136 Boundaries and Beyond
people and a larger number of ships but still at ten-year intervals.^166 In
Guangzhou, foreign maritime traders could also come and go without
much hindrance.^167 These irregularities prompted Guangdong Assistant
Administration Commissioner (canyi) Chen Boxian to propose a ban,
that was accepted by the Court, on all unscheduled trade. However,
local ofβicials proved reluctant to enforce the restriction. In response to
a recommendation by Guangdong Inspecting Censor Gao Gongzhao, the
Court re-afβirmed the ban in 1515.^168
Despite all attempts, the strict application of the Maritime Trade
and Shipping Supervisorate regulations did not seem to work and, on
June 15, 1517, two months before Pires’ arrival, the Court agreed to
accept Administration Commissioner Wu Tingju’s earlier appeal for the
relaxation of strict Supervisorate regulations and the rescission of the
more recent restrictions implemented upon the recommendations of
Chen Boxian and Gao Gongzhao.^169
Having served in Guangdong as the Magistrate of Shunde for ten
years and thereafter in two higher-ranking positions, Wu Tingju had
an intimate knowledge of maritime affairs.^170 He assumed the position
of Guangdong [Right] Administration Commissioner in 1514 and was
promoted to full [Left] Commissioner two years later. Sometime before
August 1517, he became the Grand Coordinator of Huguang, responsible
for famine relief with the title of Vice-Censor-in-Chief.^171 While serving
in Guangzhou, he called^172 for βlexibility in handling tributary trade. He
had two goals in mind: to meet the Court’s demand for large quantities
of spices (mainly pepper) and aromatic wood and to provide revenue
- MSL: SZ, 80: 7a; also Ming shi, juan 81, “shihuo 5”, p. 1980. A new regulation in
1539 allowed three ships, but not more than one hundred men. See MSL: SZ,
349: 4a. - MSL: WZ, 123: 4b.
- Ibid. It cannot be ascertained from the sources when Chen submitted his
recommendation. - Ibid., 149: 9a.
- Ming shi, juan 201, “Biography 89: Wu Tingju”.
- Ming shu (Ming history), comp. Fu Weiling 傅維麟編撰, 129: 31a. The work was
compiled during the early Kangxi Reign of the Qing dynasty. - It is not certain when Wu memorialized the Court. Dai Yixuan places the date
in 1514 (see Ming-shi Folangji zhuan, pp. 11‒2), before Chen Boxian‘s call for
strict compliance with the Supervisorate regulations. But from the sequence
of events recorded in the Ming shilu, it is more logical to see Wu’s proposal
as a response to the rigidity in the management of tributary trade upon the
recommendations by Chen and Gao Gongzhao. In other words, Wu’s proposal
was made sometime between Gao’s recommendation in 1515 and the Court’s
adoption of Wu’s proposal on June 15, 1517.
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