Southeast Asia, in ancient times, was known as "Nanyang". This area was originally a miasma, with a hot climate and deep forest density. In the early days, Southeast Asia was culturally influenced by Indian civilization, accepting Indian religion and learning Indian scripts. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, with the prosperity of China's overseas trade, many Chinese began to immigrate to Southeast Asia, known in history as "Lower Nanyang". The Yuan Dynasty navigator Wang Dayuan's "Island YiZhiluo" records the life of the Chinese in Southeast Asia.
The Chinese went to Nanyang, so that the culture of Southeast Asia began to be more influenced by Chinese civilization, and promoted the expansion of the Confucian civilization circle. However, the emigration of these Chinese to Nanyang was also separated from the jurisdiction of the Central Dynasty, so that they were threatened by other forces. The Ming Dynasty implemented a "sea ban" policy, "no one is allowed to go to the sea", so many merchants migrated to Southeast Asia in order to make a living. The Chinese went to Nanyang to reach a peak in the Ming Dynasty, and an important reason was the implementation of the "sea ban".
Proportion of Chinese in Southeast Asia
The Ming Dynasty regarded these overseas Chinese as "untouchables" and "outcasts", believing that they were people who broke through the state system and wandered in the barbaric land. Therefore, these Chinese people basically do not have the protection of the motherland. These Chinese had no choice but to live on overseas islands and engage in smuggling trade, and the Ming Dynasty even called them "Wokou". According to research, many of the Wokou in the middle of the Ming Dynasty were composed of Chinese merchants, such as Wang Zhi and Zheng Zhilong, who were Chinese.
Many maritime merchants prefer to live on islands without state organization, which are not controlled by state power. For example, Taiwan Island has become a base for many Sino-Japanese traders, and Lin Feng and Zheng Zhilong are developing and growing here. In the late Ming Dynasty, a large number of Fujian people moved to Taiwan Island, changing the ethnic structure of Taiwan and accelerating the development of Taiwan Island. The Chinese even established political power directly overseas,
Lin Feng
In the 16th century, Zheng He's fleet had stopped going west for a long time, and the Ming Dynasty's understanding of Southeast Asia had still lingered. The colonial fleets of Spain and Portugal expanded wildly in Southeast Asia, monopolizing trade routes between the East and the West. Portugal occupied Malacca, guarding east Asia's maritime chokepoint to the Indian Ocean, while Spain occupied the Philippines as a trading post in the Far East. In 1553, Portugal acquired Macau from Ming officials on a "leash", which was the beginning of China's colonization.
By 1567, the Ming Dynasty was facing a serious financial crisis, so it implemented the "one-port trade" in The Port of Yuegang in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, and finally opened a window on the 20,000-kilometer closed coast, and the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Western countries began. Chinese tea, porcelain and other items were favored by Europeans, and Spain used half of its gold and silver to buy Chinese products. China's economy was relatively closed and required less for overseas resources, so a large amount of silver flowed into China, which promoted the monetization of silver in the late Ming Dynasty.
For Spain, this kind of business is also profitable. Spain transferred Chinese imports to Europe to sell them at several times the price, causing its wealth to grow rapidly. Other countries also want a share of the business from Spain, which Spain does not want to see. Therefore, Spain spent a lot of money to build the "Armada", in an attempt to maintain its position of world financial hegemony and world commercial hegemony militarily. In the West, Spain's biggest rivals were Portugal and the Netherlands; in the East, Spain's biggest rivals were the Chinese.
In 1565, Spain turned the Philippines into a colony. Originally a Chinese sphere of influence, the Spanish invasion caused strong resentment among the Chinese. In 1574, Lin Feng, the leader of the "pirates" (merchant groups) on the southeast coast, led 62 warships, carrying 4,000 men, to launch an attack on the Spanish army in the Philippines. Many of these people were once the "Wukou" that the Ming Dynasty wanted to pursue, such as Wu Ping. The base of this group of maritime merchants is on the island of Taiwan. It took Spain three years to defeat them and thus completely occupy the Philippines.
The Spaniards colonized the Philippines
The Ming dynasty also learned of the war, and they sent some emissaries to understand the situation. But the Ming Dynasty did not intend to send troops, because the Ming Dynasty's current good calculation was to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. Although Spain occupied the Philippines, they did not completely crush the Chinese forces in Southeast Asia. At the same time, the Dutch came, and they gradually occupied Indonesia, posing a great threat to Spain. In 1601, the Netherlands began to occupy the Penghu Archipelago, and in 1624 it occupied the island of Taiwan.
In order to seize trade rights from the Chinese as quickly as possible, the Spaniards opened a knife on the Chinese in Manila in 1603, massacring 25,000 Chinese at once, "almost all of them died under the sword except for a few who escaped". After the massacre, the Spaniards feared that their actions would offend the Ming Dynasty, so they defended the Ming Dynasty. It was not until 1605 that the Ming Dynasty replied with a letter condemning Spain on behalf of the Wanli Emperor.
The letter concludes: "Overseas strife, unknown culprit." And the four people of China, the merchants are the most lowly. Will you use the untouchables to stir up military revolution? And Shang Jiazhong abandoned his family to swim in the sea, suppressed the winter and did not return, his father and brothers and relatives, the common disdain, abandoned it without pity, the soldiers turned against the laborers. In short, the meaning of the Ming Dynasty is why should it hurt everyone's harmony for these "untouchables"? The Ming Dynasty's indifference to overseas Chinese really surprised the Spaniards.
After the massacre, there was a shortage of labor in the Philippines, and a large number of Chinese poured in. Gradually, the trade in the Philippines fell into Chinese hands. In 1639, Spain again massacred the Chinese, killing 21,000 Chinese before and after, leaving the Chinese in Luzon almost extinct. At that time, the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of extinction, and who had the heart to take care of overseas Chinese, but Zheng Chenggong, who was also a businessman, was very angry after hearing it.
In 1662, Spain massacred the Chinese in the Philippines for the third time. As early as a year ago, Zheng Chenggong had recovered the island of Taiwan from the Dutch, and when he heard that the Chinese had been slaughtered again, Zheng Chenggong decided to expedition to the Philippines and fight the Spanish colonists. However, Zheng Chenggong died before he could leave school, and the subsequent Zheng regime fell into civil strife and took care of itself. In this way, the sins of Spain's massacre of the Chinese were over.
Zheng Chenggong
Throughout Chinese and Western history, the status of merchants has been very different. China views merchants as "untouchables" and businessmen who migrate overseas as "outcasts." As early as the Greek era, Western countries engaged in colonization activities, the so-called colonization is that the state organizes its own citizens to emigrate overseas to expand overseas land. In modern times, Western countries have vigorously supported overseas colonization and vigorously engaged in mercantilism, which has accelerated the economic rise and civilization expansion of Western countries. Imagine if the Chinese in Southeast Asia had the support of the Central Dynasty, the history of the world might have to be rewritten.
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