Expanding Possibilities 353
seafaring activities in more general terms as “Chinese” affairs, rather
than a contribution by the key group, namely the Min-Yue seafarers, his
writings have opened up an exciting βield of research in a very illuminating
way. The two works have not only provided a clear framework that
enables later researchers to follow in his footsteps, but they also present
a long view of the Chinese seafaring enterprise. They have inspired
researchers of later generations to review the topic, re-read the source
materials that the author had consulted and unearth more archival and
contemporary materials to enhance an understanding of the events.
It would be an injustice not to mention a most proliβic writer in the
βield, Akira Matsuura, who has been publishing on Chinese shipping
since the 1960s. His solid scholarship is revealed in his meticulous
research and powerful observations. He has unearthed scattered
information from the huge quantities of often obscure Chinese sources.^16
I also wish to salute Paul A. Van Dyke for his great work on the Canton
trade in the eighteenth to the βirst half of the nineteenth centuries. He
might be the only person who has made the painstaking effort to consult
the major relevant western archives, including the Dutch, Danish, and
Swedish archives in continental Europe, that have seldom been consulted
for similar research. Through what he has unearthed from the archives,
readers are able to gain rare insights into the “hidden world” of those
commercial operations. Extremely useful to the present discussion is the
zai dongnanya zhou 17 ‒ 19 世纪中叶中国帆船在东南亚洲 [The Chinese junks
in Southeast Asia from the 17th to the 19th centuries] (Shanghai renmin
chubanshe, 1957), with only slight editing. The same year he published, “Zailun
shiqi zhi shijiu shiji zhongye zhongguo fanchuan de fazhan” 再论十七至十九世
紀中叶中国帆船业的发展 [A re-examination of the development of the Chinese
junk trade from the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries], Lishi yanjiu
历史研究 [Historical research], 12 (1957): 1‒11. Later the two works were
included in Zhongguo fanchuan maoyi yu duiwai guanxi shi lunji 中国帆船贸
易与对外关系史论集 [A Collection of Essays on the Chinese Junk Trade and
Foreign Relations] (Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin chubanshe,1987).- Cited in this essay are Akira Matsuura 松浦章, Shindai hansen engan kōunshi
no kenkyū 清代帆船沿海航運史の研究 [A study of coastal junk shipping
during the Qing period] (Suita, Osaka: Kansai University Press, 2010); Qingdai
neihe shuiyun shi yanjiu 清代內河水运史研究 (Studies on river shipping during
the Qing), trans. Dong Ke 董科 (Nanjing: Jiangsu renmin chubanshe, 2010);
Qingdai fanchuan dongya hangyun yu zhongguo haishang haidao yanjiu 清
代帆船东亚航运与中国海商海盜研究 [Studies on junk shipping, maritime
merchants and pirates in East Asia during the Qing period] (Shanghai cishu
chubanshe, 2009); and Dongya haiyu yu Taiwan de haidao 東亞海域與臺灣的
海盜 [The East Asian waters and Taiwan piracy], trans. Bian Fengkui 卞鳳奎
(Taipei: Boyang wenhua, 2008).