Expanding Possibilities 347
In the maritime history of China, the Min-Yue region stands out from
that of other coastal areas. A glimpse at the rise of seaports in domestic
and international trade on the China coast cogently illustrates this
point. Since the Qin-Han periods (221 ćĈ‒Ćĉ 220) Canton had been a
prominent port city. Quanzhou (also known to foreigners as Zaytun) in
southern Fujian was another seaport that established its reputation in
the maritime world between the ninth and the βifteenth centuries. During
this period, Quanzhou attracted the attention of foreigners, especially
Muslims from the Middle East, and its reputation as a bustling seaport
practically eclipsed that of Canton. When the Moroccan traveler Ibn
Battuta arrived in China by sea around 1347, Quanzhou was the βirst city
he visited. He was greatly impressed by its grandeur and remarked that,
“Zaytun is an immense city.... The port of Zaytun is one of the largest in
the world, or perhaps the very largest. I saw in it about a hundred large
junks; as for small junks, they could not be counted for multitude.”^2
The mid-βifteenth century, during the Ming dynasty (1368‒1644),
saw the emergence of Yuegang in southern Fujian as a rendezvous for
seafarers. Contemporary observers compared its βlourishing trade and
economic prosperity to the two wealthy cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou in
the Lower Yangzi region. Owing to its increasing importance and to rein in
the notorious smuggling activities in its vicinity more effectively, in 1567
the Ming Court decided to elevate what was then a non-administrative
town to the status of Haicheng district. As the maritime trade with Manila,
founded by the Spanish in 1571, increased tremendously, hundreds of
trading junks embarked from Haicheng to trade with this new colonial
settlement.
By the beginning of the seventeenth century, a new phase in maritime
expansion was dawning with the rise of Amoy in southern Fujian and
Changlim in eastern Guangdong. As a consequence, the seaborne trade
carried by the Min-Yue people began to gain momentum and soared to
new heights. The rapid growth ushered in a golden age of inter-port
trade on the China coast and in the Nanyang in terms of trade volume, the
value of cargoes, mass participation and the geographical extent of their
activities from the eighteenth to the βirst half of the nineteenth centuries.
It was the entrepreneurial and resourceful merchants hailing from Amoy
and Changlim who created and dominated this maritime enterprise.
Canton, that had already been a major port for some two thousand years,
now became a crucial operations and transshipment base for the Min-
Yue people, especially those who engaged in foreign trade. Together,
- Ibn Battuta, Ibn Battuta Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325‒ 1354 , trans. H.A.R. Gibb
(London: Darf Publishers Ltd., 1983), pp. 287‒8.