96 Boundaries and Beyond
grasp of the reliable information and the bold and unconventional
remarks he made are truly surprising.
Xu Guangqi was not the only keen observer. After the appearance of
the Dutch on the China coast at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
they once again raised Chinese awareness of the power of βirearms. The
Dutch βirst requested the opening of trade in 1604. An observer named
Chen Xueyi, writing in that year, gives a description of the visitors as
follows:
I heard the Red-haired barbarians were formerly under the rule of
Folangji (here it meant Spain). Their country is known as Holland.
When it gained strength and wealth, it became independent....
Th ey are keen on buying our silk from Huzhou for proβit. They
trade to Pattani by sea.He also described the Dutch ships as huge. The sides of the ships were
thick and shoed with tin plates inside:
There are more than thirty big guns on each side. Each cannon
is installed with four or βive balls of iron, each weighing thirty to
forty catties. If a boat is hit by this cannon ball, it will be crushed
to pieces.^142Another observer in 1622 was impressed by the speed of the Dutch
sailing ships. He also describes the Dutch ship as larger than a Chinese
junk of the Fujian model. Huge iron spikes were βixed to the exterior of
the ship, each weighed more than a catty and had a length of two chi (1
chi = 0.3581 meters). This rendered the Chinese technique of crushing
opponent’s vessels by their own junks of larger size ineffective. There
were three tiers of guns on each side, totaling 40 to 50 in all. The cannon
balls could be βired to a distance of ten li: “When our vessels meet with
them, we shall either be sunk or crushed to pieces. Their cannon are cast
from bronze ... and will not rust.... When they land, each soldier carries a
fowling-piece.... They therefore are invincible.”^143 No wonder Chen Xueyi
remarked:
[Dutch] mechanical skills are incomparable among the
barbarians.... Had they not been persuaded by General Shen to
leave and had they been allowed to trade, they would have become
a source of trouble and caused a clash. Had that happened, the sea- For the two quotes, see Shen Yourong, Minhai zengyan, TWWXCK, no. 56,
pp. 34–5. - Dong Yingju, CXJXL, in TWWXCK, no. 237, p. 142.
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