Trade, the Sea Prohibition and the “Folangji” 115
them. Local smugglers, merchants, even petty ofβicials provided the
Portuguese with information about trade conditions and movements
of government patrols. Expatriate mariners and local βishermen acted
as pilots for the Portuguese ships and junks. Moreover, as Chang T’ien-
tse remarks, this smuggling trade along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang
could never have achieved such proportions had it not been actively
encouraged and backed by the scholar-gentry.^73
Elaborating on the smuggling networks, Chang Pin-tsun highlights two
groups of people: the onshore group and the seagoing group. The former
included “members of the local elite, such as retired bureaucrats, ofβicial
brokers, rich families and even the incumbent ofβicials”. They played the
role of “harboring hosts”, providing storage for contraband and managing
the distribution of smuggled goods. The latter group varied. They could
be “relatives of powerful local families, small traders, miserable vagrants
or even criminals. They formed armed units, risking their lives at sea
and transporting the contraband under the severe penalty of Ming law.”
These people were most likely to turn to piracy when they were pursued
by the authorities or under other desperate circumstances.^74
Important families along the China coast were also instrumental in
the rise of illegal trade because of “their ability to provide capital and
manpower” and “protect illicit seafaring undertakings from government’s
interference”.^75 The sea prohibition law was never effectively enforced
against “the rich and the powerful” of local society. When their ships were
seized by the coastguards for illicit trade, they simply went to the local
authorities and stated that the sailors were their servants who had been
sent to ship back grain and cloth from other provinces. The ofβicials then
released the men and the cargoes without a moment’s hesitation. There
were also cases when the coastguards were subject to false accusations
by powerful people in retaliation for placing their followers under arrest,
and many law-enforcing ofβicials died in jail under such circumstances.
With this fate hanging over their heads, they were afraid of offending the
powerful families.^76
Assisted by their collaborators operating within the smuggling
networks, the Portuguese wintered at various sheltered but obscure
islands and anchorages along the Fujian and Zhejiang coasts. Depending
- Chang T’ien-tse, Sino-Portuguese Trade, p. 70.
- Chang Pin-tsun, “Chinese Maritime Trade”, pp. 50‒1.
- Ibid., p. 227.
- Ng Chin-keong, “Gentry-Merchants and Peasant-Peddlers—The Response of
the South Fukienese to the Offshore Trading Opportunities 1522‒1566”, Nan-
yang daxue xsuebao 南洋大學學報 (The Nanyang University Journal) 7 (1973):
167.