Trade, the Sea Prohibition and the “Folangji” 103
the themes of collusion, politics and violence, the chapter will illustrate the
multi-faceted implications of the maritime enterprise and development
during the period in question.
Connections and the Abortive Diplomacy
When Diego Lopes de Sequeira sailed from Lisbon in 1508 to “discover”
Malacca, he was given a lengthy set of instructions by King Manuel of
Portugal, one of which was to enquire about the Chinese (Chijns). The
king was interested in such matters as the frequency of their arrivals
in Malacca, the types of merchandise that they brought, the βinancial
position of their merchants, the construction features of their ships and
other information about their country.^6 In the early sixteenth century,
eight to ten Chinese junks came to trade in Malacca each year,^7 and when
Sequeira reached Malacca in 1509, he found three or four Chinese junks
lying in the port “with whom the Portuguese seem at once to have got on
friendly terms”.^8 The Chinese proved equally friendly when Commander
Afonso de Albuquerque anchored off Malacca in 1511 because the latter
spared their vessels when he ordered the burning of the ships of the
Gujeratis in the harbor.^9
After the Portuguese had established themselves in Malacca in
1511, they began to collect information about China, cultivated cordial
relationships with the Chinese seafarers in Malacca and built up
connections along the China coast through these junk traders. The Chinese
junk masters “were of great help in conveying Albuquerque’s envoys to
and from Siam”. They also carried back to China a very favorable report
on the character and prowess of the Portuguese.^10
Tomé Pires, who was to become Portugal’s βirst ambassador to China,
arrived in Malacca in mid-1512. Although he was busy with his ofβicial
duties in connection with commerce and revenue during the two years
- J.M. Braga, The Western Pioneers and their Discovery of Macao (Macao: Imprensa
Nacional, 1949), p. 60. - Stephen Chang Tseng-hsin 张增信, Mingji dongnan zhongguo de haishang
huodong 明代东南中国的海上活动 [Maritime activities on the southeast coast
of China in the late Ming Dynasty] (Taipei: China Committee for Publication Aid
and Prize Awards, 1988), p. 198. - Donald Ferguson, “Letters from Portuguese Captives in Canton, Written in 1534
and 1536”, The Indian Antiquary, a Journal of Oriental Research 30 (1901): 422. - Z. Volpicelli, “Early Portuguese Commerce and Settlements in China”, Journal of
China Branch Royal Asiatic Society 27 (1892‒93): 37‒8; also Ferguson, “Letters”,
p. 422. - Ferguson, “Letters”, p. 422.