Trade, the Sea Prohibition and the “Folangji” 127
the latter half of 1548 occurred in Wuyu (present-day Jinmen/Quemoy),
prompting the Portuguese to send a message to India via Malacca that
“the ports of China were all up in arms against the Portuguese”.^128 Despite
these hostile conditions, the Portuguese continued to try their luck
along the China coast. Although Portuguese adventurers avoided direct
contact with the Chinese βleet near the Guangdong-Fujian border, they
were unable to dispose of all the cargo before their return to Malacca.
Therefore, they left two junks with unsold goods at anchor off Zoumaxi in
Zhao’an district. Thirty Portuguese were left in charge of the ships to be
assisted by their Chinese collaborators.^129 These junks were captured by
the Chinese commander Lu Tang on March 18‒19, 1549.^130
Since the second clash described by Lin Xiyuan was a defeat worse
than the one experienced during “the previous year”, he cannot be
referring to the decisive Chinese success in March 1549. Therefore it can
be certain that the βirst clash occurred in 1547, as discussed earlier. The
second took place in 1548 around Wuyu, and has received little attention.
A Ming source written by He Qiaoyuan even confuses it with the third
clash in March 1549 saying that,
The Folangji arrived to trade in Yuegang in Zhangzhou. Fearing
the strict prohibition imposed by Zhu Wan, the Zhangzhou
people dared not communicate with them. The Portuguese were
even attacked. In response, they resorted to violence, but were
captured.... Ninety-six of the Chinese among the captives were
executed.^131In reality, the second clash occurred in the aftermath of the Shuangyu
victory, but before the 1549 triumph by Chinese forces in Zhoumaxi.
During late June and July 1548, as a Ming source records, “the bandits
invaded Shatou’ao and repeatedly attacked the outer island of Dadan
(in the vicinity of Wuyu). Because of the strong defense put up by [Vice-
Commissioner] Ke Qiao, the bandits withdrew.”^132 However, despite
another claim to victory in the Ming records, the government troops
in fact suffered a second defeat on the southern Fujian coast in two
subsequent years, as Lin Xiyuan has mentioned. Another author, Gaspar
da Cruz, also touches on the conβlict in 1548. He says that a Chinese βleet
cruising along the Fujian coast encountered some Portuguese ships off
- Boxer, South China, p. xxvii.
- Cruz, “Treatise”, p. 194.
- Higgins, “Piracy”, p. 192.
- Cited in Fujida Toyobachi, Tō zai kō shō shi, p. 452.
- Cited in Dai Yixuan, Ming shi folangjii juan, p. 42.