348 Boundaries and Beyond
these trading ports had inherited and brought skillfully into play their
long tradition of seafaring activities. They became embarkation points
and windows on the maritime world for the Min-Yue merchants and
emigrants.
A few words are necessary to deβine “port city” as a conceptual term
used in this discussion. A seaport means more than a harbor in which
ships lie at anchor; it also comprises the surrounding land space in which
a trading community resides in order to conduct their transactions. A
port also functions as a node of business networks connecting it to the
interior and other seaports along trade routes.
Main Aspects
Adopting a macro-approach to the junk-shipping enterprise during the
period in question, this chapter covers a cluster of four research blocks
as follows:
(a) the socioeconomic factors that led to the development of seafaring
enterprises;
(b) the formation of commercial and information networks that
contributed to the expansion of coastal trade and inter-port shipping
on the China coast;
(c) the golden age of the Min-Yue overseas junk trade in the Nanyang;
and
(d) the participatory roles of the Min-Yue merchants in the port cities at
home and abroad.
Investigating these broad areas of kaleidoscopic development that led to
the expansion of maritime trade provides the tools from which to build
a coherent picture of the shipping and inter-port trade in which the Min-
Yue people played a key role.
Sources of Information
Scattered but crucial information about the Chinese junk trade is buried
in the huge Chinese and western archives waiting to be unearthed in
the future. Also valuable are the contemporary accounts and reports in
various western languages. Owing to the nature of the sources, anyone
attempting to work on the topic will face the often insuperable obstacle
of having to acquire knowledge of multiple languages. For information
on the socioeconomic and historical background, researchers will
βind the Chinese archival and printed primary sources most useful.
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