Gentry-Merchants and Peasant-Peddlers 243
Palembang succumbed to the blow delivered by the Ming βleet led by
Zheng He. The most reasonable explanation for this disaster is that their
direct participation in trade threatened the government monopoly. The
base in Palembang was relentlessly smashed on the pretext of protecting
the tribute trade from piratical disruption.
Not all who were looking for a new means of livelihood joined in the
exciting adventures in Southeast Asia. The South Fujianese soon attracted
the attention of foreigners desirous of utilizing their outstanding
seamanship. The Ryukyu junks, for example, were mainly manned by
Zhangzhou crews.^2
The maritime pioneers impressed their fellow villagers who regarded
them with awe. From the mid-Ming, they themselves also began to follow
in the footsteps of their more adventurous countrymen, engaging in
maritime activities that soon swelled to become an impressive enterprise.
In the early sixteenth century two concurrent activities—South
Fujianese domestic trade with other provinces and the presence
of foreign merchants—boosted each other and created extensive
opportunities that resulted in a commercial boom. Since trade carried
out on land was 20 times more costly,^3 even the hill-dwellers preferred
to deliver their products by sea.^4 The shipping boom offered incentives to
build ships for commercial purposes.^5
Intensiβied Maritime Atmosphere
The presence of foreign traders along the Chinese sea-coast intensiβied
the maritime activity on the southeast coast. Among them w ere the
Portuguese, who had established friendly contacts with Chinese junk-
masters on their βirst arrival and in the subsequent occupation of
[Annotated overall survey of the ocean shores], annotated by Feng Chengjun 馮
承鈞 (reprint; Taipei: The Commercial Press, 1962), p. 8.- He Qiaoyuan 何喬遠, Min shu 閩書 [Fujian history] (Chongzhen [1628‒44] ed.),
146: 1a. - Quanzhou fuzhi [Gazetteer of Quanzhou Prefecture] (1870 ed.), 25: 11a.
- Ibid., 20: 2b.
- In his work Gu Yanwu 顧炎武 (1613‒82) says, “(In 1547) every household in
Yuegang（月港）in Zhangzhou Prefecture built seagoing vessels and traded in
Siam, Folangji (Malacca) and some other countries.” See Tianxia junguo libing
shu 天下郡國利病書 [Problems and challenges in various regions of China]
(hereafter TXJGLBS), in Siku shanben congshu 四庫善本叢書 [The perfect series
of the complete library of the four treasure], Vol. 26, p. 6b.