Maritime Frontiers, Territorial Expansion and Haifang 93
Lan Dingyuan was the most convincing and far-sighted of the writers
who appealed for the lifting of the 1717‒27 ban. He said,
The Nanyang barbarians are unlikely to harm China. It is proper
to lift the ban and let our people trade with them. This will serve
to remedy the shortages in the interior by beneβiting from the
overseas surpluses.He was critical of those high-ranking ofβicials who petitioned for the
ban, saying they lacked maritime experience and were ignorant of
local conditions. He elaborated his thesis by presenting an overview of
the maritime situation beginning with Korea in the north, a country he
praised for observing the rules of propriety. Japan was considered the
strongest power in the east. Farther south was Liuqiu. To the east of these
places there were no other barbarian countries. Barbarian countries
were most numerous in the Nanyang. Among them Luzon (the Spanish
Philippines) and Ka-la-pa (Dutch Batavia) were the strongest. There were
many others, including Borneo, Sulu, Malacca, Indragiri, Aceh, Johore,
Banjarmasin and Karimon, but these were very tiny and would not dare to
nurture any ulterior motives. Annam and Champa bordered Guangdong
and Guangxi. Adjacent to them were such countries as Cambodia, Ligor,
Chaiya and Pattani. Siam was located in the south-easternmost area. To
the west were the Red-haired barbarians and countries in the Western
Ocean such as England, Spain, Portugal, France and Holland. The island
barbarian countries in the south had never caused trouble along the
Chinese borders. All they did was exchange merchandise with China.
They were submissive and weak. They beneβited China and did no
harm. In Fujian and Guangdong, the population was dense and land was
scarce. Five or six out of every ten residents sought their livelihood at
sea. Products from the interior of China that had not been worth much
became valuable once they were shipped to these countries. Small items
of handicraft were also sold overseas. All of this earned China more than
a million silver dollars annually.^139
By this time, the Qing court had learned to value trade with the non-
threatening Nanyang states. The Qing emperors were highly appreciative
of Siamese exports of several hundred thousand dan (piculs) of low-
priced rice to China annually from the Kangxi reign onwards. These
shipments greatly relieved the endemic food shortages in Fujian and
Guangdong. As a gesture of appreciation, Chinese importers and Siamese
- Lan Dingyuan’s remarks cited in this paragraph can be found in Lan Dingyuan
藍鼎元, “Nanyang shiyi lun” 南洋事宜論 [Commenting on the Nanyang affairs],
in XFHZYDCC, 10: 502a–b.