly speak
o f large fleets a n d up to 500 ships. In one case, Ja p a n is said
to have su p p o rted Paekche w ith a real a rm a d a a n d supposedly
400 o f these b attle ships b u rn t dow n in flames durin g a n u n su c­
79 G erald R . T ib b etts, “E arly M uslim T rad ers in S o u th -E ast A sia ,”
Journal o f the M alayan Branch o f the R oyal Asiatic S ociety 30:1 (1957),
1-45. See also G erald R. T ibbetts, A Study o f A rabic Texts Containing
M ateria l on Southeast Asia. (Leiden, L o n d o n : P ublished for th e R oyal
A siatic Society by E. J. Brill, 1979).
80 A n g ela S ch o tten ham m er, D as songzeitliche Quanzhou im Span­
nungsfeld zwischen Zentralregierung und m aritim em Handel. Unerwart­
ete Konsequenzen des zentralstaatlichen Zugriffs au f den Reichtum einer
Küstenregion. (W iesbaden: H arra sso w itz V erlag, 2000), 57.
81 G e rt N au n d o rf, “ D ie S eidenstraßen u n d ih re historische D im en ­
sio n ” , in D ieter K u h n (H rsg.), Chinas Goldenes Z eitalter. D ie TangD ynastie (618-907 n. Chr.) und das kulturelle Erbe der Seidenstraße.
(H eidelberg: E d itio n B raus, 1993), 53-79, 63.
82 L iterally th is refers to “ perso n s a n d things related to Islam ic fa ith ”
a n d is generally tra n sla te d as “ M u slim ” . It m u st be em phasized,
how ever, th a t th e term w as m u ch m o re w idely used a n d also included
ethn ic peo p le like U ig h u rs o r W est A sian people in general.
A. S chottenham m er
cessful attack . E ven if we take these figures as exaggerations,
they d o a t least a tte st to the obviously enorm ous capacity to
m obilize the req u ired w o o d a n d o th er resources fo r the co n ­
stru ctio n o f ships fo r m ilitary purposes w ithin relatively short
tim e periods, b o th in C hina, K o re a a n d Jap an .
T o sum m arize, com m ercial exchange an d cu ltu ral transfer
in the early p erio d reached a p eak o f h ith erto unseen density
a n d intensity a n d h a d already sta rte d to overshadow the m ili­
ta ry cam paigns o f navies. In the follow ing p erio d C hina even
rose as a m aritim e pow er.
Late middle period China (Wudai-Song-Yuan)
Since the A n L u sh an ( S U lU (693-757) R ebellion in 755 stabil­
ity a n d o rd er w ithin C hina h a d already decreased. A t the
beginning o f the ten th century the form erly glorious T ang E m ­
pire eventually collapsed form ally a n d C hina fell a p a rt into the
so-called Five D ynasties a n d T en K ingdom s. A gainst the b ack ­
g ro u n d o f political instability in C entral, N o rth a n d E ast Asia,
a n d , last b u t n o t least, in C hina itself, we can now observe an
ever presen t shift o f trad e routes fro m the tra d itio n a l overland
ro u tes to m aritim e routes. In ad d itio n , we have to tak e into
co n sid eratio n in this h istorical con tex t the active p ro m o tio n
o f m aritim e trad e, first by rulers o f local dynasties o r kingdom s
d u rin g this p erio d a n d subsequently by the Song governm ent
d u rin g the ten th century. M aritim e trad e n o t only supplied
the social a n d ruling élites w ith fine a n d rare luxury articles
th a t were otherw ise u navailable in C hina, b u t it w as also used
as a source o f incom e to fill state coffers. D u rin g a tim e w hen
C hina w as split a m o n g com peting dynasties a n d kingdom s,
som e rulers o f states located in coastal areas, such as the state
o f M in
(910-946), a n d later, the ind ep en d en t rulers o f the
Q u an zh o u region in F ukien, the K in g d o m o f W uY ue U M
(907-978), th e S ou th ern T an g D y n asty (937-975), o r the rulers
o f the S ou th ern H a n dynasty IflîJt (917-971) in G uangdong,
all discovered m aritim e trad e to be a w ay to g u aran tee the eco­
nom ic un d erp in n in g o f th eir regim es, including the satisfaction
o f th eir ow n personal consum er dem ands.
W e know , fo r exam ple, th a t the M in K in g d o m in Southeast
C hina h a d trad e contacts w ith Z han ch en g ¿TJjSc (A n n a m ^ ffi),
S anfoqi
(Srivijaya), K o re a a n d p ro b ab ly also J a p a n .83
L ocal ruling clans, such as the fam ily o f L iu C ongxiao b=?ÎÆkX
in M in, are said to have given generous sponsorship to the co n ­
stru ctio n o f kilns fo r ceram ics p ro d u c tio n 84 - ceram ics being
one o f the m o st im p o rta n t exports goods - as well as the m in ­
ing o f m etals. A n d th e local W ang clan is supposed to have
possessed num ero u s kilns already, located especially close to
the capital, F u zh o u .85 W e can here clearly depict a new te n ­
dency th a t local rulers a n d governm ents were discovering fo r­
eign m aritim e trad e as a source to u n d erp in th eir n atio n al
resources a n d state coffers, m aking available to the social
83 See Li D o n g h u a , Quanzhou yu woguo zhonggu de haishang jiaoton g
^ - 'J l'l Πê lS É E lÎ Î J z x S . (Taibei: T aiw an xuesheng shuju, 1986), 43,
58-59.
84 T his is m en tio n ed in th e cla n ’s genealogy. See also D . H . Sm ith,
“ Z a itu n ’s F ive C enturies o f S ino-F oreign T ra d e ” , Journal o f the R oyal
A siatic S ociety 4/5 (1958), 165-177, 172.
85 See A ngela S chottenham m er, “ L ocal P olitico-E conom ic P a rtic u ­
lars o f the Q u an zh o u R egion D u rin g th e T en th C e n tu ry ” , Journal o f
SungYuan Studies 29 (1999), 1-41, 24 seq.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
75
an d ruling élites the fine a n d rare luxury articles hith erto
unavailable as well as a m eans o f incom e to fill state coffers.
By political decision, m aritim e space becam e m o re a n d m ore
im p o rta n t p rim arily fo r commercial purposes. In this context,
a significant com m ercialization o f the C hina Seas to o k place,
a process th a t greatly accelerated durin g the follow ing Song
dynasty.
B ut the sea w as also used fo r m ilitary purposes, alth o u g h n a ­
val battles basically still to o k place in river estuaries. Q ian Liu
l i l i (852-932) placed his son Q ian Y u an g u a n l l j t l l (887941) in com m and o f a W uY ue fleet o f five h u n d re d ships, called
“ d rag o n ships” because they w ere designed in the shape o f a d ra ­
gon. I t set o u t in A pril 919 to invade W u
A n interesting
W uY ue acco u n t speaks o f beans being th ro w n o n enem y’s ships
an d the shooting o f “ b u rn in g oil” (menghuo you S X ÎE Ë )86 to set
fire to the ships. T hen, the liquid w as sh o t from a m etal tube. The
oil, it is recorded, w as o b tain ed from A rab m erch an ts from H a i­
n an (or simply from “ so u th o f the seas”).87
O r, fu rth er south, the state o f N a n -H a n also becam e p ro s­
perous by its encouragem ent o f m aritim e com m erce a n d rose
to pow er th ro u g h the possession o f a navy. In 928, the ruler
o f N an -H an , L iu Y an äJjR sent a fleet o f a h u n d red w arships
to Fengzhou f jf;lT[ (in N o rth w est G uan g d o n g ), w hich h a d been
attack ed by a navy (shuijun ?X®) from C h u j e (a state located
in present-day H u n an ) a n d succeeded in repelling the invasion
o f C hu; in 930, his fleet raid ed C h am p a a n d re tu rn ed w ith a
rich lo o t o f gold a n d treasu re.88
In her 1991 b o o k , Before European Hegemony: The W orld
System A .D . 1250-1350, Ja n et A b u -L u g h o d arg u ed th a t the
th irteen th century E u rasian w orld encom passed a vast trad e
system. I t w as a segm ented system, it m u st be ad m itted , w ith
seven regional sub-system s such as m aritim e E ast A sia, S o u th ­
east A sia, Southw est A sia a n d the like, b u t w ith a sufficient
volum e o f long-distance trad e to ju stify speaking o f a w orld
system. M oreover, she argued th a t the p rim ary econom ic m o ­
to r driving this system w as C hina, b o th as a p ro d u cer o f p o r­
celain an d o th er p o p u la r exports, a n d as a m ass consum er o f
incense, arom atics an d o th er goods from S ou th -eastern a n d
S o uthern A sia.89 A lso segm ented w as th e N o rth -e ast C hina
Sea, to be sure. W ith the establishm ent o f the L iao (907/9161125) an d later the Jin (1115-1234) dynasties, the N o rth -e a st­
ern coastal zone w as sep arated from the rest o f C hina a n d
experienced a different developm ent. F ran k ly speaking, we still
86 W ild-fire oil, w h ich b u rn e d even m o re fiercely w hen w ater w as
added.
87 WuYue beishi jÜííÉíSíÍ! by F a n T o n g ïfêiPl, j- 3, 4 b -5 a , in Siku
quanshu, fasc. 464:
□...SiÂ&iÆ ÎKmsîIî'M Pâif. ■
SMBÍ
88 Guangdong tongzhi
by Jiang F a n :l l M (1761-1831), R u a n
Y u a n |3jOT (1764-1849), j. 184, 4a.
89 Ja n e t A b u -L u g h o d , Before European Hegemony; K . N . C h a u d h ­
u r ia Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean: An Economic H istory
fro m the Rise o f Islam to 1750 (C am bridge: C am b rid g e U niversity
Press, 1985) co n stitu tes a n im p o rta n t p recu rso r to A b u -L u g h o d ’s
b o o k . See, to o , th e articles in A ngela S chottenham m er, The Emporium
o f the World: M aritim e Quanzhou, 1000-1400. (Leiden: E. J. Brill,
2001) a n d D erek H eng, M alay Trade and D iplom acy fro m the Tenth
through the Fourteenth Century. (O hio U niversity R esearch in In te r­
n a tio n a l D ip lo m acy , S o u th east A sia Series N o. 121, O hio U niversity
Press, 2009).
know only very little a b o u t m aritim e tra d e activities o f the
K h ita n L iao an d the Ju rch en Jin, b u t it can be stated w ith cer­
tain ty th a t they w ere m ore engaged o n th eir contin en tal b o r­
ders, in p artic u la r w ith th eir so u th ern n eighbour, C hina.
S o u th east C hina, on the o th er h an d , experienced the greatest
upsw ing in m aritim e trad e ever seen durin g this tim e period.
A t the same tim e, thriving centres in C h am p a, Srivijaya, C ali­
cut, B agh dad a n d C airo, to nam e ju s t a few, did m u ch to p ro ­
vide the system w ith its vitality.
T h a t the sea ro u te w as preferred also fo r official diplom atic
contacts m ay be concluded from the follow ing entry. A tribute
m ission from “ D ash i
arrived in C hina in early 1024. A fter
th eir arrival, a com p lain t w as m ade th a t the em bassy h ad fol­
low ed the lan d ro u te th ro u g h the territo ry o f th e T a n g u t X ixia
Ë § 5 (1038-1227). As a consequence, it w as decreed th a t future
D ash i m issions m u st com e by sea a n d use G u an g zh o u as the p o rt
o f entry.90 T he Songshi subsequently speaks repeatedly o f “hozhu I f É i ” (ship captains) fro m A ra b ia .91 T his m ay be tak en as
evidence th a t a t least from th e early eleventh century onw ards
m o st trib u te m issions reached C hina by sea. M issions betw een
the P ersian G u lf a n d G u an g zh o u have already been described
by Jia D a n SB!fc (710-785). The passage is tran slated by F ried ­
rich H irth a n d R ockhill an d therefore will n o t be rep eated here.92
T he idea o f considering m aritim e trad e as a financial source
h ad already em erged, as we have seen, in the course o f the 10th
century. B ut it eventually becam e the m ain im petus fo r the
p ro m o tio n o f seaborne tra d e w ith th e in tro d u c tio n o f E m peror
Shenzong’s I Í j j j (r. 1068-1085) new legal statutes. In 971, a
y ear a fter the conquest o f the S o u th ern H an , a M aritim e T rade
Office (shibo shi TpIfÉ b]) w as already established in G uangzhou
to handle all ships fro m the N a n h ai a n d to secure the govern­
m e n t a larger share o f the profits attain ab le th ro u g h the ra p ­
idly increasing m aritim e trade. T w o years later a b an on
C hinese m erch an ts v enturing overseas to engage in trad e sig­
nalled the g o vernm ent’s in ten tio n to co n tro l the tra d e .93 O nly
a few years later, betw een 976 a n d 983, the tra d e w as declared
a state m o n o p o ly a n d p rivate tra d in g w ith foreigners m ore or
less forbidden. A t a b o u t the sam e tim e ( Taizong shi TfcîjsB#, i.e.
960-975), a general M o n o p o ly Office (jueshu $ è m ) w as estab ­
lished in the capital. O rders were issued th a t all foreign a ro ­
m atics an d goods o f value im p o rted in to C h in a th ro u g h the
p o rts o f either G uan g zh o u , Q uan zh o u , Z hejiang province or
Jiaozhi
(T ongking) h ad to be deposited in governm ent
storehouses.94 T h en in 987, the E m p ero r T aizong Tfcjjs (r.
90 Song huiyao jigao
by X u Song
(1781-1848) et al.
(com p.). (Taibei: Shijie shuju 1964), F an y i 4/91b-92a, 7/22b (7745);
Song shi
by T u o T u o (T oghto)
et al. (com p.). (Beijing:
Z h o n g h u a sh u ju 1985), j . 490, 14121; Wenxian tongkao
by
M a D u a n lin J P h B s (1254-1325). (Taibei: S hangw u y in sh u g u an 1987),
j . 339, 2664. Cf. R o b e rt M . H artw ell, Tribute M issions to China, 9 6 0 1126 (unpublished m an u scrip t), 71.
91 Songshi, j. 490, 14118-14121.
92 F rie d rich H irth , W . W . R ockhill, Chau Ju-kua. On the Chinese and
Arab Trade in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. (St. P etersburg:
Im perial A cadem y o f Sciences, 1911), 8-16. Jia D a n ’s geographical
treatise is th e Huanghua sida j i M ¥ E 3 S b 5 - See also M . R ein au d ,
Relations des voyages fa its pa r les Arabes et les Persans dans l ’Inde et â
la Chine au IX e siècle de l ’ère Chrétiennei T o m e 1. (Paris, 1895).
93 Songshi, j. 6, 76; cf. So K ee L ong, P rosperity, Region, and
Institutions in M aritim e China: The South Fukien Pattern, 946-1368
(C am bridge: H a rv a rd U niversity A sia C enter, 2000).
94 Songshi, j. 186, 4559.
76
976-997) sent eight eunuch a tte n d an ts in fo u r m issions o u t
into the N a n h a i Ifl'ilf to invite trad ers to com e to C hina.
T w o years later a second m aritim e trad e office w as opened
in H an g zh o u fotíTl, follow ed by a th ird in M in g zh o u Bflil'H in
992.95 In the course o f the N o rth e rn Song dyn asty a series o f
m aritim e trad e offices w as established along the S o uth-eastern
coast to supervise m aritim e trad e, the m ajo r ones being located
in G uang zhou, Q u an zh o u a n d M in g zh o u (N ingbo). E m p ero r
Shenzong eventually officially stated th a t trad e (including m a r­
itim e trad e) should be used to help fill the state coffers.96 T hus
fo r the first tim e, the com m ercial aspect becam e as im p o rta n t
as politics, b u t it w as a n official state-m onopolized com m erce.
M u ch o f th a t com m erce occurred u n d er the aegis o f the trib u te
system, w hich w as extrem ely active th ro u g h the first 60 years
o f the dynasty, a n d even in the case o f trad e carried o u t
th ro u g h the m aritim e trad e offices. O nly g radually did the cen­
tralized co n tro l give w ay to a m o re decentralized system
involving a h o st o f m aritim e trad e offices or, after 1080, o f
m aritim e trad e superintendencies (shibo tiju si rfï)fÉ Îj||ï b ]).
E ventually, a liberalization o f C hinese shipping d atin g to the
year 1090 paved the w ay fo r C hinese m erch an ts to “ shop
a b ro a d ” so th a t they w ere no longer so dep en d en t o n foreign
shipping to m eet their d em an d s97 - a m ilestone in the develop­
m en t o f C h in a’s m aritim e trad e relations th a t su p p o rted w h at
we m ay perhaps call a “ p riv atizatio n ” o f the C h in a Seas.
Shipbuilding, it m u st be m en tio n ed in this context, w as a
m ajo r industry d u rin g the Song, benefiting from such tech n o ­
logical advances as b o th floating a n d graving docks (below
g ro u n d level) in the shipyards, a n d the use o f m odels a n d b lu e­
prints to standardize the p ro d u ctio n o f g overnm ent ships.98
M u ch o f the shipbuilding w as aim ed a t supplying the needs
o f the Song navy a n d dom estic com m erce, b u t the dem an d
fo r seagoing ships w as also great, especially since, beginning
in the 11th century, C hinese-style ju n k s cam e to su p p lan t the
A rab show s th a t h ad long d o m in ated tran so cean ic trad e in
the In d ian O cean a n d so u th -east A sia.99
U n til the X ining reign p erio d (1068-1077), there were tw o
central shipyards on the co ast o f C hina, nam ely in H an g zh o u
fotil'H a n d C anton, as well as provincial yards located in land.
A lth o u g h shipbuilding establishm ents were to be fo u n d
th ro u g h o u t the em pire, including S handong, the south-eastern
coast specialized in ocean-going ships. P articu la r a tten tio n was
furth erm o re p aid to the defence o f coastal cities a n d the p ro ­
tection o f m erch an ts’ ships fro m p irate attacks. A s Jung -p an g
Lo has show n, durin g the N o rth e rn Sung dynasty, w hen
C an to n w as still the principal p o rt o f C hina bringing in a b o u t
80-90% o f the to ta l volum e o f m aritim e com m erce, num erous
95 Songshi, j. 186, 4558-9.
96 Song huiyao jig a o , Z h ig u a n 4 4 /27a-b.
97 D erek H en g , M a lay Trade and Diplom acy, 50.
98 D en g G eng, M aritim e Sector, Institutions and Sea Power o f
Premodern China (W estport: G reen w o o d Press, 1999), 18-20. See also
L o Ju n g -p an g , “ C hinese S hipping a n d E ast-W est T ra d e fro m th e X th
to th e X lV th cen tu ry ,” in Sociétés et companies de commerce en Orient
e t dans l ’Océan Indien. A ctes du H uitièm e Colloque International
d ’H istoire M aritim e, ed., M ichel M o lla t (Paris: S .E .V .P .E .N ., 1970),
167-78, h ere 172, a n d W an g Z engyu T E Ifiii, “ T a n S ongdai zaochuan y e W t W e n w u S t t ] 10 (1975), 24-27.
99 T an sen Sen, Buddhism, D iplom acy, and Trade: The Realignment o f
Sino-Indian Relations, 600-1400 (H onolulu: U niversity o f H aw aii
Press, 2003), 177-178.
A. S chottenham m er
n aval stations (zhai U ) a n d observ atio n posts were established
along the co ast from C a n to n to an island called R u zh o u î#)T[
(D a n ’gan Islan d I J t t f f t , located south-east o f m o d ern H ong
K o n g , o r H ailing Islan d îlfPlËÏJ, located so u th -east o f Y angjia n g PBÎI, G uangdong?), th a t is over a distance o f 700 li (c.
200 m iles).100 In o th er w ords, the Song g overnm ent actively
encouraged m erch an ts to c o n d u ct m aritim e trad e a n d facili­
ta te d th eir doing so .101
Jo h n C haffee has already convincingly arg u ed th a t the eco­
nom ic tra n sfo rm a tio n th a t occurred in the course o f the Song
d yn asty m ade Song C hina the econom ic centre an d m o to r o f
co n tem p o rary m aritim e tra d e 102 - despite the fact th a t it w as
politically speaking n o longer the u n d isp u ted “ M iddle K in g ­
d o m ” in the region. A s evidenced by archaeological finds from
all p a rts o f m aritim e A sia, the d em an d w as especially high for
Song ceram ics. B ut Song exports also included silks, foodstuffs
(often in large ceram ic containers), m an u factu red goods
(including b ooks), a n d - in the 13th century especially - large
q uan tities o f co p p er a n d tin. Indeed, such w as the d em and for
c o p p er coins th a t the g overnm ent repeatedly th o u g h ineffectu­
ally tried to b a n th eir export. In the S ou th ern Song a massive
outflow o f bronze coins (an d un-m in ted copper) from C hina to
places as fa r aw ay as the E ast co ast o f A frica h a d em erged as a
m ajo r irrita n t fo r the Song g o v ern m en t.103 As fo r im ports,
Song u rb a n consum ers developed a g reat app etite fo r xiangyao
# ¡ H (usually tran sla ted as aro m atics b u t it included incense,
scented w oods, perfum es a n d m edicines), b u t also fo r pearls,
ivory, rhinoceros h o rn , c o tto n fabrics, eb o n a n d sappan
w oods, am ong o th er com m o d ities.104
A result o f the upsw ing in m aritim e trad e d u rin g this period
w as the rap id gro w th o f the p o rt cities o f the south-eastern
coast, origins o f w hich we have already encountered during
T an g times. E xam ples include G u an g zh o u , F u zh o u )m)T[,
W en zh o u îmW, M ingzhou, o r above all H an g zh o u (L in’an
EäiS), certainly the largest city in the E m pire d u rin g the S o u th ­
ern Song, w hen it served as the capital. Its w ealth a n d cosm o­
p o litan atm osphere is later also described by th e Italian
traveller a n d m erch an t M arco P olo. A city like Q u anzhou !$.
)T[, the Z a itu n o f M arco P olo, developed as a centre o f the
N a n h a i trad e, the trad e w ith the S o u th C hina a n d S outheast
A sian Seas w ith a thriving m erc h a n t culture, in w hich Chinese
trad ers m ixed w ith A rab s, Srivijayans, T am ils, C holas,
100 Pingzhou ketan
(1119) by Z h u Y u ifesS (1075? - after
1119), j. 2, 1 (288), in Siku quanshu, fasc. 1038.
101 L o Ju n g -p an g , “ M a ritim e C om m erce a n d its R e la tio n to th e Sung
N av y ,” JE SH O 12 (1969), 72-73.
102 Jo h n C haffee, “ Song C h in a a n d the m ulti-state a n d com m ercial
w o rld o f E a st A sia ” , Crossroads: Studies on the H istory o f Exchange
Relations in the East Asian W orld 1/2 (2010), 33-54.
103 A ngela S chottenham m er, “ T he R ole o f M etals a n d th e Im p a c t o f
th e In tro d u c tio n o f H uizi P a p e r N o tes in Q u an zh o u on th e D ev elo p ­
m e n t o f M a ritim e T ra d e in th e Song P e rio d ,” in A ngela S ch o tten ­
ham m er, ed., The Emporium o f the World: M aritim e Quanzhou, 1 0001400. (Leiden, B oston, K öln: E. J. Brill, 2001), 95-176, esp. 126-136.
104 Jo h n C haffee, “ Song C h in a a n d the m ulti-state a n d com m ercial
w o rld o f E a st A sia ” , 41; see P au l W heatley, “ G eo g rap h ical N o tes on
Som e C om m odities Involved in th e Sung M a ritim e T ra d e ” , Journal o f
the M alaysian Branch o f the R oyal A siatic S ociety 32.2, N o. 186 (1959),
1-140, 45-129, o n th e full sp e ctru m o f tra d e com m odities, a n d L in
T ianw ei
Songdai xiangyao m aoyi shi
(Taibei:
Z hon g g u o w en h u a d axue chubanshe, 1986), for a detailed tre a tm e n t o f
th e tra d e in arom atics.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
K oreans, R yükyüans, a n d Japanese. This developm ent a f­
fected b o th the E ast a n d the S o u th C hina Seas. M o m o k i Shiro
an d H asu d a T akashi em phasize th a t “ N o rth -e a st A sia w as
deeply in co rp o rated in to in tern atio n al trad e netw orks fo r the
first tim e” during the eleventh th ro u g h to the fo u rteen th cen tu ­
ries.105 Y am auchi Shinji calls this “ the age o f Jap an -S o n g
tra d e ” in w hich “ there w ere active exchanges o f people, co m ­
m odities an d in fo rm atio n th ro u g h freq u en t m aritim e trad e
w ith the A sian co n tin en t,” 106 a n d C h arlo tte von Y erschuer
has sim ilarly described it as the age o f free trad e fo r Ja p a n ’s
relations w ith C hina a n d K o re a .107 D espite flourishing trad e
relations only few Japanese em bassies, how ever, seem ed to
have reached C hina. R od erich P ta k suggests th a t generally
speaking official circles in Ja p a n seem to have m ain tain ed a rel­
atively negative a ttitu d e tow ard s the foreig n .108 B ut this did
n o t derogate m u tu al exchange relations. C hinese settlem ents
in Ja p a n (T obo IsFÖj), like H a k a ta
a n d K o rea, like M o k ­
po, b o th coastal cities, also attest to the fact th a t it w as no
longer m ainly foreigners th a t cam e to C hina, b u t th a t to a
greater extent th a n seen before C hinese also w ent ab ro ad .
T housands o f C hinese, it has been speculated, travelled to
K o rea during the Sou th ern S o n g .108
In 1020, K o rea officially becam e a trib u ta ry o f the Liao.
B ut despite the lack o f official d iplom atic relations S ong-K orean trad e flourished d u rin g b o th the N o rth e rn a n d S ou th ern
Song. W e have records o f K o re a n m erch an ts settling in C hina
(for exam ple in N ingbo), while K o re a n records docu m en t vis­
its by dozens o f C hinese ships, especially d u rin g th e eleventh
cen tu ry .109 This p eriod also m ark ed the h ig h p o in t o f a n active
trad e betw een K o rea a n d Ja p a n , w hich also exchanged fre­
q u en t em bassies.110 M oreover, visits by A rab envoys a n d m e r­
chants to K o rea are well do cu m en ted in K o g u ry ö sources,
including a visit by an A rab (D ashi
envoy a n d one h u n ­
dred others from A ra b ia in 1024, a telling in d icatio n o f K o r­
ea’s p articip atio n in the m aritim e trad e w o rld .111
105 M o m o k i S hiro OU MBU, “ D a i V iet a n d the S o u th C h in a Sea
T rade: F ro m th e T en th to th e F ifte e n th C e n tu ry ,” Crossroads:
An Interdisciplinary Journal o f Southeast Asian Studies 12.1
(1999), 1-34, 5.
106 Y a m a u c h i S hinji iJLlF^lErvC “ T h e Ja p a n e se A rch ip elag o a n d
M a ritim e A sia fro m th e 9 th to th e 13th C e n tu ries” , in F u jik o K ay o k o ,
M a k in o N a o k o , a n d M a tsu m o to M ay u m i (eds.), D ynam ic Rimlands
and Open H eartlands: M aritim e A sia as a S ite o f Interactions.
P ro ceed in g s o f th e S econd C O E -A R I Jo in t W o rk sh o p . (O saka:
R esearch C lu ster o n G lo b a l H isto ry a n d M a ritim e A sia, O saka
U niversity, 2007), 82-99, 83, 93.
107 C h a rlo tte V o n V erschuer, Across the Perilous Sea: Japanese
Trade with China and Korea fro m the Seventh to the Sixteenth
Century, K risten L ee H u n ter, trans. (Ithaca: E a st A sia P ro g ram ,
2006), C h a p t. 4.
108 R o d e rich P ta k , D ie m aritim e Seidenstraße, 155.
109 Lee H ee-S oo, The Advent o f Islam in Korea: An H istorical Account
(Istanbul: R esearch C e n tre fo r Islam ic H isto ry , A r t a n d C ulture,
1997), 55-59. F o r a n overview o f Q u a n z h o u m erch an ts visiting K o rea,
see Li Y u k u n *3i.fcE, Quanzhou haiwai jiaoton g shilue J f i'W î Î ÿ f 'x H Î !
IS-. (X iam en: X iam en U niversity Press, 1995), 48-50.
110 Volume 2, Heian Japan (C am bridge: C am b rid g e U niversity Press,
1999), 576-643.K aw azo e Shoji JI[$pBQ~, “ J a p a n a n d E a st A sia ” , in
K o zo Y am am u ra,(ed .), M edieval Japan, vol. 3 o f The Cambridge
H istory o f Japan. (C am bridge: C am bridge U niversity Press, 1990),
396^146, 406.
111 Lee H ee-S oo, The Advent o f Islam in Korea, 56.
77
In 1123, a first C hinese m ission w as sent again to K orea.
T he chief envoy, X u Jing ƒ£)§§ (1093-1155?), left us a n in terest­
ing re p o rt a b o u t his travels, the Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing j§
o n this m ission. A n d his re p o rt tells us th at,
a lth o u g h he considered the seas as a frightening, dangerous
place, a t the sam e tim e he saw it as som ething “ intelligible,
m anageable, predictable, quantifiable, a n d survivable” .112
A lso relations w ith S ou th -east A sia reached a h ith erto u n ­
seen peak. G eo ff W ade h as arg u ed th a t the p erio d o f 9 0 0 1300 C .E. co n stitu ted a n “ age o f com m erce” fo r S outh-east
A sia,113 while K en n eth H aii identifies the p erio d 1000-1400
as a tim e o f fu n d am en tal tran sitio n s in the trad e a n d state
developm ents o f th a t reg io n .114 The ap p earan ce o f new ports
in S outh-east A sia, the m ovem ent o f adm inistrative centres
n earer to th e coast, p o p u la tio n gro w th a n d th e developm ent
o f b o th cash cro p p in g a n d S ou th -east A sian ceram ics an d
textiles industries, new m odes o f consu m p tio n , a n d new m e r­
cantile organizations greatly a ttrib u te d to the upsw ing o f
m aritim e com m erce betw een th e C h in a Seas a n d S outh-east
A sia.115 A rab o r H u i 0 played a m a jo r role in co n tem porary
m aritim e trad e, b u t C hinese becam e increasingly im p o rtan t.
T he Islam ic d o m in atio n o f the C h in a Seas h a d already set
in, as we have seen above, durin g T an g tim es a n d it w as d u r­
ing the Song w hen it received a real upsw ing. D u rin g the
M on g o l p erio d still m o re H u i m erch an ts a n d H u ih u i 0 0
in general settled in C hinese coastal cities such as Q uanzhou.
It w as also from Q u an zh o u th a t the C hina Seas w ere fu rth er
extended to the south-east, nam ely to the Spice Islands an d
M o lu ccas.116 A lth o u g h C hinese m erch an ts h a d fo r the first
tim e becom e really active seafarers across the C hina Seas,
we have to see th a t durin g the perio d betw een the 11th
an d 14th centuries (approx. 1000-1400), also foreign m e r­
ch an ts (especially S ou th -east A sian, S o u th A sian a n d W est
A sian o r H u ih u i m erchants) w ere m o st active du ring this
time.
B oth com m erce a n d m ig ratio n consequently saw an u n p rec­
edented p eak durin g this time. Sim ultaneously, m ilitary p u r­
poses, a lth o u g h they d id n o t d isap p ear com pletely, retreated
into the back g ro u n d . The active a n d direct p articip atio n o f
the Song c o u rt in m aritim e trad e an d the lib eralization o f C h i­
nese shipping in 1090 greatly co n trib u ted to this developm ent
across the C hina Seas. A t the sam e tim e we observe a p riv ati­
z atio n o f exchange, a lth o u g h everything rem ain ed u n d er state
con tro l, in p articu lar im ports a n d dom estic red istrib u tio n o f
im ports. T h a t the adm inistrative system w as repeatedly ch an ­
ged in the course o f th e Song dynasty attests to the fact th a t
there still existed an u n certain ty a b o u t how to ideally control
112 Sally C h u rch , “ C o n c ep tio n o f M a ritim e Space i n X u Jin g ’s Xuanhe
fengshi Gaoli tujing” , in A ngela S chottenham m er, R o d e rich P ta k
(eds.), M aritim e Space in Traditional Chinese Sources. (W iesbaden:
O tto H arrasso w itz, 2006), 79-107. E ast Asian M aritim e H istory, 2.
113 G e o ff W ade, “A n E arlier A ge o f C om m erce in S o u th -east Asia:
900-1300 C .E .?” , in F u jik o K ay o k o , M a k in o N a o k o , a n d M a tsu m o to
M ayum i (eds.), Dynam ic Rimlands and Open Heartlands: M aritim e
A sia as a Site o f Interactions, 27-81.
K en n e th R . H aii, M aritim e Trade and S tate D evelopm ent in Early
Southeast Asia. (H o n o lu lu : U n iv ersity o f H aw aii P ress, 1985).
C h a p te r 8.
115 G e o ff W ade, “ A n E arlier A ge o f C om m erce in S o u th -east A sia ” ,
71-75.
116 R o d e rich P tak , D ie m aritim e Seidenstraße, 219.
78
an d supervise m aritim e tra d e in o rd er to use it fo r state p u r­
poses w ith o u t dam ag in g trade. B ut only d u rin g the Y u a n d y ­
nasty did the substan tial p articip atio n o f the Song c o u rt in
the dom estic red istrib u tio n o f foreign im p o rts finally give
w ay to a k ind o f m o n o p o ly on trad e by m eans o f officially
sponsored trad in g voyages an d in term itten t ban s o n private
shipping.
Between 1285 an d 1320/25 the Y u an g overnm ent sou g h t to
strictly co n tro l m aritim e trad e a n d even forced p rivate m e r­
chants to enter governm ent service. O nly after 1325 w ere reg ­
ulations again liberalized. I t can doubtlessly be claim ed th a t
the M ongols a n d the Y u an g overnm ent actively p ro m o ted
m aritim e trad e an d h a d a stro n g interest in strengthening its
ro le.117 The search fo r g o o d trad e relatio n s w as accom panied
by d iplom atic m issions. N u m ero u s m issions w ere sent a b ro a d
inviting tribute a n d trad e as fa r aw ay as In d ia .118
A t the sam e tim e, the m ilitary use o f the C hina Seas again
p red o m in ated - perh ap s fo r the first tim e since early T an g
times. F ro m 1266, M ongol rulers u n d erto o k various efforts
to subdue Jap an , first using K o re a as a d iplom atic m iddlem an
b u t after these efforts failed, naval attack s w ere prepared. In
1273, the M ongols tra n sp o rte d soldiers to C heju Islan d off
the South K o rean coast. In 1274, a first a tta c k o n Ja p a n , su p ­
posedly w ith m ore th a n 900 ships a n d a g reat n u m b er o f lan d
tro o p s, w as launched. T he b attle ships sailed from K o rea, a t­
tacked T sushim a l i f t a n d Iki Ï|FÉ£ Islan d a n d having reached
K yüshü A W destroyed p a rts o f m o d ern N ag asak i Prefecture.
Battles were fo u g h t in the vicinities o f H a k a ta b u t th en the
M o ngol tro o p s suddenly re treated - p ro b ab ly because o f logis­
tic shortages, as has been specu lated .119 As is well know n, the
final collapse o f the S o u th ern Song w as also b ro u g h t a b o u t in
a naval battle. In 1279, th e Song surrendered to the M ongols
after a historic b attle a t Y aish an ®[JL| o ff the co ast o f G u an g z­
h o u .120 By then the Y u an already controlled the entire Chinese
coast a n d h ad in co rp o rated the fo rm er Song navy into its ow n
naval structures. A n d they started a n o th e r atte m p t to conquer
Jap an . O ne fleet again sailed from K o rea, the o th er one
crossed the E ast C hina Sea directly from Z hejiang. Several
th o u san d soldiers are said to have ta k e n p a rt in this u n d ertak -
117 H e rb e rt S ch u rm an n states in this co n tex t th a t “ (t)he in stitu tio n o f
m aritim e tra n sp o rta tio n d u rin g th e Y u a n offers conclusive p r o o f th a t
th e M o n g o ls, far fro m discouraging p rogress in C h in a, encouraged it
w ith all th eir pow er. T h e Y ü a n w as a p erio d in w hich th e g reat
dev elo p m en t w h ich b eg an in th e late T ’an g a n d co n tin u ed th ro u g h the
Sung rem ain ed in full fo rce .” H e rb e rt F . S churm ann, Economic
Structure o f the Yuan D yn asty: Translation o f Chapters 93 and 94 o f the
Yüan Shih. (C am bridge, M ass.: H a rv a rd U niversity Press, 1956), 116;
fo r general trib u ta ry practices w ith in C h in a d u rin g M o n g o lian rule, cf.
H e rb e rt F . S ch u rm ann, “ T h e M o n g o lian T rib u ta ry P ractices o f the
T h irteen th C e n tu ry ” , H arvard Journal o f A siatic Studies 19 (1956),
304-389.
118 See T an sen Sen, “ T h e Y u a n K h a n a te a n d India: C ro ss-C u ltu ral
D ip lo m acy in th e th irte e n th a n d F o u rte e n th C e n tu ries,” Asia M ajor,
Third Series 19.1-2 (2006), 299-326.
119 See R o d e rich P ta k , D ie m aritim e Seidenstra&e, 158.
120 T he circum stances are described in a n excellent m an n e r by L o
Ju n g -p an g , China as a Sea Power, 1127-1368 (unpublished m a n u ­
script), 186-197. A new edition, edited by B ruce A. E llem an h as ju st
b een p u b lish ed as China as a Sea Power, 1127-1368: A Preliminary
Survey o f the M aritim e Expansion and N aval E xploits o f the Chinese
People During the Southern Song and Yuan Periods. (Singapore:
N a tio n a l U niv ersity o f S ingapore Press, 2011).
A. S chottenham m er
ing in 1281, am o n g them m an y Chinese. B ut M on gol forces
again failed, supposedly due to a ty p h o o n . S ubsequently, a
g reat n u m b er o f C hinese captives rem ained in Jap an . T his sec­
o n d defence o f the M ong o l fleet subsequently led to the em er­
gence o f a k in d o f legend in Jap an : it w as believed th a t divine
w inds (kam ikaze I Í M ) h a d rescued the co u n try fro m M ongol
invasion. A lth o u g h th e co n q u est o f Ja p a n finally failed - K hubilai
K h a n (r. 1260-1294) h a d even th reaten ed Ja p a n
w ith a th ird a tta c k - it is clear th a t the C hina Seas a n d E ast
A sia in general h a d never before seen such a large naval co n ­
tingent. A lth o u g h figures in the sources m ay be exaggerated,
we can still get an idea o f w h a t expense a n d efforts h a d been
invested to prep are these o perations. T hey also attest to the
fact th a t very soon after th eir co n q u est o f Song C hina an d
its coastal regions th e M ongols were able to co n tro l an d sys­
tem atically use C hinese shipyards a n d the necessary civil an d
m ilitary ap p a ra tu s. F o r the first tim e in history, the C hina Seas
h a d becom e a large-scale naval battlefield a n d area o f m ilitary
concentration.
A fter these m ilitary op eratio n s, m aritim e trad e continued
to flourish across the C hina Seas a n d it w as actively p ro m o ted
by the Y u an rulers. I t has also to be m en tio n ed th a t due to the
fact th a t the M o n g o l cap ital - D a d u A ® o r K h a n b alik - w as
located in a n o t very fertile region in the n o rth , as a conse­
quence o f w hich it h a d to be pro v id ed w ith alim en tation an d
fo o d p ro d u cts from the south, coastal shipping from the L ow ­
er Y angzi region to S h an d o n g a n d across the B ohai ffjjjJf Sea
w as actively p ro m o ted . D om estic w aterw ays w ere insufficient
fo r the tra n sp o rta tio n o f the large am o u n ts req u ired in the ca p ­
ital. N ever before h a d the tra n sp o rta tio n o f fo o d played such
a n im p o rta n t role as d u rin g C h in a ’s M on g o l period. C onse­
quently, in ad d itio n to th e already existing overseas netw orks,
a m o re com plex an d dense co astal n etw o rk developed. B oth
sh o rt- a n d long-distance sea ro u tes grew increasingly together.
A ccording to Jan et A bu -L u g h o d , the w o rld trad e system
entered its golden age u n d er the M ongols, w ho secured the
c o n tin en tal trad e routes u n d er the P ax M ongolica a n d en co u r­
aged m aritim e trade. O ne m ay certainly deb ate the question
w hether o r n o t this w as a golden age. C ertainly, how ever,
a n d here I w ould like to q u o te m y colleague Jo h n Chaffee,
“ never again in im perial C hinese h istory d o we see governm ent
en couragem ent o f trad e o r the levels o f m aritim e com m erce
th a t existed d u rin g the Song an d Y u a n ” .121 A n d sea routes b e­
tw een the C hina Seas a n d seas a n d regions fu rth e r to the W est
d u rin g certain phases developed am o n g others in p articu lar
due to the fact th a t lan d ro u tes were n o longer as perm eable
as before. As fa r as p ro d u cts tra d e d o n these ro u tes are co n ­
cerned, luxury item s still fo rm ed p a rt a n d parcel o f the p a c k ­
age. B ut, in ad d itio n , increasing quan tities o f staple goods
w ere exchanged. C oastal shipping along the Y u a n Chinese
coast, fo r exam ple, tra n sp o rte d en o rm o u s quan tities o f rice.
A n d never before h a d such high quan tities o f Chinese ceram ics
an d coins been shipped overseas. All these p ro d u cts were no
longer m ainly shipped by foreigners b u t increasingly also by
C hinese m erchants. In ad d itio n , m aritim e tran sfer o f culture
a n d religion, above all B uddhism (including texts an d a rte ­
facts), Islam a n d also C onfucianism , played a decisive role.
G enerally speaking, how ever, du rin g the Song a n d Y uan, Is-
121 Jo h n C haffee, “ Song C h in a a n d the m ulti-state a n d com m ercial
w o rld o f E a st A sia ” , 48.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
lam an d Islam ic H u i m erch an ts seem to have becom e m ore
im p o rta n t th a n B uddhism , a t least o n th e sea ro u tes from
South a n d S outh-east C hina fu rth er west. In this context, we
can p erhaps even speak o f an Islam ic-dom inated overseas
trade.
A long w ith flourishing trad e relations certainly n o t a new
b u t increasingly im p o rta n t a n d severe p h en o m en o n also arose
- th a t o f piracy.
Early modern China (Ming-Qing)
W ith the dow nfall o f the M o n g o l Y u an state a n d the establish­
m en t o f the M ing D ynasty, the q u ality o f exchange relations
across the C hina Seas changed drastically. T he collapse o f
the Y u an h ad already resulted in a certain frag m en tatio n o f
the C hina Seas again. P rivate m aritim e trad e suffered g reat
losses. W e should recall th a t never before the Y u a n h a d g reat
am o u n ts o f foo d provisions been shipped along coastal routes
to supply the Y u an capital. In its final years the Y u a n c o u rt
h ad becom e increasingly dep en d en t on rice a n d g rain ship­
m ents up the G ra n d C an al to the cap ital D a d u (Beijing), m a k ­
ing them vulnerable to ex to rtio n fro m Z h an g Shicheng ‘jf iÜ Ä ,
w ho h a d proclaim ed him self “ K in g C heng o f the G re at Z h o u
D y n asty ” in 1354. T he arriv al o f F an g G u o zh en ’s J t H ï #
(1319-1374) naval forces in the Y angzi estu ary to fight Z hang
certainly co n trib u ted to the la tte r’s decision to eventually su r­
render to the Y u an c o u rt in 1357. F a n g ’s fleet is said to have
num bered over one th o u sa n d vessels o f all kinds, a n d he c o n ­
trolled m uch o f the N in g b o S p® a n d Shaoxing | 0 H region in
the H an g zh o u Bay. F an g h a d been am ong the earliest leaders
to acknow ledge the rise o f Z h u Y u an zh an g 5 fe jc îî (13281398) -la te r the first M ing E m p ero r H on g w u îftiK; (r. 13681398) - b u t, the pow er a n d influence o f b o th Z h an g a n d F an g
co nstituted a clear w arn in g to Z h u n o t to becom e dependent
on such persons o r to give them the o p p o rtu n ity to rise in
his newly established dynasty. A g rea t p a rt o f the rem aining
private m aritim e trad e betw een C hina, K o re a a n d Ja p a n cam e
to be controlled by private persons, w ho on occasions disposed
o f greater fleets a n d can be designated as a k in d o f “m erch an t
em pires” . T o som e extent, Z h an g Shicheng a n d F a n g G uo zh en
m ay be considered a k in d o f p ro to ty p e o f such m e rc h a n t m ag ­
nates. A t the sam e tim e, such experience w ith o u t d o u b t n o u r­
ished the suspicion o f a ru ler like H on g w u a n d convinced him
n o t to provide private m erch an ts w ith to o m u ch pow er as a
consequence o f w hich they could o b tain the m eans to u n d e r­
m ine state au th o rity . T his conviction h ad far-reaching
consequences.
M aritim e trade prohibition and the rise o f Chinese mercantile
pow er
W ith the in itiatio n o f the “ m aritim e trad e p ro scrip tio n policy”
(haijin zhengae îifSfiEJïjî) in 1371,122 the “ p riv atizatio n ” o f
m aritim e exchanges th a t we have described above w as su d ­
denly in terru p ted from the C hinese side. F o reig n tra d e w as
122 M ing Taizu shilu
j . 70, 3b. (Taibei: Z hongyang
y an jiu y u an lishi yuyen yanjiusuo, 1967), 133 vols., vol. 3, 1300: “Reng
jin binhai min bu de si chu hai
see also F a n
Z h o ngyi j t T 1» , T o n g X igang íííBjPH, M ingdai Wokou shiliie
(Beijing: Z h o n g h u a shuju, 2004), 71-72.
79
subsequently only possible as p a rt o f the official trib u te sys­
tem . F o reig n trib u te m issions presented p a rt o f th eir cargoes
as trib u te an d received rew ards o f C hinese goods in return.
T he rem aining p a rt o f th eir goods they w ere perm itted to sell
to C hinese, m ostly du rin g a fixed tim e perio d a t a m ark et or
place especially designated fo r this p u rpose a n d only under
strict g overnm ent supervision. As a rule, p rivate m erchants
accom panied the trib u te m issions an d th en used this o p p o rtu ­
nity to sell th eir goods fo r C hinese on es.123
It is im p o rta n t to em phasize th a t despite the official ideol­
ogy th a t placed C hina in the m iddle o f a n E ast A sian w orld o r­
d er w ith “ b a rb a ria n ” vassals a ro u n d th a t p a id trib u te an d
despite the official in te rru p tio n o f p rivate foreign trade, ex­
change relations still never cam e to a standstill an d this never
led to C h in a’s o r even E ast A sia’s com plete isolatio n from the
o u ter w orld. N evertheless, this h ad various consequences and
the q uality o f exchange relations changed significantly. This
policy affected n o t only the C h in a co ast a n d C hinese m e r­
ch an ts b u t the entire C hina Seas region.
M igration and China’s overseas expansion
M an y few er foreigners cam e to C hina th a n before a n d they all
h ad to rely o n C hinese m erch ants fo r selling th eir goods. P ri­
vate trad ers fro m S outh, S outh-east a n d W est A sia no longer
cam e to C hina an d also the foreign com m unities in Chinese
coastal cities soon declined. The M ing m aritim e policy, thus,
actually enabled the C hinese fo r the first tim e in history to
really m onopolize Sino-foreign exchange, as C h an g P in-tsun
has a rg u e d .124 This policy consequently uninten tionally
form ed the basis fo r the g rad u al rise o f Chinese p rivate m e r­
cantile p ow er in the com ing centuries, alth o u g h its original
goal h a d in fact been to curb p rivate com m erce. A n d it gave
rise to all the C hinese overseas com m unities from w hich the
C hinese cherished th eir m an ifo ld m aritim e com m ercial
netw orks.
B ut M ing C h in a ’s new m aritim e policy n o t only prevented
m an y foreign m erch an ts fro m com ing to C h in a to trad e it also
deprived g reat p a rts o f the coastal p o p u la tio n o f th eir form er
livelihoods. M an y C hinese w ho h a d depended o n m aritim e
trad e fo r th eir living were now driven in to sm uggling, either
becom ing “ p irates” , em igrating o r b o th . The political decision
to curb all p rivate m aritim e trad e in the long perspective co n ­
sequently caused a large m ass em igration o f C hinese to c o u n ­
tries overseas w here they b u ilt up the w ell-know n overseas
C hinese com m unities - above all in S outh-east A sia, b u t also
in o th er countries like Jap an . Fam ilies from F u jian m oved to
the island co u n try o f the R yükyüs (according to som e sources
they were officially sent there by E m p ero r H ongw u) and
helped to m ain tain trad e relations th ro u g h o u t E ast a n d in p a r­
ticu lar S ou th -east A sia a n d even beyond. T his large-scale emi-
123 F o r a very g o o d E nglish description o f M ing m aritim e tra d e based
on the trib u te tra d e system please see R o d e rich P tak , “ M ing M a ritim e
T ra d e to S o u th east A sia, 1368-1567: V isions o f a System ” , in C lau d e
G u illo t, D enys L o m b a rd & R o d e rich P ta k (eds.), From the M editer­
ranean to the China Sea. (W iesbaden: H arra sso w itz V erlag, G erm an y ,
1998), 157-191.
124 C h a n g P in-tsun, “ T he Rise o f C hinese M e rcan tile P o w er in
M a ritim e S o u th east A sia, c. 1400-1700” , Crossroads - Studies on the
H istory o f Exchange Relations in the E ast Asian W orld 6 (2012), 2 0 5 230.
A. S chottenham m er
80
g ratio n o f C hinese since the fifteenth a n d sixteenth centuries is
so-to-say the C hinese v a ria n t o f the overseas expansion, C h i­
n a ’s early m o d ern overseas trad e ex p an sio n .125
W e have seen above th a t th e C hina Seas have been used for
m ig ratio n ever since. B ut never before h a d they experienced
such a form o f w h at we m ig h t term “ m ass m ig ratio n ” a n d such
a n “ expansion” o f C hinese trad ers overseas. This overseas
expansion resulted b o th fro m the new policy im plem ented by
the early M ing governm ent a n d from a com m ercialization o f
local econom ies th a t since T an g tim es a t the latest h a d been d i­
rectly linked to m aritim e tra d e .126 M an y trad in g netw orks
w ere subsequently only m ain tain ed w ith the help o f Chinese
residing overseas (H u aq iao ¥ ! § , lit. “ C hinese living outside
o f C h in a”). A lso th e em igration o f num ero u s Islam ic m erch an t
fam ilies to S outh-east A sia is significant. O riginally considered
p artn ers o f the M ongols, m an y w ere simply n o t desired in the
new social environm en t o f M ing C hina. In general the A rab P ersian preponderan ce th a t we have observed d u rin g the
T ang-S ong-Y uan p erio d decreased in fav o u r o f In d ian
shipping.127
A s a consequence o f the new M ing policy, trad in g centres
also shifted aw ay from the C hinese litto ral to o th er regions.
In this context, the R y ükyü }^I# -Islan d s (m odern O kinaw a)
an d R y ü k y ü an m erch an ts entered the scene. T hey little by little
to o k over the role o f a n interm ediary in the E ast A sian w aters,
frequently in co o p eratio n w ith C hinese m e rch a n ts.128 They
provided Japanese m erchants, fo r exam ple, w ith tropical
goods from S outh-east A sia, an d the la tte r re-exported a p a rt
o f these to K orea. T his interm ediary role enabled the islands to
enjoy considerable independence. T o som e extent, the
R yükyüs occupied a special p o sitio n d u rin g this tim e, espe­
cially in term s o f relations w ith C hina. T hey becam e C h in a’s
m o st loyal “ trib u te c o u n try ” , providing p ro d u cts such as
horses an d sulphur, w hereas the Chinese o n the o th er h an d
gave all sorts o f developm ent aid - fro m technical equipm ent
an d expertise, such as ships a n d shipbuilding, to h u m an re ­
sources including (C onfucian) ed ucation. R y ü k y ü an students
were, fo r exam ple, officially d ispatched to C hina to study
there. A lso different p ro d u cts a p p eared to a larger extent th a n
before on the C hinese Seas, such as S ou th -east A sian ceram ics,
as the d irect access to C hinese ceram ics w as blocked.
A lth o u g h trib u te m issions were officially exchanged b e­
tw een K o rea a n d the M ing, these w ere ra th e r overshadow ed
by restrictions im posed by th e trad e p roscription. A lso official
relations betw een C hina a n d Ja p a n w ere a t a low point. In
125 W an g G u n g w u, “ M e rch a n ts W ith o u t E m pire: T h e H o k k ien
S ojo u rn in g C o m m u n ities” , in Jam es D . T racy (ed.), The Rise o f
M erchant Empires. (C am bridge: C am b rid g e U niversity Press, 1990),
409-421; C h a n g P in -tsun, “ T h e F irs t C hinese D ia sp o ra in S o u th east
A sia in th e F ifte e n th C e n tu ry ” , in R o d e rich P ta k , D ietm ar R o th erm u n d (eds.), E m poria, Com m odities and Entrepreneurs in Asian
M aritim e Trade, c. 1400-1750. (S tu ttg art: F ra n z S teiner V erlag,
1991), 13-28; W an g L ing-chi, W an g G u n g w u (eds.), The Chinese
Diaspora: Selected Essays. (Singapore: T im es A cadem ic Press, 1998).
126 L e o n a rd Blussé, Visible Cities. Canton, N agasaki, and B atavia and
the Coming o f the Americans. (C am bridge, M ass. H a rv a rd U niversity
Press, 2008), 14.
127 R o d e rich P ta k , D ie m aritim e Seidenstraße, 269.
128 F o r a recen t stu d y on the role o f R y ü k y ü a n m erch an ts d u rin g this
tim e, cf. R o d e rich P tak , “ T he R y u k y u N e tw o rk in the F iftee n th an d
E arly S ixteenth C e n tu ries” , Revista de Cultural Review ° f Culture 6
(2003), 7-23.
1523, the M aritim e T rad e Offices (shibo si) o f F u zh o u an d
N in g b o were even closed dow n as a consequence o f the socalled “ incident caused by striving fo r trib u te ” (zhenggong
zhi y i Ç -Jfi2 fft), also called th e “ N in g b o -in cid en t” .129 A nd
alth o u g h later d u rin g the early seventeenth century the new
T o k u g aw a rulers, startin g w ith the tim e o f Ieyasu ÍSJ l i s t i i
(1542-1616; r. 1603-1616), sou g h t in vain to re-establish direct
relations w ith C hina - o f course u n d er their political-econom ic
prem ises - it should be em phasized th a t until 1871 officially no
d iplom atic relations existed betw een C hina a n d Jap an.
The Zheng-He expeditions
F o r some th irty years, how ever, durin g the early M ing, C hina
re tu rn ed to the centre o f the m aritim e w orld. Between 1405
a n d 1433 the th ird M ing E m peror, Y ongle jRlljl E m p ero r (r.
1403-1424), initiated in all seven overseas expeditions th a t
w ere carried o u t u n d er the supervision o f the M uslim eunuch
Z heng H e
(1371-c. 1433). D ebates a b o u t the actu al p u r­
poses o f these expeditions continue u n a b a te d to this d a y .130
B ut it has been w idely accepted th a t they did n o t prim arily
serve tra d in g p urposes b u t were ra th e r d iplom atic m issions
serving political en d s.131 It has also startled m o d ern scholars
th a t these m o st influential naval u n d ertak in g s to o k place d u r­
ing a tim e p erio d preceded a n d follow ed by a m o re o r less strict
m aritim e p ro h ib itio n policy. H ow ever, the expeditions becom e
un d erstan d ab le w hen seen in the context th a t C h in a considered
herself as the leading pow er, w ith u n d isp u ted suprem acy in the
co n tem p o rary A sian w o rld an d beyond. T he m ain p urpose b e­
h in d th e expeditions, I w ould argue, w as a d em o n stratio n by
C hina o f this view, a n d m ay even have im plied a claim for
“w o rld d o m in a tio n ” , a t least in A sia, by the Y ongle E m peror.
129 F o r fu rth e r details see O láh C sab a, “ D e b a tte n ü b er den ja p a n is­
chen T rib u t n ach dem Z w ischenfall in N in g b o (1523) u n d der
chinesische U m g an g m it der ersten d a r a u f folgenden G esan d tsch a ft
(1539^10)” , in A ngela S ch o tten h am m er (ed.), The E ast Asian M aritim e
W orld 1400-1800: Its Fabrics o f Pow er and D ynam ics o f Exchanges.
(W iesbaden: O tto H arrasso w itz, 2007), 169-218.
130 T h e m o re generally acce p te d ex p lan atio n s include effo rts to
im press its neighbours w ith C h in a ’s p ro sp erity a n d pow er, th e M ing
c o u rt’s w ish to stim ulate trad e a n d trib u te m issions fro m a b ro a d , an d
th e aim o f securing foreign luxury p ro d u cts. T he official acco u n ts
(Mingshi) n o te th a t th e Y ongle E m p e ro r in ten d ed to find th e fo rm er
em peror, Z h u Y u n w en ilêJtÜ Î (r. 1399-1402), w h o m h e h a d ju st
o usted fro m the th ro n e. F o r a discussion a n d re fu ta tio n o f the
hypothesis th a t th e expeditions w ere d isp atch ed fo r the p u rp o se o f
concluding m ilita ry alliances w ith countries in the R ed Sea, P ersian
G u lf a n d In d ia n O cean region to fight ag ain st T im u r (d. 1405), cf.
M o rris R ossabi, “C h en g H o a n d T im ur: A n y R elatio n ?” , Oriens
Extrem us 20 (1973), 129-136.
131 T im o th y B ro o k , “ C o m m u n icatio n s a n d com m erce” , in F red erick
W . M o te , D enis T w itc h ett (eds.), The Cam bridge H istory o f China, vol.
8, p a r t 2 (1988), 579-707, 615: “ T heir ra tio n a le w as d iplom atic,
enabling th e Y ung-lo em peror to declare his en th ro n em en t an d
d em o n strate his suzerainty over o th er A sia n states, as well as p ro v id in g
passage for foreign envoys b earing trib u te to th e C hinese th ro n e; b u t it
w as also econom ic . . . ” ; Jo h n E. W ills sees th e voyages as “ an
an o m alo u s state-directed revival w ith in th e fram ew o rk o f th e trib u te
system o f S ung-Y üan positive attitu d e s to w ard s m aritim e t r a d e .. . ” , cf.
Jo h n E. W ills, “ R elatio n s w ith m aritim e E u ro p e a n s” , in F re d erick W .
M o te , D enis T w itchett (eds.), The Cambridge H istory o f China, vol. 8,
p a r t 2 (1988), 333-375, 334.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
The historical facts an d circum stances do a t least suggest th a t
Y ongle intended to realize in a practical fashion the concept o f
the m iddle K in g d o m versus su rro u n d in g vassal o r trib u te
states.
Independently o f the exact historical assessm ent o f the
expeditions, it is certain th a t they officially carried C hina
th ro u g h o u t the In d ian O cean as fa r as the E ast co ast o f A frica
an d the R ed Sea fo r the first tim e a n d rem ain ed unrivalled u n ­
til o u r days. I t also becom es evident from the routes o f the
expeditions th a t official M ing naval policy m ainly concen­
tra te d on the w estern p a rt o f S ou th -east A sia a n d the In d ian
O cean region. H o rm u z located in the P ersian G u lf obviously
played a key role in th e expeditions. It is repeatedly m entioned
as d estin atio n a n d even ap p ears o n an old Chinese sea-route
m ap, the so-called Zheng H e hanghai tu ÄP^HÄ/(.'ÄHI.132 D e ­
bates have also tak en place a b o u t the alleged size o f the ships
o r the question o f w h a t k in d o f w eapons they carried o n b o a rd
(the term “ fire a rm s” is vague; were these p erh ap s already
som e form o f small cannons?). Supposedly betw een 20,000
an d 30,000 m en including m ariners, soldiers, officials, p hysi­
cians an d technicians as well as others accom panied the expe­
ditions. A lth o u g h m uch o f the in fo rm atio n th a t we enco u n ter
in the sources m ay be exaggerated (definite archaeological evi­
dence is lacking until tod ay ), it is clear th a t never before h ad
b o th the C hina Seas an d the In d ia n O cean seen any naval
m anoeuvres o f sim ilar dim ensions. D u rin g these few decades
in the early fifteenth century C hina, thus, w as the unchallenged
m aritim e pow er in the w orld. A n d its eventual re tre a t from the
“w orld seas” eventually h ap p en ed o n its ow n initiatives,
caused by internal political considerations a n d a re-em phasis
o f the continental b o rd e r w ith the M ongols in n o rth C hina again there is m uch speculation a b o u t the concrete reasons
o f her re tre a t - a n d w as n o t forced o n it by external pow ers.
Piracy and naval enterprises
W hen M ing trib u te trad e b egan to decline after the m id-15th
century, while the trad e p ro scrip tio n w as still in force private
trad e in the form o f sm uggling began to fill its vacuum .
Illegal private m erchants, sm ugglers o r “ p irates” as they
are called in official C hinese h isto rio g rap h y (m ost o f these
texts sim ply reflect the official C hinese p o sitio n th a t stam ped
everybody w ho w as violating the tra d e p ro scrip tio n as “ p i­
ra te ”), becam e increasingly active. P rivate trad e w as still p ro ­
hibited a n d w ith the ad v en t o f the E u ro p ean s the d em an d for
Chinese p ro d u cts even increased while there w ere increasingly
few er official possibilities to trad e. A m o d ern source collec­
tio n like the M ingdai Wokou shiliao
in seven
volum es133 attests to the g reat q u an tity o f source m aterial
th a t exists on the topic o f sm uggling a n d piracy durin g the
M ing. A lth o u g h also foreigners like the Japanese, reflected
in th e term “W o k o u ” 1*ni (lit. Japanese b an d it; Jap. Wakö),
o r Portuguese were active in this n etw o rk o f clandestine
trade, using offshore islands to exchange th eir goods, it w as
132 Zheng H e hanghai tu !S P ín ttí$ B I by M a o Y u an y i S^TUÍH; edited
a n d a n n o ta te d b y X ian g D a [d]jÈ. (Beijing: Z h o n g h u a shuju, 1961).
Zhongwai jiao to n g shiji congkan T 'ÿ f 'X S Î ! ï S Ï I T 'J , 19.
133 Z heng L ian g sh en g
(ed.), M ingdai W okou shiliao
Í9P4. (Taibei: W enshizhe chubanshe, 1987), 7 vols. See also F a n
Z hongyi, T o n g X igang, M ingdai Wokou shilüe.
81
C hinese people w ho form ed the b ack b o n e o f the sm ug­
glers.134 A ctivities o f m o re fam ous p irate-m erch an ts o f the
16th century, such as W an g Z hi ÎÏGË, X u D o n g i r f í , Li
G u an g to u * Ä S l , X u H ai
a n d o thers have already been
investigated in m o re d e ta il.135
P iracy w as n o t only o m nipresent along the C hinese litto ral
b u t also in the K o re a n Straits. It strongly influenced in te rn a ­
tio n al relatio n s a n d trad e policies in the E ast C hina Sea during
this early m o d ern p e rio d .136 A lready d u rin g the th irte e n th cen­
tury, K o re a n coastal cities h a d repeatedly been a tta ck ed by
Japanese p irates, b u t in the 14th century such attack s increased
again. E ventually, in 1380, th e K oguryö (918-1392) c o u rt suc­
cessfully co u n tered an a tta c k by pirates. G re at efforts were
m ade to d estroy the scattered bases o f the W akö o n the islands
lying n e a r the so u th co ast o f K orea. In 1419, 227 ships w ith
m o re th a n 17,000 C hosön (1392-1910) soldiers invaded the
A so Bay M l ? a n d raid ed the h ea rt o f T sushim a i j f l f Island,
curbing W akö pow er in the K o re a n Straits a t least fo r a time.
The interest o f the early C hosön g overnm ent in foreign trade
relations th u s lay n o t in financial profits b u t in the pacification
o f the W akö a t all co sts.137 T o help reduce the th re a t o f pirate
assaults, p o rts w ere opened to Japanese seafarers on the so u th ­
east K o re a n coast, a n d living a n d tra d in g q u arters k now n as
the Waegwan 1*11 (W akan) [Japan H ouses] were set up in
the first h a lf o f the fifteenth century in o rd er to strictly control
foreign tra d e rs.138
O n the Japanese side the feudal lords o f T sushim a w ere en ­
tru ste d w ith the responsibility o f consolidating the relationship
betw een the tw o countries. By th e K yehae T reaty
of
1443, the n u m b er o f trad in g ships com ing to K o re a via T sushi­
m a w as lim ited to fifty annually, a n d the Haedong chegukki :M
(1471) by Shin S uk-chu
details the nu m ber o f
ships the m em bers o f the So 5js a n d S oda Jp-EB fam ilies o f T su ­
shim a were allow ed to send each year. Such restrictions once
again p rovided the reaso n fo r various form s o f piracy. Jurgis
Elisonas regards it as possible th a t the Wakö w ere n o t only
interested in the com m odities trad e d across E ast A sian w aters,
b u t also engaged in slavery, one story rep o rtin g , fo r exam ple,
200-300 C hinese slaves being k e p t by Japanese fam ilies on S at­
sum a K U ? 1# . 139
134 C h a n g P in-tsun, “ T he Rise o f C hinese M e rcan tile P o w er in
M a ritim e S o u th east A sia, c. 1400-1700” .
135 See, for exam ple, the articles in R o b e rt J. A n to n y (ed.), Elusive
P irates, Evasive Smugglers. Violence and Clandestine Trade in the
Greater China Seas. (H ong K ong: H o n g K o n g U niversity Press, 2010);
C harles O. H ucker, “ H u T sung-hsien’s C a m p a ig n A g ain st H sü H ai,
1556” , in F ra n k A . K ierm an , Jr., J o h n K . F a irb a n k (eds.), Chinese
W ays in Warfare. (C am bridge, M ass.: H a rv a rd U niversity Press,
1974), 273-307; Jo h n E. W ills, “ M a ritim e C h in a fro m W an g C h ih to
S hih L a n g ” .
136 T hese developm ents have recently been investigated by B a rb a ra
Seyock, “ P irates a n d tra d e rs o n T sushim a Islan d d u rin g th e late 14th
to early 16th centuries: as seen fro m historical a n d archaeological
perspectives” , in A ngela S ch o tten h am m er (ed.), Trade and Transfer
across the E ast Asian “M editerranean” (2005), 91-124.
137 B a rb a ra Seyock, “ P irates a n d tra d e rs” (2005), 91-124.
138 K ey S. R yang, “ T he K o rean -Jap an e se R elatio n s in th e 17th
C e n tu ry ” , Korea O bserver 13:4 (W inter 1982), 434-450.
139 Jurgis E lisonas, “ T h e inseparable trinity: Ja p a n ’s relatio n s w ith
C h in a a n d K o re a ” , in Jo h n W hitney H aii (ed.), The Cambridge H istory
o f Japan, volum e 4. (C am bridge: C am b rid g e U niversity Press, 1991),
235-300, here 260.
82
T he “ M aritim e G re a t W all” , as C hang P in -tsu n h as called
it,140 provided a n effective policy along the co ast to seal off
C hina from overseas countries, b u t in the long perspective it
w as n o t successful.141 F o r the C hinese coastal w aters the six­
teenth century u nd ou b ted ly co n stitu ted a p eak in term s o f p i­
racy an d discussions a b o u t expenses needed fo r coastal defence
co n trib u ted to the general deb ate a b o u t the ab o litio n o f the
trad e p ro scrip tio n policy.
M ilitary operations
A first larger naval expedition, after the M o n g o l atte m p t to
con qu er Jap an , occurred w ith the invasion o f K o re a in 1592
u n d er the Japanese ruler T oyotom i H ideyoshi Ü E l Í I cÍ
(1536-1598). O ne o f the m o st effective exam ples o f K o re a n
resistance cam e from a naval cam paign led by A dm iral Yi
Sun-sin * S E l (1545-1598) in the sum m er o f 1592. H e is said
to have developed a type o f atta c k vessel equipped w ith c a n ­
nons called the “ tu rtle ship” , w hich obviously caused p a rtic u ­
lar problem s fo r the Japanese n av y .142 Especially fam ous is the
b attle n ear H an san Islan d M l il R , one o f three g re a t victories
against the Japanese as a result o f w hich K o rea regained c o n ­
tro l o f the sea lanes. T he M ing g overnm ent also assisted K o rea
a t this tim e, sending a relief arm y to K o re a led by Li R usong
The d eath o f H ideyoshi in 1598, how ever, resulted in
the eventual re tre a t o f the Japanese from the K o re an
peninsula.
A lso in the 17th century, in p artic u la r d u rin g the M ingQ ing conquest, the C hina Seas contin u ed to be a space fo r m il­
itary operations. M en tio n should be m ade o f E m p ero r K an gxi’s
(r. 1662-1722) fight ag ain st the “m erch an t
em pire” o f the Z heng Jt|5-clan w ho h a d retreated to T aiw an
after the fall o f the M ing a n d the eventual co n q u est o f T aiw an,
carried o u t u n d er the C o m m ander-in-chief o f the M an ch u
fleet, Shi L ang
(1621-1696).143
F o r N o rth -east A sia we should m en tio n the exam ple o f
M ao W enlong
(1576-1629), a Chinese general w ho
h ad escaped to K o re a w ith a sm all arm y a n d set u p a base
on P idao J3?SJ (K ad o Island), so u th o f the Y alu estuary, in
1621 w hen the M an ch u s to o k L iao d o n g a n d consequently
blocked the overland ro u te betw een K o rea a n d C hina. P idao
needed large quantities o f fo o d to provide fo r the tens o f th o u ­
sands o f soldiers u n d er his c o m m a n d 144 a n d the refugees from
L iaodong. B ut regardless o f its strategic advantages fo r d ip lo ­
140 C h a n g P in -tsu n , op. cit.
141 See fo r exam ple th e Wubei zh i iK ijS S (1624 ed.) by M a o Y u an y i g t
TCÍil; C h arles H u ck er, “ H u T sung-hsien’s C a m p a ig n ag ain st H su H ai,
1556” .
142 D o n a ld N . C lark , “ S in o -K o rean T rib u ta ry R e la tio n s u n d e r the
M in g ” , in D en is T w itchett a n d F re d erick W . M o te (eds.), The
Cam bridge H istory o f China, vol 8, p a r t 2. (C am bridge: C am bridge
U niv ersity Press, 1998), 272-300, 294-295.
143 F o r details see, am o n g others, T onio A n d ra d e , H ow Taiwan
Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and H an Colonization in the Seven­
teenth Century. (N ew Y ork: C o lu m b ia U niversity Press, 2009); Jo h n E.
W ills Jr., “ M a ritim e C h in a fro m W an g C h ih to Shih Lang: T hem es in
P erip h eral H isto ry ” , in Jo h n E. W ills, Jo n a th a n Spence (eds.), From
M in g to C h ’ing: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventeenth
Century China. (New H aven: Y ale U niversity Press, 1979), 204-238.
144 M ingji beiliie
by Ji L iuji sTtnSF (1622-?). (Beijing:
Z h o n g h u a shuju, 1984), j. 2, 40.
A. S chottenham m er
m acy, trad e an d m ilitary defence, the island w as unable to p ro ­
vide fo r the necessary provisions by itself. F o o d supplies from
D en g zh o u SP)T[ o r T ianjin jTQiii w ere irregular due to the M ing
go v ern m en t’s financial problem s as well as the insecure n atu re
o f m aritim e tra n sp o rt. Beside grain, M ao also dem anded th a t
the K o re a n g overnm ent provide ships, horses, guns an d gin­
seng.145 P id ao , as Jung B yung-chul has show n, developed
n o t only as the official d iplom atic c o n tact space betw een M ing
C hina a n d K o rea, b u t also as a n im p o rta n t fro n tier m ark et for
M in g -K o rea-M an ch u tria n g u la r trad e a t the n o rth e rn edge o f
the Y ellow Sea. U n d e r M a o ’s p atro n ag e, “m erch ants from
so u th a n d east crow ded into th e island, [and] the P id ao m ark et
grew as p ro sp ero u s as a city o n the m a in la n d ” .146
T he Z h o u sh a n JîTlJLl Islands, offshore Z hejiang, to the east
o f the H an g zh o u Bay, com prising 1390 islands a n d 3306 reefs,
th ereby form ing one o f the largest archipelagos o f C hina, co n ­
stitu ted a flourishing sm uggling centre, especially fo r Sino-Portuguese a n d S ino-Japanese sm uggling. T hey co n tin u ed to fulfil
this role until the archipelagos w ere com pletely d estroyed by
M ing tro o p s in 1549 a n d 1558, respectively - as a consequence
o f w hich T aiw an em erged as the com m ercial centre in the E ast
A sian w aters.147 W hen the Q ing established th eir capital in
Beijing, M ing loyalists fled so u th .148 In 1646, M ing loyalists
a ro u n d Prince L u f t ï , Z h u Y ihai
(1618-1662), re ­
tre a te d to th e Z h o u sh an Islands a n d settled there betw een
1649 a n d 1651, w hen Q ing tro o p s co n q u ered Z h o u sh an an d
defeated the M ing loyalists. C onsequently, having already lost
th eir com m ercial im portance durin g M ing tim es, the island
archipelago co n tin u ed to play a political-m ilitary role. A fter
the co n q u est o f T aiw an, how ever, the C hinese co ncentrated
them selves o n h er co n tin en tal b o rd e r an d officially no m ore
n aval u n d ertak in g s w ere carried o u t durin g th e tim e period u n ­
d er investigation here.
A few w ords are due on the p artic u la r role T aiw an played
in the C h in a Seas. A s we have seen above, it a p p aren tly first
entered official C hinese consciousness du rin g the Sui period,
a lth o u g h m an y things rem ain unclear a b o u t its early history.
In older texts it is, as a rule, called “ L iuqiu î £ î ÿ ” o f w hich
there exist various c h aracter varian ts a n d w hich in early texts
ap p ears w ith th e adjectives “ big” {da f \ ) or “ sm all” (xiao
zjx) referring to T aiw an and the L iuqiu o r R y ükyü Islands or
145 Chosön wangjo sillok, Injo sillok i j f i l t ü , j . 6, 614 (Injo 2:5:2:
eulmyo Î 3 Ë 2 Í 5 FI 2 0 , Z ,® ); Ibid., ƒ 6, 637 (Injo 2:8:22: gapjin Î 3 Ë
2ifi 8 FI 2 2 0 , Epjg); Ibid., ƒ 17, 238 (Injo 5:11:18: sim a U i i 5 Í 1 1 F
18 0 , Í E ) .
146 Ju n g B yung-chul, “ L ate M in g Isla n d Bases, M ilitary Bases an d
Sear R o u tes in the O ffshore A re a o f L ia o d o n g ” , in A ngela S ch o tten ­
h am m er, R o d e rich P ta k (eds.), M aritim e Space in Traditional Chinese
Sources. (W iesbaden: O tto H arrasso w itz, 2006), 41-50; here w ith
reference to the Chosön wangjo sillok, Gwanghaegun ilgi, j . 183, 482
(Gwanghaegun 14:11:11: guimao Tci'FJzi 1Ul I I F 1 1 0 , § ! ® ) .
147 C h a n g P in -tsu n
“ Shiliu shiji Z h o u sh a n q u n d a o de zousi
m aoyi +7\tËft2ffi-|JLlë¥RÉLl
i” , in Zhongguo haiyang fazhanshi lunwenji í i l í í í í f í ® Í sitS tïiî, vol. 1. (Taibei: Z h o n g y an g
y an jiu y u an sanm inzhuyi yanjiusuo, 1984), 71-95. A lready d u rin g the
late Y u a n a n d the early M in g perio d , th e archipelago h a d b een used as
a space for b o th political a n d com m ercial re tre a t a n d fo r m ilitary
operations.
148 L y n n S truve, Voices fro m the M ing-Q ing Cataclysm . (N ew H aven:
Y ale U niversity Press, 1993), 114.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
either only T aiw an o r only the R y ükyü Islands. The nam e o f
“ T aiw an J - j l f ” seems n o t to have been used before the
1630s.149 A lthough the island w as certainly visited by F ujianese fisherm en - evidence fo r w hich is also suggested by the la ­
ter P ortuguese designation o f the island gro u p , nam ely
“ P escadores” , literally m eaning “ fisherm en” - T aiw an
em erged only relatively late as a tra d in g “ rendezvous” in the
E ast A sian w aters. N o t before the opening o f the p o rt o f
H aicheng o ff the F u jia n co ast (form erly called Y uegang ^
'1%) an d the subsequent g rad u al lib eratio n o f C hinese private
m aritim e trad e in 1567 d id its h istory as an in tern atio n al tr a d ­
ing “ rendezvous” begin.150 A n d it m u st be em phasized th a t
until Q ing tim es, the island w as considered as a fro n tier lo ca­
tion, n o t really being p a rt o f the Q ing E m pire, a lth o u g h it w as
officially in co rp o rated as a p a rt o f F u jian Province in 1684.
Q ing sources describe the island as “ lonely hanging beyond
the seas” (gu xuan haiwai Ä 'S 'Ä ^ f ') ,151 as a “ faraw ay place b e­
yond the deep ocean” (yuan za i zhongyang zhi wai â l ï M î i i J
9h).152 T he local in h ab itan ts are repeatedly referred to as cruel,
ruthless an d stu b b o rn . T hey are described as “ foreign people
th a t cam e from several places outside [the C hinese realm s]”
(fanmin zachu er wailai zhi min ¥ S i t l & M 9 f 'i f i / 2 S ) . 153
T hus alth o u g h T aiw an officially becam e an integral p a rt o f
activities in the C hina Seas in the seventeenth century, it c o n ­
tinued to play a p artic u la r role.
The advent o f the Europeans
The period we have been talking a b o u t is o f course also the
tim e w hen the first E u ro p ean s, the Portuguese, cam e to the
C hina Seas, driven by the qu est to avoid the trad e routes in
A sia M in o r controlled by the M am eluks o f E gypt an d thus
to m onopolize the “ spice ro u tes” in to E u ro p e com bined w ith
m issionary goals. T hey w ere follow ed by the S paniards, the
D u tch an d only later also the British, F ren ch a n d various o th er
E u ro p ean nations. W ith the ad v en t o f the E uro p ean s, the C h i­
n a Seas once again experienced a qualitativ e change. Step by
step an d w ith in terru p tio n s o r even setbacks, the A sian w aters
h ad increasingly “ grow n to g eth er” a n d this initiative origi­
n ated in E ast Asia. W ith the beginning o f the E u ro p ean over­
seas expansion gradually m ore a n d m o re E u ro p ean s filled roles
th a t h ad form erly been carried o u t by A sian trad ers. E arly n e t­
w orks o f m issionaries a n d m erch an ts b ro u g h t E ast A sia a n d its
people g radually into closer c o n tac t w ith E u ro p ean s a t places
such as M acao , M anila, T aiw an an d N a g a sak i.154 W ith V asco
D a G am a (1468/69-1524) an d F erd in an d M agellan (1480-
149 See C h a n g P in -tsu n , “ T he E m ergence o f T aiw an as a n In te rn a ­
tio n al T rad in g R endezvous in th e S ixteenth C e n tu ry ” , in A ngela
S ch o tten h am m er (ed.), Taiwan - A Bridge between the E ast and South
China Seas. (W iesbaden: O tto H arrasso w itz, 2011), 9 -2 4 , 12.
150 Ibid.
151 Shizong Xianhuangdi zhupi yu zh i
by Y ongzheng ÏÎIZE (1677-1735) a n d Q ian lo n g f£ |3 i (1711-1799) , j . 176, section
5, 27b, in Siku quanshu, fase. 418-423.
152 Shizong Xianhuangdi zhupi yuzhi, j. 13, section xia, 22b; also j. 72,
l b (yuan ge haiyang difang ia|5ftí$í=f HSif)).
153 Shizong Xianhuangdi zhupi yuzhi, j . 72, 3b.
154 Jo h n E. W ills, “ R elatio n s w ith M a ritim e E u ro p ean s, 1514-1662” ,
in D en is T w itc h ett a n d F re d erick W . M o te (eds.), The Cambridge
H istory o f China, v o lu m e 8, p a r t 2. (C am bridge: C am b rid g e U niversity
Press, 1998), 333-375.
83
1521) an d his successors the C hina Seas w ere eventually
“ opened u p ” o n a p erm an en t basis also b eyond the In d ian
O cean to w ard s the A tlan tic in the W est a n d the Pacific up to
M exico a n d the A m erican co n tin en t in the East. S tarting w ith
the Portuguese an d S panish expansion the C hina Seas conse­
q uently becam e p a rt o f a n d were connected w ith the entire
w orld, a process th a t w as com pleted w ith English colonialism
in the nineteen th century.
T he p ro h ib itio n policy o f the M ing on th e one h a n d re ­
sulted in a certain decline in the im p o rtan ce o f C hinese m e r­
ch an ts o n the seas, nam ely th e im portance o f C h ina-based
m erchants. In d ian a n d S outh-east A sian based M uslim traders
ex panded th eir tra d itio n a l netw orks a n d tra d e d w ith C hina in
co nnection w ith trib u te envoys.155 A lso R y ü k y ü an m erchants,
as we have seen above, to o k over the role o f the C hinese m e r­
ch an ts to a certain extent. B ut on the o th er h an d , especially
w hen M ing trib u te trad e declined after the m id-fifteenth cen­
tury, m ore a n d m ore C hinese m ig rated to overseas countries
from w here they m an ag ed a pow erful p rivate trad e netw ork.
C hinese m erch an ts cam e to m o nopolize these netw orks in
the C hina Seas a n d foreign, basically S outheast, S o uth an d
W est A sian m erch an ts were displaced, from th e n o n being ac­
tive only b eyond the C hina Seas. In this respect, it is probably
n o t exaggerated to state th a t the m aritim e trad e p ro scription a t
the sam e tim e co n stitu ted the basis fo r the rise o f C h in a’s p ri­
vate m ercantile pow er.
T he eventual abolishm ent o f the trad e p ro scrip tio n w as n o t
only the result o f a long political deb ate w ithin C h in a b u t also
o f b o th contrad ictio n s w ithin C h in a ’s political-econom ic sys­
te m 156 a n d o f the ever increasing d em an d fo r C hinese p ro d ­
ucts, in p artic u la r by the E uro p ean s, a n d the co nsequent
high profits th a t could be earned fro m engaging in m aritim e
trade. T his caused n o t only p rivate people to m ain tain or build
u p clandestine netw orks b u t also official persons a n d in stitu ­
tions to engage in m aritim e trad e - despite official p ro h ib i­
tions. The a b o litio n o f the m aritim e trad e p ro scrip tion w as
soon only a questio n o f time. T rad e relations b o o m ed in the
late 16th a n d early 17th century a n d only th e M an c h u co n ­
q u est o f C h in a b ro u g h t w ith it a certain setback.
A lth o u g h the m ain m ark ets fo r the E u ro p ean s lay in E u r­
ope, E u ro p ean m erch an ts a n d m erch a n t o rganizations soon
c o n stitu ted co m p etitio n fo r C hinese trad ers in E ast A sian
w aters. Between 1600 a n d 1700 the C hinese were g radually dis­
placed by the D u tc h a n d o th er E u ro p ean m erch an ts in the
trad e w ith S ou th -east a n d S o u th Asia. B ut, as C h an g P in-tsun
has argued, only the D u tc h V O C (Vereenigde O ostindische
C om pagnie) w as able to successfully enforce a m o n opoly o f
155 O n th e rise o f p riv a te tra d e , see C h a n g P in-tsun, Chinese M aritim e
Trade: The Case o f Sixteenth-C entury Fu-chien. (Ph.D . dissertatio n ;
P rinceton: P rin c eto n U niversity, 1983), 198-290; B odo W iethoff, D ie
chinesische Seeverbotspolitik und der private Überseehandel von 1368 bis
1567. D issertatio n , H am b u rg , Deutsche Gesellschaft fü r N atur- und
Völkerkunde Ostasiens. (W iesbaden: O tto H arra sso w itz K om m issio n s­
verlag, 1963).
156 See L i K angying, The M ing M aritim e Trade P olicy in Transition,
1368-1567 (W iesbaden: O tto H arrasso w itz, 2010), E ast Asian M ari­
time H istory, 8, for a n excellent discussion a b o u t the g rad u al shift in
M ing C h in a ’s m aritim e policy.
84
trad e betw een South -east A sia a n d In d ia in the seventeenth
cen tu ry .157 G enerally speaking, a t least as far as the C hina
trad e is concerned, the p erio d betw een 1720 a n d 1760 has been
designated the “ perio d o f co n stru ctio n o f the E u ro p ean C hina
tra d e ” .158 A fter the Q ing g overnm ent lifted its b a n on m a ri­
tim e trad e an d opened C ustom s H ouses (haiguan) betw een
1683 an d 1685, foreign trad e quickly revived a n d num erous
C hinese com m odities re-ap p eared in th e A sian w aters. A new
w o rld -m ark et h ad com e in to existence. It w as a tim e w hen
“ C hinese silks w ere being w o rn in the streets o f K y o to an d
L im a, C hinese cotto n s were being sold in Filipino an d M exi­
can m arkets, an d Chinese p orcelain w as being used in fash io n ­
able hom es from Sakai to L o n d o n ” .159
In m aritim e relatio n s w ith Ja p a n , Chinese m erch an ts re ­
m ained very active. In the 17th a n d 18th centuries C hina p u r­
sued a relatively positive trad in g policy w ith Jap a n , seeking to
o b tain first as m uch silver an d , later, co p p er as possible from
her neighbour - alth o u g h , as we have seen above, n o official
diplom atic relations were re-established until 1871. T he h u b
fo r m u tu al exchange relations w as N ag asak i, w here Chinese
m erchants were com peting w ith P ortuguese a n d later D u tch
traders. Ja p a n on the o th er h an d tried to o b ta in know ledge,
specialists an d goods from C hina n o t only via C h in a ’s official
N ag asak i trad e b u t also via the R yükyüs. T he island co u n try
w as even subdued by the Japanese fief o f S atsu m a ¡ p H in
1609. It has been arg u ed th a t after the subju g atio n by S atsum a
in 1609 actually m o st o f the p rofit w ent to S atsum a, as a c o n ­
sequence o f w hich from tim e to tim e the C hinese cargoes were
u n lo ad ed on sm aller islands to hide th em fro m the Japanese
officials - co n tra b a n d practices th a t o f course only encouraged
stricter co n tro l on the S atsum a side.160 In general S atsum a did
play a n im p o rta n t role w ithin the sm uggling netw orks in C h i­
nese an d Japanese w aters a t th a t tim e. T his is attested to by
m any exam ples in the Tsükö ichiran
— R (1853).161 Sm ug­
gling (nukeni ÍS7$) w as n o th in g e x tra o rd in ary .162 A lso D u tch
sources attest to this p henom enon. A local in terp reter, after
the D u tch h ad repeatedly com plained a b o u t the ra m p a n t
sm uggling o f the Chinese, noted: “ (T)he C hinese have to
smuggle in o rd er to ren d er their business p ro fitab le” .163
157 C h a n g P in -tsu n , “ T he Rise o f C hinese M ercan tile P ow er in
M a ritim e S o u th east A sia, c. 1400-1700” . F o r a com prehensive an d
v ery g o o d acco u n t o f activities o f the V O C in the In d ia n O cean W o rld ,
see also R ené J. B arendse, The Arabian Seas: The Indian Ocean W orld
o f the Seventeenth Century. (A rm onk, N ew Y ork: M .E . S harpe, 2002).
158 Cf. Jü rg en O sterham m el, China und die Weltgesellschaft. Vom 18.
Jahrhundert bis in unsere Z eit. (M ünchen: C. H . Beck 1989), 112.
159 W illiam A tw ell, “ T ’ai-ch’ang, T ’ien -ch ’i, a n d C h ’ung-chen Reigns,
1620-1644” , in F ed erick W . M o te , D en is T w itc h ett (eds.), The
Cam bridge H istory o f China, vol. 7, p a r t 1 (1988), 585-640, 587.
160 W o lf H aenisch, D ie auswärtige P olitik R yükyüs seit dem Anfang des
17. Jahrhunderts und der Einfluß der Fürsten von Satsuma. P h D
d issertatio n , B erlin 1934. (Erlangen: B uchdruckerei K ra h l, 1937), 25.
161 Cf. fo r exam ple Tsükö ichiran S M — R (1853) edited by H ay ash i
F u k u sa i W iftÜf (1800-1859) e t al. (O saka: S eibundo sh u p p a n , 1967),
vol. 5, j . 198, 228.
162 F o r n u m ero u s exam ples cf. Tsükö ichiran, vol. 4, passim .
163 P au l v a n d er V elde & R u d o lf B achofner, The Deshim a Diaries.
M arginalia 1700-1740. (T okyo: T he Ja p a n -N e th e rla n d s In stitu te,
1992), 69. Deshim a Series, ed. by J. L. Blussé a n d W . G . J. R em m elink,
Japan-Netherlands Institute Scientific Publications o f the Japan-Netherlands Institute N o . 12.
A. S chottenham m er
T he C hina Seas o f th a t tim e w ere a closely connected an d
com plex n etw o rk o f sea routes on w hich prim arily p rivate in d i­
viduals a n d institu tio n s from m an y countries w orld-w ide were
active, above all fo r com m ercial purposes. M ig ratio n co n tin ­
ued a n d also nu m erous E u ro p ean s settled in E ast Asia. W ith
the m issionaries d u rin g the late 16th to early eighteenth cen tu ­
ries C hristianity - th a t h ad only played a m in o r role in the cen­
turies before - a n d E u ro p ean culture also entered the C hina
Seas.
P olitically speaking, the seventeenth a n d eighteenth century
Q ing em perors co n cen trated p rim arily on C h in a ’s continental
b orders. B ut they w ere still interested in w h a t w as going on
overseas. E m p ero r K angxi openly raised his concerns in face
o f the E u ro p ea n expansions th a t he considered a th reat, b o th
fro m co n tin en tal (R u ssia)164 a n d m aritim e (the N etherlands,
the S paniards, the B ritish) b o rd e rs.165 B oth K angxi a n d Y ongzheng w ere concerned ab o u t developm ents in Ja p a n a n d even
sent spies th e re .166 D u rin g the rule o f K angxi a n d Y ongzheng
fears have even been accen tu ated a b o u t J a p a n ’s activities in
the E ast A sian w aters (such as c o o p eratio n w ith the Z heng
Jt|5 clan) a n d h er general a n ti-M an c h u resistance, along w ith
h er restrictive foreign trad e policy th a t attem p ted to m ake
the co u n try stronger, a n d th a t Ja p a n m ay even use her copper
cast can n o n s to a tta c k C h in a.167 B ut w ith the rise o f the Q ian-
164 J o n a th a n D . Spence, The Search f o r M odern China. (N ew Y ork: W.
W . N o rto n & C o m p an y , 1990), 65-66; Jü rg en O sterham m el, China und
die W eltgesellschaft, 100 a n d 465, F o o tn o te 75.
165 A d m iral Shi L an g í is lé h a d suggested th a t T aiw an becam e a
fortified base to p ro te c t C h in a a g a in st th e “ stro n g , huge, an d
invincible” w arships o f th e D u tch . K angxi, later, o rd ere d a Q ing
garriso n o f 8,000 soldiers to be left p erm an en tly on th e island.
Jo n a th a n Spence, The Search f o r M odern China, 57. In 1703, E m p e ro r
K angxi, on a to u r o f th e so u th e rn provinces, w as alarm ed to discover
how m an y W esterners w ere p resen t all over C hina. F oreseein g tro u b le,
h e im posed restrictions on E u ro p ean s entering th e em pire.
166 K angxi in 1701 sen t a M a n c h u b o n d se rv an t, th e chief clerk (ulinda
/U ttjÈ ) o f th e Im perial Silk M a n u fa c to ry (zhizao ju IIH o Jn ) in
H an g zh o u , M o rsen P M * * , as a secret ag en t to Ja p an . D isguised as a
m erch an t, M o rsen sailed fro m S hanghai in the sum m er o f 1701 an d
re tu rn e d to N in g b o in the a u tu m n o f the sam e year. U n d e r the
Y ongzheng E m p e ro r, the C hinese d o c to r a n d m e rc h a n t Z h u L aizh an g
ílcí^jjí:, w ho h a d lived in N ag asak i for q u ite a w hile, w as sen t a t least
tw ice to N ag asak i to in q u ire a b o u t th e political-econom ic situ atio n
there. F o r a detailed analysis o f th e b a c k g ro u n d beh in d th e d isp a tc h o f
these spies see A ngela S chottenham m er, “ Ja p a n - th e T in y D w arf?
S ino-Japanese R e la tio n s fro m the K angxi to th e E arly Qianlong
R eigns” , in A ngela S ch o tten h am m er (ed.), The E ast Asian M editerra­
nean - M aritim e Crossroads o f Culture, Commerce, and Human
M igration. (W iesbaden: O tto H arrasso w itz, 2008), 331-388. E ast Asian
M aritim e H istory, 6.
167 “ A lth o u g h J a p a n is a tiny d w a rf b a rb a ria n island, it relies o n its big
co p p er cast can n o n s w hich can a tta c k fro m a far-aw ay distan ce a n d its
e x trao rd in arily sh a rp W o d a o sw ords; alread y in th e fo rm er M ing
D y n asty [Japan] belonged to the evils o f th e seas (haihuan j i j ? ) ; in the
E astern Seas (Dongyang # } ¥ ) it w as considered a vio len t in v ad er
(qiangkou iilfiS). O u r dynasty h as a m ajestic spirit, a n d they [i.e. the
Japanese] have p ro stra te d them selves fro m fear a n d hidden, so th a t fo r
m an y years they have h a d no w ay to offend ag ain st C h in a (zhonghua
cj^ïji).” T his stem s fro m a m em orial o f th e governor-g en eral o f
Z hejiang, Li W ei * f | f (16877-1738). See Shizong Xianhuangdi zhupi
yuzhi, j. 174, section 8, 25a-b (201). See also G u o Y unjing, “ Views o f
J a p a n a n d Policies T o w a rd J a p a n in the E arly Q in g ” , in Jo sh u a F ogel
(ed.), Sagacious M onks and Bloodthirsty W arriors: Chinese Views o f
Japan in the M ing-Q ing Period. (N orw alk: E astB ridge, 2002), 88-108.
The “ C hina Seas” in w o rld history: A general outline
long E m p ero r interest in w h a t hap p en ed in Ja p a n - n o t to
speak o f the E u ro p ean countries - d isappeared alm o st co m ­
pletely.168 W ith K o rea a n d the R yükyüs trib u te relations were
officially m aintained.
Officially, C hina, as h a d K o re a a n d Jap a n , alm ost co m ­
pletely retreated from the C hina Seas in the second h a lf o f
the 18th century. In this context, we m ay speak o f a E u ro ­
p ean-dom inated C hina Seas region. A n d it w as the E uro p ean s
w ho eventually connected the C hina Seas from outside w ith
the entire w orld. T he n etw o rk across the C hina Seas w as c h a r­
acterized by a variety o f com m ercial co m p etitio n along w ith
sm aller cam paigns an d “ punitive ac tio n s” b u t it w as n o t before
the 19th century th a t m ilitary purposes ag ain d o m in ated the
Chinese w aters.
Conclusion
C an the history o f the C hina Seas reasonably be explained
from a global h istorical standpoint? W e have seen th a t basic
characteristics o f in teractio n were presen t already from rela ­
tively early tim es on - increasing econom ic a n d cu ltu ral in te r­
relations a n d exchange, h u m an m ovem ents a n d m ig ratio n , or
diplom atic intercourse. In teractio n netw orks require a certain
perm anence a n d stability. W e observed a process o f increasing
econom ic, political a n d cu ltu ral in teractio n in certain phases,
or, in o u r case in p artic u la r durin g the perio d fro m the collapse
o f the Y u an dynasty un til the m id-16th century, o f d eco n stru c­
tio n o r de-globalization o f grow n netw orks. In this respect, the
question can certainly be answ ered affirm atively. B ut the h is­
to ry o f the C h in a Seas o f course follow ed its ow n
characteristics.
In earliest tim es m ilitary a n d d iplom atic relations seem to
have prevailed, alth o u g h the coastal w aters w ere being used
fo r short-distance com m ercial exchange as well - th a t it has a l­
w ays been used as a source o f living by fisherm en a n d th eir
fam ilies should go w ith o u t saying. F ro m the p o st-H a n to the
T an g dynasties we could subsequently observe a con tin u o u s
upsw ing o f private com m ercial in teractio n in w hich B uddhism
(as religious an d cultu ral elem ent) played a p red o m in an t role.
D u rin g the T ang-W udai-S ong-Y uan p erio d we see an Islam ic
do m in ated m aritim e trad e in the south, linking u p C h in a on
a p erm an en t basis w ith the In d ian O cean region a n d the P e r­
sian G ulf, while N o rth -e ast A sia w as ra th e r p red o m in ated by
C onfucian an d B uddhist culture. C om m ercial exchanges on
southern an d W estern routes w ere d o m in ated by m erchants
from th e Islam ic w orld. Song a n d Y u an C h in a eventually
developed as the econom ic m o to r in the m acro-region w ith
Chinese m erchants becom ing ever m o re active in the C hina
Seas a n d beyond from the late eleventh century. T his process
is also paralleled by an ever-increasing p riv atizatio n o f
interactions.
W ith the collapse o f the Y u a n E m pire a n d the establish­
m en t o f the M ing dyn asty we subsequently en co u n ter a phase
o f d econstruction an d re-segm entation o f the seas. E xcept for
the three decades betw een 1405 a n d 1433, w hen C hina fo r the
first tim e in history officially expanded as fa r as the In d ian
168 F o r a m o re detailed discussion o f these arg u m en ts see A ngela
S ch o tten h am m er, “ E m p ire a n d P eriphery? T he Q ing E m p ire’s R ela­
tio n s w ith Ja p a n a n d th e R yükyüs (1644-c. 1800), a C o m p a riso n ” , The
M edieval H istory Journal 16: 2 (2012), in press.
85
O cean u p to th e co ast o f A frica a n d the R ed Sea, the country
subsequently officially retreated from the C hina Seas. C onse­
quently, this w as only a tem p o rary an d n o t a m ore p erm an en t
expansion o f interaction.
B ut the structures a n d netw orks th a t h a d grow n over cen tu ­
ries could n o t be d estroyed sim ply by g overnm ent decree.
R a th e r w ere they m ain tain ed by private, “ illegal” actors.
G ra d u a l p riv atizatio n from the p o st-H an to the T an g period
w as, thus, follow ed by a n “ officialization” du rin g the SongY u an a n d finally illegalization (sm uggling) a n d m ass em igra­
tio n durin g the M ing. T he persisting profits th a t could be
earn ed via m aritim e trad e, especially ag ain st the b ack g ro u n d
o f a sudden new a n d ever increasing d em an d fo r A sian, above
all C hinese, p ro d u cts by th e E u ro p ean s, eventually led to a
rep riv atisatio n o f com m ercial interactions, even if this h a p ­
p ened u n d er m o re o r less strict g overnm ent control. A nd it
m ay be considered a n irony o f histo ry th a t the m aritim e trade
p ro scrip tio n policy o f the M ing rulers th a t w as intended to
curb p rivate m aritim e trad e eventually led to its opposite,
the rise o f C hinese m ercantile pow er.
W ith the ad v en t o f the E uro p ean s, C hinese a n d A sian tr a d ­
ers in general lost th eir share o f the m a rk et a n d the increas­
ingly com plex com m ercial n etw o rk again cam e to be
d o m in ated in large p a rts by foreigners, this tim e the E u ro p e­
ans. In ad d itio n , C hristian culture a n d religion entered the
C hina Seas.
F ran ço is G ip o u lo u x has recently p rovided a com p arison o f
three different M e d iterran ean Seas the E uropean
M éditerranées o f the repuhhliche marinare a n d the H anseatic
League in the B altic Seas a n d the A sian M ed iterran ean com ­
prising the Sea o f Ja p an , the Y ellow Sea, the S o u th C hina
Sea, th e Sulu Sea an d the Sea o f the C élèbes.169 The large a b ­
sence o f ind ep en d en t in stitu tio n s an d a p rivate com m ercial law
in A sia is one o f his m ain argum ents explaining the different
h istorical developm ents o f E u ro p e a n d Asia. In E u rope we
e n co u n ter city-states th a t w ere m ain tain in g the netw orks
across the M ed iterran ean s a n d th a t developed independently
o f a central governm ental sovereign. B oth the repuhhliche
marinare a n d the H an seatic League could only p ro sp er because
a tra d itio n o f indep en d ent cities in E u ro p e existed. A ccording
to G ipouloux, inter-regional com m ercial exchange in A sia, in
c o n tra st to the E u ro p e an M ed iterran ean s, ad o p te d basically
tw o peculiar form s o f progress: (1) trib u te trad e, th a t m eans
trad e th a t w as forced into a b u reau cratic corset a n d im ple­
m ented b eh in d an official d iplom atic um brella, a n d (2) n o n ­
official o r co n tra b a n d trad e (p. 89).
Sum m arizing the histo ry o f in teractio n in the C hina Seas,
we have to conclude th a t fo r a holistic assessm ent o f the re ­
gio n ’s histo ry this statem en t w ould be to o generalizing.
A lth o u g h we do n o t en co u n te r city-states like in E u ro pe, since
T an g tim es there existed large com m ercial cities along the
coastlines, such as Y angzhou, G u an g zh o u o r Q uan zh ou, w ith
g reat num bers o f m erch an ts th a t could p ursue th eir private
com m ercial interests a t least relatively liberally, a n d w ith
p artly significant foreign settlem ents th a t often even possessed
th eir ow n ju risdiction. A n d such m erc h a n t com m unities, o f
course to different degrees, disposed o f certain in stitutional
169 F ra n ç o is G ip o u lo u x , L a M éditerranée asiatique. Villes portuaires et
réseaux marchands en Chine, au Japon et en Asie du Sud-Est, XVIeX X Ie siècle. (Paris: C N R S É ditions, 2009).
86
structures to carry o u t long-distance tra d e .170 It is also im p o r­
ta n t to note th a t co n tra b a n d trad e w as n o t the m o st im p o rta n t
com m ercial activity th ro u g h o u t C h in a’s a n d E ast A sia’s his­
tory. In p articu lar d u rin g the S ong-Y uan p erio d m aritim e
trad e w as n o t only officially sponsored (even th o u g h it w as
m ore o r less strictly controlled), b u t p rivate com m erce an d
m erchants enjoyed a t least a certain degree o f independence
an d liberty. T h a t developm ents across the C hina Seas never­
theless looked so differently from those in E u ro p e has p ro b a ­
bly rath e r to be traced b ack to the very different politicoeconom ic purposes o f the governm ents o f C hina, K o rea a n d
Jap an , to th eir different understan d in g s o f sovereignty a n d fo r­
eign trad e and, consequently, to th eir qualitatively different
reference to the seas as a m edium o f exchange a n d in teraction.
170 T hese in stitu tio n al stru ctu res w ere o f course far m o re developed by
M in g /Q in g (e.g. Huiguan <gtlf-hke m e rc h a n t associations) th a n by
S o n g /Y u an tim es b u t they d id exist in earlier tim es, to o , e.g. in the
fo rm o f th e “ co m m en d as” d u rin g the Song or th e “ ortuy” m erch an ts’
p a rtn e rsh ip s d u rin g the Y uan.
A. S chottenham m er
Since an tiq u ity , the C h in a Seas have grow n m o re an d m ore
to g eth er a n d have been connected via sea ro u tes to regions as
fa r aw ay as In d ia, the Persian G u lf an d the Islam ic a n d O rien­
tal w orlds. A n d this developm ent originated in Asia. H ow ever,
th a t they w ere globally (in the literal sense) integrated, w as
achieved by the P ortuguese a n d the S paniards. B ut in Asia
the E u ro p ean s entered into trad in g netw orks th a t already ex ­
isted a n d they o v erto o k roles th a t h a d previously been played
by others fo r centuries. W ith th eir advent, how ever, these n e t­
w orks g radually cam e to change th eir quality. T he m ore or less
direct co nnection betw een m ilitary a n d com m ercial seafaring
th a t w as typical fo r E u ro p e b u t has never been a typical c h a r­
acteristic o f seafaring in the C hina Seas before can from then
o n also be observed in the C hina Seas.