146 Boundaries and Beyond
established a permanent land base in Macao with the tacit approval of
local ofβicials, but without the Court‘s knowledge.^210 No matter what
measures the Court took to strengthen the prohibitive laws, after the
events of 1548‒49 the concern with proβit and a more orderly trading
arrangement again led the Guangzhou authorities and the Portuguese
to work out a modus operandi. Local maneuverability allowed such a
compromise, as had normally been the case in the past.
In sum, the upsurge in private trade cannot be explained adequately
by the dynastic decline theory and the loss of control by the state.
Despite all its problems, as it entered into the seemingly chaotic
sixteenth century the Ming state and its institutions remained vital.
Whenever circumstance warranted βirm action, a βleet of a hundred
junks could be mustered, as happened in Guangzhou in 1523 to prevent
the return of the Portuguese,^211 and successful campaigns could be
launched against smugglers-cum-pirates, as in 1548‒49. C.R. Boxer also
observes, “[j]udging from the accounts of Pereira and Cruz, one would
be justiβied in assuming that the Ming government was functioning
exceptionally well at this period, and that the empire as a whole was
rich and prosperous”.^212 On the other side of the coin, the cumbersome
institution and treacherous Court politics had not enabled the state to
gain a stranglehold on trade, which danced instead to the tune of the
irresistible social and economic forces.
As proβit drew together a heterogeneous assortment of people along
the coast, both collaboration and confrontation were to be expected. The
interests of these participants, and the complex trade forces, accelerated
the pace of commercial development in Chinese littoral society and
enabled trade networks to grow in sophistication. In the process
foreign elements made adjustments to become players in the indigenous
system, while for their part the Chinese became increasingly more
collaborative with strangers from afar.
- Boxer, South China, pp. xxxiii, xxxv.
- Higgins, “Piracy”, p. 63.
- Boxer, South China, p. xxx.
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