China And The Asian Seas

China's seaborne trade in the early modern period consisted of three sectors: government trade, tribute trade, and private trade. The first two were particularly active in the early 15th century, whereas private sea trade, both legal and illegal, was more dominant in later periods. The articles in the first part of this book mainly feature the early 15th century. They discuss structural issues and also deal with Cheng Ho's voyages into the Indian Ocean and the later accounts of this. The next part surveys the period dominated by private trade, with comparisons between the Chinese and the Portuguese trading systems. Part 3 discusses views of the 'Other', in this case Chinese views of maritime Asia. This involves detailed investigations of ethnographic accounts and shows that much work hitherto taken at face value by historians, should be reinvestigated in the light of sino-centric ideas and traditional Chinese rhetoric.

China’s rise has upset the global balance of power, and the first place to feel the strain is Beijing’s back yard: the South China Sea. For decades tensions have smoldered in the region, but today the threat of a direct confrontation among superpowers grows ever more likely. This important book is the first to make clear sense of the South Sea disputes. Bill Hayton, a journalist with extensive experience in the region, examines the high stakes involved for rival nations that include Vietnam, India, Taiwan, the Philippines, and China, as well as the United States, Russia, and others. Hayton also lays out the daunting obstacles that stand in the way of peaceful resolution. Through lively stories of individuals who have shaped current conflicts—businessmen, scientists, shippers, archaeologists, soldiers, diplomats, and more—Hayton makes understandable the complex history and contemporary reality of the South China Sea. He underscores its crucial importance as the passageway for half the world’s merchant shipping and one-third of its oil and gas. Whoever controls these waters controls the access between Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Pacific. The author critiques various claims and positions (that China has historic claim to the Sea, for example), overturns conventional wisdoms (such as America’s overblown fears of China’s nationalism and military resurgence), and outlines what the future may hold for this clamorous region of international rivalry.

Using the concept of boundaries, physical and cultural, to understand the development of China’s maritime southeast in late Imperial times, and its interactions across maritime East Asia and the broader Asian Seas, these linked essays by a senior scholar in the field challenge the usual readings of Chinese history from the centre. After an opening essay which positions China’s southeastern coast within a broader view of maritime Asia, the first section of the book looks at boundaries, between “us” and “them”, Chinese and other, during this period. The second section looks at the challenges to such rigid demarcations posed by the state and existed in the status quo. The third section discusses movements of people, goods and ideas across national borders and cultural boundaries, seeing tradition and innovation as two contesting forces in a constant state of interaction, compromise and reconciliation. This approach underpins a fresh understanding of China’s boundaries and the distinctions that separate China from the rest of the world. In developing this theme, Ng Chin-keong draws on many years of writing and research in Chinese and European archives. Of interest to students of migration, of Chinese history, and of the long term perspective on relations between China and its region, Ng’s analysis provides a crucial background to the historical shared experience of the people in Asian maritime zones. The result is a novel way of approaching Chinese history, argued from the perspective of a fresh understanding of China’s relations with neighbouring territories and the populations residing there, and of the nature of tradition and its persistence in the face of changing circumstances.

The present collection of essays has originally been prepared for an international conference entitled "Maritime Space in Traditional Chinese Sources" which has been convened by the editors at Munich University in February 2005. The contributions included here introduce various aspects related to East Asian seas - from the Japanese Sea to the South China Sea, with the Yellow and East China Seas constituting the core regions of the entire area - and some of its "adjacent" areas. Although Braudelian categories are inherently present in the discussion and directly addressed in one or two papers, the focus lies on a set of more "basic" variables, which are intimately linked to the idea of contact zones, or alternatively, the parallel (and apparently older) notion that the sea should be seen as a protective belt around the mainland. This volume is consequently primarily concerned with the perception of maritime space in traditional Chinese sources, the division of this space into oceans and seas, the existence, usage and management of trade routes, and, above all, of China's coastal waters, or maritime periphery. For this purpose, in addition to textual sources, maps will be examined as well. As the perception, division and management of maritime space cannot be completely disassociated from other themes - such as trade and travel, diplomacy and military controls, or even daily life during a sea voyage - these aspects were also touched upon in the discussion. But they are of secondary importance and subordinated to the general issue of "geography". With this in mind, following an introductory essay by Angela Schottenhammer, the contributions are divided into three sections: (1) Maritime Space: Trade and Defence; (2) Maritime Space: Coasts, Routes, Oceans; (3) Maritime Space and Maps. The articles by Chang Pin-tsun, Jane Kate Leonard and Jung Byung-chul fall into the first category. Those by Chen Bo / Liu Yingsheng, Sally K. Church, Christine Moll-Murata, Li Tana and Mathieu Torck belong to the second group, while the last section is comprised by the papers of Li Xiaocong, Claudine Salmon and Roderich Ptak.There are many "cross connections" between these essays. Geographically, some of them pertain to the northern spheres, especially the Liaodong-Korea region, others look at the South China Sea, or even at areas far beyond these two. Some are case studies, others deal with general dimensions. The military element, usually in the form of coastal defence, is not only present in the first section, but also in the "cartographic" segment, and in one or two contributions which appear in part two. Furthermore, readers will find that the idea of contact zones, associated with a good degree of open-mindedness towards the "outer world", is present in some texts, just as they will discover that in other cases, the sea still appears as a kind of barrier.

Generations of Chinese scholars have made China synonymous with the Great Wall and presented its civilization as fundamentally land-bound. This volume challenges this perspective, demonstrating that China was not a “Walled Kingdom”, certainly not since the Yongjia Disturbance in 311. China reached out to the maritime world far more actively than historians have acknowledged, while the seas and what came from the seas—from Islam, fragrances and Jesuits to maize, opium and clocks—significantly changed the course of history, and have been of inestimable importance to China since the Ming. This book integrates the maritime history of China, especially the Qing period, a subject which has hitherto languished on the periphery of scholarly analysis, into the mainstream of current historical narrative. It was the seas that made Tang China a “Cosmopolitan Empire” (Mark Lewis), the Song dynasty China’s “Greatest Age” (John Fairbank), China at 1600 “the largest and most sophisticated of all unified realms on earth” (Jonathan Spence), and the reign of the three Qing emperors (Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong) China’s “last golden age” (Charles Hucker).

This book offers an assessment of China’s assertive foreign policy behavior with a special focus on Chinese policies in the South China Sea (SCS). By providing a detailed account of the events in the SCS and by analyzing power dynamics in the region, it identifies the driving forces behind China’s assertive foreign policy. Considering China’s power on a domestic as well as an international level, it examines a number of different sources of hard and soft power, including military, economics, geopolitics, and domestic legitimacy. The author demonstrates that Chinese assertiveness in the SCS can be explained not only by increases in China’s power, but also by effective reactions to other actors’ foreign policy changes. The book will appeal to scholars in international relations, especially those interested in a better understanding of South China Sea developments, China’s political power and foreign policy, and East Asian international affairs.

Using the concept of boundaries, physical and cultural, to understand the development of China's maritime southeast in late Imperial times, these linked essays by a senior scholar challenge the usual readings of Chinese history from the centre. The book begins with the boundaries between "us" and "them", Chinese and other, during this period, including the rise of state systems. It looks at the challenges to such demarcations posed by movements of people, goods and ideas across maritime East Asia and the broader Asian Seas, and builds a fresh understanding of China's boundaries. Of interest to students of migration, of Chinese history, and of relations between China and its region, Ng's analysis provides crucial background to understanding China within Asia's maritime world. The result is a novel way of approaching Chinese history, argued from a fresh perspective on China's relations with neighbouring territories, and of the nature of tradition and its persistence in a changing world.

Lo Jung-pang argues that during each of the three periods when imperial China embarked on maritime enterprises (the Qin and Han dynasties, the Sui and early Tang dynasties, and Song, Yuan, and early Ming dynasties), coastal states took the initiative at a time when China was divided, maritime trade and exploration subsequently peaked when China was strong and unified, and declined as Chinese power weakened. At such times, China's people became absorbed by internal affairs, and state policy focused on threats from the north and the west. These cycles of maritime activity, each lasting roughly five hundred years, corresponded with cycles of cohesion and division, strength and weakness, prosperity and impoverishment, expansion and contraction. In the early 21st century, a strong and outward looking China is again building up its navy and seeking maritime dominance, with important implications for trade, diplomacy and naval affairs. Events will not necessarily follow the same course as in the past, but Lo Jung-pang's analysis suggests useful questions for the study of events as they unfold and decades to come.