Seafaring, Trade, and Knowledge Transfer: Maritime Politics and Commerce in Early Middle Period to Early Modern China

The ascendency of China as a maritime power was very obvious by the thirteenth century when large battle ships, sent by the Mongol rulers of the Chinese Yuan court (1271–1368), started military offensives against Japan (in 1274 and 1280) and the kingdoms of Champa (in 1281) and Java (in 1292–93). But, although Chinese authorities did not officially sponsor maritime trade before the late Tang dynasty (618–906), maritime relations have been very active since the fourth century at the latest. Although much research has been undertaken in the field of China’s maritime history in recent years, studies generally concentrate on specific time periods (dynasties), regions (such as Fujian or Guangdong), bilateral relations, and on either written or archaeological sources. Yet no serious attempt has been undertaken to focus on periods of major changes between dynasties (transitions), on the inter-action between private agents (e.g. merchants) and government/state interests as well as between Chinese and foreign actors, and to compare the developments in south- and northeast China on a longue-durée perspective, in addition using both archaeological and textual sources (including maps). Also the question of how Chinese and foreigners conducted their exchanges on a practical level and got along with each other has received little attention so far. Comparative chronological and spatial as well as an integrative (China’s integration into foreign networks and interaction of Chinese and foreign agents) analysis of both textual and archaeological sources, investigating the practice of local trade and knowledge (science) transfer, the specific inter-relation between seafaring and socio-economic and political-military purposes of Chinese governments and their integration into supra-regional foreign networks during periods of significant changes (transitions). Investigation of the qualitative characteristics and changes of China’s maritime commerce and politics over time (c. 9th to 18th centuries) and space (South and Northeast China and its supra-regional, “global” integration), in order to obtain a much more detailed picture of China’s maritime politics and commerce on a longue-druée perspective.