Chaffee, J. W. (2018). The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750–1400: Vol. 17. New Approaches to Asian History. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/978051199849
In this chapter, Lincoln Paine (2013) describes the further rise of maritime trade in Quanzhou during the Yuan Dynasty and its decline during the Ming Dynasty. After helping the southern Song government defeat the northern Jin government, the Mongols attacked the Songs, but their horses were no match for Song warships. Once the Mongolian leader, Kublai Khan, adapted his forces for naval combat, he defeated the Songs and founded the Yuan Dynasty. As leader, Kublai Khan had bold maritime ambitions so he increased the naval army and developed maritime trade in the region. For his naval army, he demanded 2000 ships to be built, which decreased the amount of timber in China. To increase trade, he aimed to conquer Korea, Japan, and Java, but only was successful in conquering Korea. His defeat in Java lost him 20,000 Chinese sailors, who remained in Southeast Asia as prisoners of war. For trade, he improved navigation, dredged channels, built more warehouses, docks, and anchorages; erected lighthouses, and developed safer sea routes. His government lent ships to foreign merchants and split the profits 70:30. The government, of course, getting the higher share. From this rapid expansion of trade, navigational practices, including the early form of the compass and seaway charts, emerged.
In 1330s, the Yuan dynasty faced famine, plague, and repeated flooding, and therefore, was replaced by the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty’s leaders were native Chinese and sought a Sino-centric path. Under Taizu Ming, China prioritized border defense and protection against pirates over maritime trade. As Neo-Confucian believers, he and the Ming Dynasty did not prioritize technological advances in shipbuilding or sea navigation, financial institutions, or the legal protection of private property. Instead of open foreign trade, they focused on increasing Chinese prestige overseas. To encourage tributes to the emperor and eliminate trade competition with expatriate Chinese, the emperor sent Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch, and a fleet of hundred ships around the Indian Ocean. Zheng He went on many voyages. Although China was excited about Zhang He’s victory over pirates during his first voyage, they grew bored by his last voyage because China was too busy dealing with domestic issues, such as river floods, epidemics, currency depreciation, and preoccupied armies. In the 1430s, the Ming government prohibited Chinese ships and sailors from overseas travel, stopped building ships for overseas voyages, and abandoned coastal defense. Due to the decrease of oversea trade, many Chinese traders from Quanzhou abandoned China and moved permanently to Southeast Asia.
Before the Yuan Dynasty, Quanzhou was a multicultural city with foreign communities. According to written documents by visitors, the foreigners were split between the fair-skinned (Arabs and Persians) foreigners and the dark-skinned (Southeast Asian and Indian) foreigners. Second, Lincoln Paine points out that in 1292 Kublai Khan sent a Yuan princess (with 14 ships and Marco Polo) to Persia to wed a Persian prince, not by land – the typical Mongolian way- but by sea. Marco Polo reported this in his book, The Travels. Although China grew bored of oversea trade, the Zhang He’s voyages encouraged local rulers to start minting their own coins and adopt a coin/cash economy.
This chapter claims that Quanzhou’s multiculturalism supported its growth as well as its decline. Since the leaders of Yuan Dynasty were Mongols, their dynasty encouraged religious tolerance, overseas trade, and naval expansion. Because they had previous work experience with Arab-Persians, the Mongolian rulers favored foreign merchants over the Han Chinese, and gave them political, military, and economic power to rule over Quanzhou. After the Ming Dynasty retook China from Mongolians, they wanted China to go back to its “Chinese” ways, or in their case, Neo-Confucian ideals. They pretty much wanted to “Make China Great Again”. As a counterattack against the open trade policy of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty stopped overseas trade, alienated maritime merchants, and ignored their naval defense. Due to these trade restrictions, Quanzhou stopped being a major port city and many of its residents either moved to Southeast Asia to trade or moved to the mountains to farm. This chapter really paints a picture on how government policies can impact positively and negatively on international trade and cultural diversity in a region.
Paine, L. (2013). The golden age of maritime trade. In The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World (pp. 346-375). Random House.
Valerie Hansen (2020) describes the globalization and its effect on China. Under the Tang dynasty, eunuchs inspected foreign merchant ships’ cargo, selected what they wanted to buy for the royal courts, and then allowed the merchants to sell whatever was leftover. From the early Song to 1030, the emperor invited and continued the tribute system with trading partners. Later, the system halted and shifted to taxing foreign goods. Superintendents, who oversaw trade, taxed foreign merchant ships three times. The first tax was a 10-20% tax on the total cargo value of the ship. The second tax was a lowering of prices on luxury goods that only the Song government could buy. The third tax was on bulk goods, which could be sold directly to Chinese consumers. One port, Quanzhou, did not have a superintendent, but it still prospered through smuggling. Later, once a superintendent was assigned, this city surpassed Guangzhou in prosperity. This prosperity changed the lives of Fujian residents. Many stopped farming subsistence items in favor of cash crops such as lychee, sugarcane, and hemp. Most farmers bought food from the markets, or quit farming to work in the mines, to fish, or to harvest ocean salt. 5-10% of Fujian population of 5 million were involved in manufacturing of ceramics.
The biggest and most fashionable import from overseas was aromatics or scented woods. Regardless of their socioeconomic class, everyone in China purchased or used aromatics in the daily lives. They used them to fragrant their houses, clothing, and their bodies. They were used in drinks, snacks, and foods. They were included in their medicines. The wealthy consumed large qualities of them and used them to display their wealth. Emperors created their own brand of incense. Chinese merchants experimented with multiple scents to improve the taste of snacks, which were bought even by the poorest of customers. A rebellion in Central China was caused because the locals did not like how the government made them buy aromatics in large quantities.
There were a lot of interesting trivia included in this chapter about maritime trade and the impact of China’s participation. One trivia point is that Chinese coins were circulated and used as currency in Japan and Java during this time period. Also, under the Yuan Dynasty, Chinese learned more about the geography of Southeast Asia as well as new navigational technology. However, they all thought the world ended beyond the Philippines and that any ship there will just drain out. Therefore, Chinese navigators did not explore the area beyond the Philippines.
This chapter’s main focus was the impact of aromatics had on the lives of Chinese under the Song and Yuan dynasties. Aromatics, like scented woods, were not a Chinese local item. They came from trade with Southeast Asia and Indian. Chinese people used them as perfumes, as flavors for their snacks, and as medicines. They were a product everyone used. In exchange for aromatics, they traded ceramics, silk, metals, cash crops, and other materials. Since oversea countries wanted those products, Fujian province focused their economy on those items. About everyone in Fujian was involved in the growing, mining, and manufacturing of exports. Globalization affected the Quanzhou and its province of Fujian.
Hansen, V. (2020). The most globalized place on Earth. In The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World. Scribner.
This article explains how the artifacts, buildings, and sunken ships discovered at Quanzhou demonstrates the impact that foreign residents had on Quanzhou’s culture and economy. First, Richard Pearson (2002) explains how religiously diverse and tolerant Quanzhou was through its various religious buildings. Built during the Song and Yuan Dynasty, the Kaiyuansi Temple, the most prominent Buddhist temple in Quanzhou, provides evidence of an Indian origin with two Brahman-style pagodas and a pair of square columns filled with ancient Indian myth carvings. Hindu architectural and sculptural fragments with illustrations of Hindu mythology and motifs is found along the Tonghuai gate and demonstrates the likelihood that there was a Hindu temple and community. In 1956, a discovery of inscriptions confirmed a presence of a Tamil-speaking merchant community. A Manichean temple with its stone representation of Mani is the only Manichaen temple to survive after centuries of religious persecution and extinction. Although discovered artifacts proves that there were once six mosques in Quanzhou, only Ashab Mosque (Shengyousi) survives. At this mosque, there are two inscribed stone tablets that have both Arabic and Chinese inscriptions. Discovered tombstones mentions individuals from Turkestan, Persia, Yemen, and Armenia. Later, the Ming and later dynasties used these tombstones to rebuild defensive walls and gates. A few tombstones depicting Christian motifs are considered to be gravestones for Nestorian and Franciscan Christians.
The Houzhu ship is a sunken merchant ship that was found off the coast of Quanzhou Bay. Archaeologists claim that the ship was built locally and was privately own by the powerful merchant, Pu Shougeng, during the late Song and early Yuan dynasties. The ship’s cargo includes vast amounts of scented woods, spices, and medicinal products. They also mention that the cargo was owned by a collection of traders: the ship owner, the crew, the passengers, and the government, who had ordered these goods. Buddhist monks of Kaiyuansi Temple sponsored the building of the Luoyang Wan’an bridge, which stands on the Jin River that links Quanzhou to its ceramic factories. Kiln sites located near Quanzhou showed an increase of ceramic productions during the Yuan dynasty due to the introduction of saggers. Saggers increase the scale of production and efficiency while also increasing labor input.
The article mentions that the “Gravestone of Ahman”, an example of acculturation in Quanzhou, contains Persian, Arabic, and Chinese inscriptions. The inscriptions explain that the patriarch of the Ahman family was a foreign merchant who married a local Quanzhou girl. The Ahman family’s younger generations spoke Chinese and lived in Quanzhou for generations. The gravestone also demonstrates a mixture of Persian and Chinese customs.
This article explains the impact of Muslims, Hindus, and other foreign settlers had on the economy and culture of Quanzhou during the Song and Yuan dynasties. First, the settlers impacted the city’s culture because they had created their own stamp on the city by building religious centers and buying land for cemeteries. They also sponsored infrastructure projects. These settlers were also highly involved in maritime trade, which was the main focus of Quanzhou’s economy. This multiculturalism still influences Quanzhou today because the current local culture is a mix between these foreign settlers’ customs and the local Chinese traditions.
Pearson, R., Li, M., & Li, G. (2002). Quanzhou archaeology: A brief review. International Journal of Historical Archaelogy, 6(1), 23-59. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014881309593
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