254 Boundaries and Beyond
join for their geomantic studies. Some were forced to participate
because their relatives were being detained as hostages.^46Even though the source is from a magistrate’s private writings, the
gazetteer compiler decided to omit some groups of the participants from
the original text, an understandable decision to protect the dignity of
prominent people and avoid being seen as a critic of social conditions.
As was always the case, gazetteer compilers were either ofβicials or
respectable literary men who enjoyed gentry status. The parts omitted
are about “people who use their prominent social status and power to gain
proβit by sponsoring piratic activity”, “people who have been unsuccessful
candidates in the civil [service] examinations” and “tenants or other
laborers who were desperately poor and obliged to resort to piracy”.^47 In
other words, it was common for the prominent families to guide the real
Wo inland covertly. Unquestionably, the authorities did try to gain some
control of the vessels owned by the rich to eradicate the root of the evil,^48
but from a practical point of view, it was a mission impossible.
Since the Jiajing Emperor had ascended the throne in 1522, one main
feature of the Wo problem was different from before. Until the mid-
Ming period, the Wokou were limited to Japanese pirates active along
the coast north of Zhejiang. However, after 1522, corresponding to the
drastic change in the local socioeconomic conditions, one comes across
references that “Fujian is the heart of the Wo turmoils”,^49 and Zhang-Quan
prefectures were the most seriously Wo-infested areas.^50 As mentioned,
in the second period Zhangzhou was more active than Quanzhou in the
seafaring business that had become the major livelihood of its people.^51
Yuegang was also a port of frequent resort for the people involved in
illicit activities. They, or smugglers, embarked from this place bent on
their business.^52 At the same time, it was also a main resort of the Wokou
who used the seaport as a stepping-stone for inland forays in which the
- Fujian tongzhi (Tongzhi ed.), 87: 1; see also Fujian tongzhi taiwan fu 福建通
志台灣府 [General gazetteer of Fujian, Section on Taiwan Prefecture) (Taipei:
The Bank of Taiwan Economic Research Center, 1960), p. 382; and Chen Renxi,
Huangming shifa lu, 75: 52. - Chouhai tubien, 12: 24a.
- Ibid., 4: 23‒4.
- Ibid.
- Ibid., 4: 22‒3.
- Wang Shimao 王世懋, Minbu shu 閩部疏 [An account of Fujian, preface 1585],
17b‒18a. - Jiajing tongnan pingwo tonglu, comp. Xu Xueju, p. lb; also Gu Yanwu, TXJGLBS,
Vol. 26, p. 6b.
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