92 Boundaries and Beyond
In Luzon, skilled labor was in great demand, and the place attracted many
Chinese migrants who could easily earn a living there with the skills they
had acquired at home. As for the “Red-haired barbarians” (Hongmao Fan
or the Dutch), they were known as the Jiaoliuba (Ka-la-pa) barbarians.
They contested with the Folangji (the Spanish) for commercial proβit but
without success. In China, they had been decisively defeated by the Fujian
authorities, but they did not harbor any resentment and still persisted in
their efforts to open up trade with China. Now they had based themselves
in Taiwan. Since trade with them was ofβicially prohibited, “evil people”
(jianmin) monopolized the proβit and the government lost a revenue of
more than 20 thousand taels. Moreover, both military and civil ofβicers
stationed along the coast likened the situation to “a rare commodity”
in their hands. What should be banned were weapons, sulfur, saltpeter
and the like but not other trade goods. The Fujianese people should be
allowed to trade their produce, and the silk and porcelain merchants
from Zhejiang and Jiangxi would follow in great numbers. Such a measure
would recover the amount of revenue obtained during the early Wanli
reign. Some even estimated a much higher amount of 50 or 60 thousand.
Once revenues were restored, military expenditures at present allocated
to Fujian could be sent to the treasury for frontier defense in the north.
The poor could earn their livelihood and not have to turn to banditry. The
ofβicers along the coast would be prevented from engaging in smuggling
and corrupt practices that often caused disturbances.^137
The sea prohibition imposed during the decade 1717‒27 was the last
of its sort. It βinally led the Fujian governor-general, Gao Qizhuo, clearly
under the inβluence of Lan Dingyuan who had penned an essay raising
identical points, to lodge an appeal to the court. In the memorial, the
governor-general said,
The arable land in Fu, Xing, Zhang, Quan and Ding (prefectures) of
Fukien province is limited, but the population is large. Since the
paciβication of Taiwan, the population has increased daily. What is
produced locally is no longer sufβicient to feed the people. The only
way to resolve the problem is to open the ocean (kaiyang) so that
surpluses from trade can supplement the insufβiciency in farming,
and both the rich and the poor will beneβit from it.... The beneβit
will be even greater by instructing seagoing junks to carry certain
amounts of rice on their return journey to Fujian.^138- Fu Yuanchu 傅元初, “Qing kai yangjin shu” 請開洋禁疏, in TXJGLBS, 26: 33a–34a.
- QSL: SZ, 54: 18.
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