250 Boundaries and Beyond
During the time of the changing monsoons, transactions were
busiest among the offshore islands off the Fujian Coast. Commercial
activity reached its height in March, April and May when the Japanese
junks caught the last of the northeast monsoon winds to arrive in time
in the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Straits,^26 where the y could meet
the Portuguese and the native merchants from Pahang, Siam and other
Southeast Asian states^27 who, in most cases, left Guangzhou for Fujian
at the beginning of the southeast monsoon.^28 September to October was
the other trading season, though less busy.^29 Merchants from Southeast
Asia were actually entitled to trade in the shibo port of Guangzhou, the
only port kept open, with the exception of some short interruptions,
throughout Ming times. Despite this privilege, they found the smuggling
trade more lucrative and less restrictive.^30 The South Fujianese acted as
middlemen between the two parties off the Zhangzhou coast where the
myriad creeks and sheltered bays were too many for the sea patrol to
βind them.^31
Although breaches of the seafaring prohibition were subject to severe
punishment, it seems that the laws were never effectively enforced,
especially upon the local shihao (the rich and the powerful).^32 For
instance, when their ships were seized by the coastguards on suspicion
of illicit trade, they simply went to the local authorities and stated that
the sailors were their servants who had been sent to ship grain and cloth
back from other provinces. The ofβicials would then release the men and
the cargoes without hesitation. There were cases when the coastguards
were falsely charged by the shihao in retaliation, just because the former
had unintentionally placed the shihao’s followers under arrest. Many
law-enforcement ofβicials died in jail under such circumstances. The
upshot was that they were afraid of offending the rich and powerful.^33 It
- Chen Renxi 陳仁錫 (1581‒1636), Huangming shifa lu 皇明世法錄 [The
inimitable institutions of the Royal Ming] (Chongzhen [1628‒44] ed.), 75: 6b. - Zhu Wan 朱紈, “Haiyang zeichuan chumo shi” 海洋賊船出沒事 (On piracy), in
MJSWB, 205: 13b. - Chen Renxi, Huangming shifa lu, 75: 9a.
- In his work, Gu Yanwu mentions that the Japanese pirates were most active
in March‒April‒May season. The second active period was September and
October. See Gu Yanwu, TXJGLBS, Vol. 26, p. 3. - MSL: SZ, 38: 4b‒5a.
- Chen Renxi, Huangming shifa lu, 75: 1, 5a, and 9a; also MSL: SZ, 422: 2b‒3a.
- Ibid., 417: 6a‒7a, 422: 2b‒3a.
- A contemporary account is given by a Magistrate Chou Junqing 仇俊卿, who
was a Fujianese. Cited in Chouhai tubian, 4: 22‒3. See also Fujian tongzhi 福建
通志 [General Gazetteer of Fujian] (1871 ed.), 87: 1.
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