Autistic Empire: Ming Dynasty's ancestral system and never-relaxing sea embargopolicy

From the 16th to the 17th century, Europe's global maritime expansion continuedto flourish. The Ming Dynasty at that time also had many intersectionswith them, both armed conflicts and abnormal trade. However, the sea banpolicy formulated at the beginning of its establishment inevitably facesinternal and external influences. In some places, there seems to be somelooseness.

However, the Ming Dynasty actually did not have a real sea openingpolicy. Because the court has never completely denied the marine ban,marine activities at home and abroad have been greatly suppressed.

Of course, the sea ban policy of the Ming Dynasty dates back to the era of ZhuYuanzhang.

In 1381, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang officially promulgated the sea banpolicy. According to Ming Shi Lu, he considers foreigners abroad to beextremely untrustworthy. As for the coastal residents who often go abroadto do business without permission, it is easy to seduce barbarians to revolttogether. Therefore, the emperor asked the Ministry of Rites to beresponsible for the sea embargo policy. Anyone who dared to engage in foreigntrade in private must be brought to justice.

Therefore, privately traded goods are strictly prohibited and cannot be soldprivately. For example, fragrant wood imported mainly from overseas hasreceived a lot of attention. Therefore, fragrant wood produced inGuangdong and Guangxi cannot be sold outside the local market to preventforeign fragrant wood from entering the private market. During MingTaizu's reign, even coastal residents were banned from fishing. After hisson Judy usurped the throne, he continued this practice and strengthened theimplementation of some measures. For example, he has just ascended thethrone for more than a year. He ordered the conversion of all sailingvessels into punts not suitable for ocean navigation. Its plan to stiflethe coastal trade economy is fully exposed.

After Judy usurped the throne, the enforcement of the maritime ban becamestricter.

Before Emperor Hongji took power in the middle of the empire, the governmentalso severely attacked private sea trade. However, it was also at thisstage that Daming's laws and regulations were somewhat loose. The newpolicy no longer targets all maritime activities, but instead makes fishing,firewood, and other people's livelihoods an exception, requiring the governmentnot to continue to harass them.

In fact, Daming is not unaware of the benefits of trade, but he still wants tohold this piece of fat in his own hands. The court set up tradedepartments in Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong to manage tributarytrade. Those countries that are officially recognized can trade in Chinathrough tributes for years or decades. In addition to paying tribute tothe court, the goods of the tribute mission also include goods purchaseddirectly by the court and goods traded to the people. However, alltransactions between the delegation and the private sector are also restrictedand must be conducted by government-controlled dental institutions aftertaxation. In other words, individuals are absolutely not allowed todirectly oppose foreign countries.

The Ministry of Limited Trade collects business taxes mainly for the courts.

The arrival of European ships heralded the decline of the tributary system.

However, over time, various defense measures against the sea ban have graduallydecreased. The end of this historical process is the Longqingtransformation touted by many. However, this limited policy relaxation isneither a vision of the Supreme Court nor a disguised denial of forbiddingancestors to go to sea.

During the Zheng De and Jiajing periods of the early 16th century, the oldtributary trade completely declined, and many private enterprises under theguise of tributary trade were in the ascendant. European colonialexpedition ships also began to appear frequently along the coast, promoting thedevelopment of smuggling trade. The two Emperors of Daming also failed toadapt to the current situation and made any positive response. EmperorJiajing's opposition was to further strengthen the maritime ban and crack downon increasingly rampant smuggling. Under his rule, Daming's officialforces destroyed many large smuggling dens along the coast and stepped upmeasures to ban private sea trade. As a result, the proliferation ofJapanese pirates forced the government to spend more money to form professionalforces.

Due to the maritime ban, more money is needed to raise the army.

Facing many marine problems, Daming's local government is morepragmatic. For example, in Guangzhou,

Macau , which has the closest connection at a later stage, has beenunder strict surveillance.

Guangzhou was an early place for compromise countermeasures.

The Guangzhou incident and growing private trade quickly sparked heateddiscussions between the government and the people. After all, the taxationbrought by ocean trade is very rich, which can solve the livelihood problems ofcoastal residents to a certain extent. Therefore, many places want to urgethe court to open up maritime trade. Only then did Ming Taizu and theEmperor wake up. After the more humble emperor Long Qing inherited thethrone, they began to implement a limited open policy.

However, unlike many people's imagination, this change did not completelyoverturn the sea embargo policy, but only opened a channel based on acomprehensive shutdown. First, as a foreign port, the scale of VietnamPort is very small, and it is difficult to concentrate a large number of seavessels. The second is not to accept foreign merchant ships, but to allowforeign ships to sail from Fujian, and the number must be strictlylimited. The number of licenses issued each year is only 88, but has sinceincreased to more than 100. After obtaining the permit, the merchant canonly trade in the place specified in the permit, and temporarily does not allowwandering elsewhere. Naturally, the time of the round-trip route is alsounder control.

Longqing transshipment allowed some Fujianese to go to sea.

Therefore, after the implementation of Longqing Exchange, the monthly portmodel was not implemented in other domestic ports, but faced a dilemma. Inthe end of Wanli, new Dutch merchant ships began to reach the coast of EastAsia. They demand free trade and want a base similar toMacau. Without court permission, they looted and armed smuggled off thecoast. The Ming navy could not stop it, so it could only continue tosacrifice to the embargo and close Vietnam. Until the last EmperorChongzhen came to power, officials were still arguing whether to reopen theLongqing policy that year.

All in all, the so-called liberalization of foreign trade in the Ming Dynastywas nothing more than Guangdong's limited reception of foreign merchantships. In addition, the number of people admitted was very limited, andthe late Dutch and British were initially rejected. As for the limitedopening of Fujian Yuegang, it is more about earning trade tax for the courtitself. Strict control of the number of merchant ships and ports is theultimate goal of high-voltage control. In fact, its guiding ideology andcode of conduct are not fundamentally different from the sea ban policy.

Zhu Yuanzhang ancestors regime has been shrouded in Ming

Ming's domestic shipping also been severely affected by the Boycott policy.

In addition, maritime trade is not limited to foreign trade, but also includeslong-distance domestic trafficking. However, with the exception of a smallnumber of Fujian merchants who can set sail from Moon Harbor and allowGuangzhou to receive some foreign ships, other areas are still shrouded inclosed fog. In addition to fishing, coastal traders are only allowed toengage in short-distance rice, cloth or other daily necessities. Thenumber is also severely restricted.

As for the northern provinces of Zhejiang, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhiliand Liaodong, coastal merchants are not even allowed to carry out domesticlong-distance trafficking. The only law of survival is to mix food anddrinks with the help of intermittent official transport. Until the Wanliperiod, timber transportation from Fujian to Zhejiang had not been in placedirectly. As long as the ships of the two provinces complete the transferat a fixed point at the junction, they cannot sail to the other side's borderthrough normal channels. This is in sharp contrast to the late QingDynasty. Although the Manchu dynasty imposed a maritime ban on foreignshipping, domestic shipping did not have such restrictions. Many coastalresidents can use private ships for inter-provincial trade, which alsomitigates the economic development compensation caused by the blockade to acertain extent.

The great geographical map of the world drawn by the missionaries neverattracted the marine interest of the Ming Dynasty.

As Daming insists that the ban on ancestors at sea is unshakable, its negativeconsequences will be very obvious. The court was unable to urge localgovernments to completely block all channels and was unwilling to fully openshipping trade. In the end, it gave up trade profits to all major shippinggroups. The robbers and the Zheng family were outstanding representativesnurtured by Ming Dynasty policies.