90 Boundaries and Beyond
He made no bones about linking the maritime disturbances to this
fundamental economic factor. He said that, although his government
permitted tribute not trade, the tribute missions certainly brought along
commodities and engaged in trade. The prohibition of overseas ventures
was to restrain China’s own people and could have dire consequences.
While the sea prohibition was strictly observed in the 1520s, merchants
lost their income and resorted to piracy. The more strictly the law was
enforced, the more serious did the piracy become. The majority of the
participants in the 1552 turmoil were such ruined maritime merchants
but people from other professions also joined in the 1553 incident. In
1554, both the dispossessed people and formerly law-abiding households
became involved and, in 1555, foreign elements were again present.^134
The voices opposing restrictions on maritime trade lingered on. In
the early seventeenth century, Governor Xu Fuyuan of Fujian appealed
to the court for the lifting of the newly-imposed prohibition. He said that
for more than two decades since the lifting of the former prohibition,
revenue from the maritime customs had amounted to more than 20
thousand taels. This sum made an enormous contribution to military
expenditure for the coastal defense of Zhangzhou that stood at around
58,000 taels. Were this to disappear, more levies would have to be
imposed. At that time the people enjoyed a state of peace. However,
recently, in the wake of the Japanese invasion of Korea, the sea prohibition
had been reinstated. It had affected more than a hundred vessels licensed
to trade overseas. Commodities worth millions of taels lay in warehouses,
merchants went bankrupt and workers lost their livelihood. Certainly it
was wise to be wary of the consequences of giving merchants a vested
interest in trade and of allowing people to travel to and from China and
the foreign lands as such freedom might make them difβicult to control in
the future. Nevertheless, if properly managed, there should be no reason
to worry about the barbarians, not to mention China’s own people.^135
The high-ranking ofβicial Xu Guangqi (1562‒1633), who was known
for his close relations and collaboration with the Jesuits in introducing
Western science to Ming China, was aware of the connection between
trade and the Wo problem alo ng the coast since the early sixteenth
century. He argued, “Japan relies on our country for the supply of
merchandise. It is impossible to call at halt to it.” As Japan developed,
it required more supplies. The restrictions imposed on the coming of
- Ibid., pp. 48–9.
- Xu Fuyuan 許孚遠 (1535–1604), “Shutong haijin shu” 疏通海禁疏 [On lifting
the Sea Prohibition], in TWWXCK, no. 289, pp. 176–80; see also MJSWB, 400:
1a–6b.
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