The "sea ban" is actually a closed country policy, which originated in the Song Dynasty, and the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties all implemented this policy to varying degrees.
Since the Song Dynasty, China's overseas trade has continued to develop, mainly in two forms: government tributary trade and private overseas trade of the people. Tributary trade is trade between countries, reflecting the political and economic relations between countries, with a series of policies and systems, and the government also has competent departments to manage. Private trade is a kind of trade produced by the people that is not recognized by the government, and to some extent it is a smuggling behavior, so it has been suppressed and prohibited by the government.
(Beach after sea ban)
The Ming Dynasty's sea ban policy was not static, it was a wave-like process, the sea ban was severe during the Hongwu period, the sea ban was relaxed during the Yongle period, from the Hongxuan period to the Hongzhi period and strict control, to the Jiajing period, the severity of the sea ban reached its peak, and the Longqing period was gradually opened up, until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the sea ban was completely abolished.
There are profound reasons why the Ming Dynasty implemented a strict sea ban system from Zhu Yuanzhang onwards.
First, the pressure on coastal defense caused by smuggling and wokou is great.
During the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it was also the period of Japan's Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the non-stop war and chaos in japan' small island country were not chaotic, and a large number of samurai, soldiers and peasants were forced to go into exile at sea and became pirates. These pirates set their sights on the rich coastal areas of China, and did not relent until the Ming Dynasty and North Korea joined forces to strike and achieve the "Great Victory of the Sea".
(Sea ban displaces seaside residents)
In the process of establishing the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang successively defeated zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen and other peasant uprisings in the Jiangnan region, although Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen were suppressed, but many of their remnants were exiled at sea and insisted on being enemies of Ming. Their collusion with the Wokou put a lot of pressure on the Ming Dynasty's coastal defenses. The "Xuanlantang Series" records that "in the island of the relics, the two Zhejiang and Huaiyang stations are in turmoil." Even after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, there were still more than 20,000 people from Zhang Shicheng's remnants who gathered to oppose the Ming Dynasty and negotiate with the Ming army at sea, posing a great threat to the Ming Dynasty.
The remnants of these peasant armies colluded with the Wokou to "lure the islands into plunder", forcing Zhu Yuanzhang to "strike the Huangdu City Ofo division in Taicang", abolish the municipal shipping departments in Quanzhou, Ningbo, and Guangzhou, and order that "the people on the coast of the sea are forbidden to smuggle with overseas countries."
Twenty-three years after Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued the "Ban on Traffic in Foreign Domains" and officially banned the sea.
(Ming Dynasty Maritime Trade Map)
Second, the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce caused Zhu Yuanzhang's sea ban
Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor who attached great importance to agriculture, and after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he took measures to liberate slaves, reward reclamation, tun tian and other measures to develop agriculture, while suppressing industry and commerce. In his "Ming DaJie", it is stipulated that if you go out to do business, "your neighbors must be aware of it." On the occasion of the guest house, discern the physiology of people, test people's eyes, and fear that he will do something else." These measures were aimed at combating the position of merchants, placing them under the strict control of the government and paying heavy commercial taxes. Therefore, the market in Zhu Yuanzhang's period was a dead market. Some people carried out maritime smuggling and maritime trade in order to make huge profits, regardless of life and death, which added a reason to the Ming Dynasty's sea ban.
Third, the imbalance of tributary trade
The Ming Dynasty had a clan relationship with the small surrounding countries, and the countries paid tribute to the central government of the Ming Dynasty, which had just given them a large number of rewards. However, the Ming Dynasty, as a central power, attached great importance to face, and gave these small feudal states much more goods than they paid tribute. These small countries are not stupid, and when they see that they are profitable, they compete for tribute, and the number of tributes is increasing, and the number of tributes is becoming more and more diligent.
(Tribute Map)
This unbalanced trade is clearly unsustainable. The Ming government, which could not bear it, had to reduce the number and number of tributes and strictly control the scale of tributes at sea. And these feudal states do not care at all, do not abide by these regulations at all, and the central government cannot tell them not to come out of face, so it is very beautiful on the surface, but in fact, the economic pressure is very great.
From the sixteenth year of Hongwu onwards, the Ming Dynasty issued survey books to the vassal states, stipulating that only those who held the books could pay tribute. Although other small feudal states had opinions, they did not dare to mention them. However, because of the dispute over the survey and cooperation, Japan launched a war against the Ming Dynasty, and the "Battle of Tribute" broke out, resulting in the death of Yuan Jin, the commander of the Ming Dynasty Ningbo Wei, and Liu Jin, the commander of Beiwu. The Ming Dynasty was furious, shut down the ship divisions in Fujian and Zhejiang, and cut off the Japanese tribute route, which in turn turn turned the Japanese who wanted to pay tribute into robbers, and the two sides fell into a vicious circle, and the Ming Dynasty's sea ban became more and more severe.
(The Wokou Rebellion)
Fourth, the "Jiajing Woe" was the peak of the Ming Dynasty's sea ban
In summary, the original gradual disappearance of the Wokou was revived and intensified by the Battle of Tribute, and finally reached its climax in the Jiajing period. The famous Ming Dynasty anti-Wu campaign was basically concentrated in this period, and the anti-Wu ming generals Hu Zongxian and Qi Jiguang were also products of this period.
In the midst of rampant Wokou, Jiajing issued three bans on the sea, burning all the big ships on the seashore, stipulating: "If a traitorous and powerful person, as well as the military and civilians, etc., build a large ship with more than three masts, they will take the prohibited goods to the sea, go to The Fan country to buy and sell, sneak through pirates, conspire to gather, and rob good people for their guides, and those who commit crimes should behead according to their own laws, still show their heads to the public, and the whole family will send border guards to charge the army. He built the former sea vessels, sold them to those who sought profits, and compared them with those who should be banned from going into the sea, so they violated the law of military intelligence, beheaded the leader, and charged the army for the subordinates. The coastal military and civilians who do business with the Wokou privately will be severely punished, and those who do not report it will sit together.
(Anti-Japanese Struggle)
At that time, it was not only the Japanese who wanted to enter the Ming Market from the sea, but also the Portuguese in Europe. The Portuguese have long been active in the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian, using this place as a stronghold for smuggling trade with Chinese merchants, and the annual trade volume between the two sides is more than 3 million taels of silver. In the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing, the imperial court sent Zhu Yi to launch an attack on the Portuguese, attacking the Portuguese base camp and driving the Portuguese out of the coastal areas.
In the final Jiajing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's dispute between the sea ban and the anti-sea ban was the most serious. According to the Jiajing Pingwu Records, at that time, "the inhabitants of the sea, recently every prohibition is too strict, the fishing trees are not passable, and the physiological deterioration has turned to theft."
V. The Impact of the Sea Ban on the Society and Economy of the Ming Dynasty
The sea ban was a double-edged sword, which was clearly seen by many people of insight at that time. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Gu Yanwu pointed out: "'The people on the coast have no way out of physiology, and they are also recommended by hunger, and the poor people often go into the sea to steal and collect their lives.'" ''If the sea is strictly forbidden, and if there is no food, it will plunder the seashore'". In addition, the inhabitants of the coastal areas have adopted another means of struggle, fleeing and sneaking overseas. ''The beginning of the country... Liangguang, Zhangzhou and other counties do not succeed in the criminals, fleeing the sea to make a living.
(Route of the Wokou Invasion of the Sea)
The prohibition of the sea, which completely prohibits foreign trade, has caused people who are related to (along) the sea, often privately trade in incense and goods, because they lure barbarians into theft, and the southeastern islands are more than Enough to escape from Zoko'.' Therefore, after the Longqing Emperor succeeded to the throne, he realized that "the city general rule was turned into a merchant, and the city forbidden merchant was turned into a kou", and began to adjust the policy of strictly prohibiting private overseas trade.
The Ming Dynasty opened the sea ban, so that the private overseas trade of the people greatly developed, from the first year of the Ming Dynasty (1573) to the seventeenth year of The Ming Dynasty (1644), from Portugal, Spain, Japan and other countries to import the Ming Dynasty silver dollars, at least more than 100 million yuan, effectively promoted the development of the Ming Dynasty's domestic commodity economy and economy.
(Ports after opening of the sea ban)
The Ming Dynasty's policy of sea ban was originally to prevent smuggling and combat piracy, but what was really hit was Daming's coastal trade, and the sea ban made piracy and smuggling more rampant, which had a great impact on China's social and economic development. Therefore, the release of the sea ban in the late Ming Dynasty is the demand of the times and the inevitability of history.
Reference: Chao Zhongchen: "Ming Dynasty Sea Prohibition and Overseas Trade"
Zheng Hainan: A History of Chinese Piracy
Produced by Crooked Eye Xiaoshi Studio
Author: Feng Sheng