Managing Maritime Affairs 267
As mentioned earlier, the Sea Prohibition policy that prevented their
own people from engaging in maritime trade existed alongside a separate
tribute-and-trade system. The latter was actually an extension of the
Song shibo model that persisted until the Jiajing Emperor’s succession
to the throne in 1522. Thereafter, a change was ushered into maritime
affairs, in response to the presence on the coast of the Portuguese, the
Japanese pirates and Chinese maritime adventurers. Eventually, their
illicit activities supplanted the role of tribute trade.
During Ming times, with the exception of the early years of the βirst
Emperor, the shibo si (Supervisorates of the Maritime Trade and Shipping)
took charge of foreign trade in Guangzhou, Quanzhou (later removed to
Fuzhou) and Ningbo. Throughout the dynasty, Guangzhou was the port
of call for incoming foreigners from Champa, Siam and other countries
in the “Western Ocean”, Quanzhou for the Ryukyus and Ningbo for Japan.
Guangzhou was almost always kept open, but the other two were closed
intermittently in response to the prevailing situation on the coast.
Under the shibo system, once a foreign country was accepted as a
tributary country, a special permit was issued to allow it to engage in
limited, supervised trade upon its arrival. The number of vessels and
personnel on board and the frequency of the tribute missions were
speciβied according to the s ize or status of each individual country. Their
cargo was allowed to be sold under supervision in the port of call or
the national capital for only three to βive days.^12 The tribute system was
actually an important component in traditional foreign relations. The
dynasty intended to use such measures to bind and appease aggressive
frontier peoples. In his policies, Zhu Yuanzhang was not unlike his
predecessors in previous dynasties, who intentionally suppressed
commercial activities, especially among the civilians. He even adopted
discriminatory laws against merchants prohibiting them from wearing
silk clothing.^13 This attitude was generally followed by his successors.
Two reasons led to a more rigid control of the tribute-and-trade
activities. Since the tribute system was principally regarded as a means
to enhance imperial prestige and maintain goodwill between foreign
countries, especially those along the borders, proβit was reduced to a
secondary consideration. In other words, the state had no intention of
proβiting from trade, even though this enterprise was considered the
exclusive prerogative of the state. The Imperial Court accepted tribute
to Jiajing] (Taipei: Taiwan daxue, 1966), pp. 35‒8; see also Chen Renxi 陈仁锡,
Huangming shifa lu 皇明世法录 [The inimitable institutions of the Royal Ming]
(Chongzhen Reign [1628‒44] ed.), 75: 41‒3.- Ch’en Wen-shih, Ming hongwu jiajing jian de haijin zhengce, p. 41.
- Ibid., p. 45.