The Silk Road was a famous trade route between the East and the West in ancient China, and an important bridge between China and foreign economies and cultures. The so-called Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties refer to the archival documents of the central government archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties in the archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties in the archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which reflect the economic and cultural exchanges between China and other countries in the 15th to the 19th centuries through sea routes and land transportation. The archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties involve 53 countries, including Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian, English, French, German and other Chinese and foreign languages, including more than 70,000 archives related to Sino-foreign economic and cultural exchanges with the meaning of the Silk Road. These palace archives record the historical details of China's exchanges with other countries in the Ming and Qing dynasties from the perspective of dynasties, which not only have the authority of the central government, but also have the reliability of the original documents, and also have the uniqueness of the archives and unique value, and are the most detailed and precious documents for a comprehensive study of the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is of great practical significance and special academic value to systematically organize and study the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
1. The historical background of the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties
The Silk Road during the Ming and Qing dynasties was a special form of foreign trade and cultural exchanges in ancient China. The collation and research of the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties have a specific historical background.
First, the background of the times. In 2013, President Xi Jinping borrowed the concept of the ancient Chinese "Silk Road" and proposed a cooperation initiative to build the "New Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road". This is a far-reaching strategy related to the development of the national strategy and the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, and it is also a major proposition for social science workers. The second is academic background. For a long time, the research results on the Silk Road in the academic community have been very rich, but the research on the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties has been slightly weak. This is mainly manifested in: first, when talking about the Silk Road, it is often believed that it mainly existed in the Han and Tang dynasties, solidifying the Silk Road as a historical business card before the Middle Ages, and the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties was seriously weakened, and even did not recognize the existence of the Silk Road in modern China. Second, the two classic routes of the land Silk Road and the maritime Silk Road westward from Xinjiang and the South China Sea are relatively rich in research, while the research on other routes is not sufficient, and the results are relatively small. Third, the excavation of the Silk Road documents in the Ming and Qing dynasties, in the past, mainly local archives and folk documents, there are regional and scattered characteristics, but the most authoritative and systematic archives of the central government of the Ming and Qing dynasties have not been given enough use and research, and it is far from enough to analyze the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties from the perspective of dynasties and the national level. On the whole, there are many case-by-case, fragmented and partial studies on the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the systematic and overall research is far from being formed, which depends on the in-depth excavation of the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The third is the background of the literature. In 2016, the First History Museum cooperated with the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to officially launch the "Silk Road Archives Compilation, Research and Publication Project in the Ming and Qing Dynasties". In 2019, "Collation and Research on the Silk Road Archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties" was listed as a key project of the National Social Science Foundation of China, and it was also listed as a major academic project of the Chinese Academy of History. The main achievements of this project include: First, in terms of archival arrangement, the archives of the Silk Road of the Ming and Qing dynasties collected by a history museum are systematically and comprehensively combed, and a special database of the Silk Road archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties is established. Second, in terms of compilation and publication, the "Illustrated Archives of the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing Dynasties" was carefully organized and systematically compiled, with four volumes of the Silk Road on land and four volumes of the Maritime Silk Road, which were published by the National Library Publishing House. Third, in terms of academic exchanges, the First History Museum and the Chinese Academy of History have jointly hosted the "Belt and Road" Literature and History Symposium every year since 2016, and as of 2020, it has been held five times, and this seminar mechanism will continue to be promoted. Fourth, in terms of achievement promotion, the core journal "Historical Archives" has opened a column "Ming and Qing Silk Road" since the first issue of 2019, and continues to publish a series of research results of the research group. Fifth, in terms of academic works, the First History Museum and experts and scholars from the Chinese Academy of History jointly compiled a monograph entitled "Research on the Silk Road Archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties". The precious value and unique role of the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties have become more and more apparent.
2. The overland Silk Road in the archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties
The overland Silk Road, traditionally speaking, was a major trade route that connected Asia to Eurasia in ancient times. It originated in the Western Han Dynasty when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions, opening up a land transportation route starting from the capital Chang'an (Xi'an), passing through Central Asia and West Asia, and connecting the Mediterranean countries. This passage is considered to be the intersection of ancient Eastern and Western civilizations, and the silk produced in China is the most representative goods, so since the end of the 19th century, Western scholars began to call it the "Silk Road", as a special concept, widely recognized and used, has a worldwide impact. The archives of the First History Museum reveal that the overland Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties was not just a traditional route from Xinjiang to Asia and Europe, but was divided into four routes, namely the eastward road across the river, the southward mountain road, the westward desert road, and the northward grassland road. 1. The overland eastward road across the river. This route mainly refers to the economic and cultural exchanges between the Yalu River and the Korean Peninsula. China and the DPRK are geographically dependent on each other and face each other across the river. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Korea was the most closely related vassal state to China in East Asia, with not only tributary roads along the way, but also border trade with regular markets. The inscription of the Ministry of Rites on the third day of the first month of the fourth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (1631) records very clearly that the tribute road from Beijing to Liaoyang to cross the Yalu River by land to Korea. On April 23, 1744, the ninth year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, the Hubu Shangshu Haiwang reported on the tax payment of Korean trade in the Zhongjiang area, which recorded in detail the types of goods purchased by the DPRK in Zhongjiang, including silk, silk, gray mink, cotton, felt hats, etc., and there were special preferential provisions such as "buying goods at the side door" and "not paying taxes for Koreans". The memo also records the dispatch of emissaries by Joseon to request the Tokihan (the calendar of the time). For another example, the inscription of the Shangshu Seke Jing of the Ministry of Rites on October 15, 1841, reflects the Qing government's management of the border trade between Huining and Qingyuan, which lists in detail the permitted trade in animal furs, "All skins of raccoon dogs, badgers, rats, deer, dogs, etc., are allowed to be traded in the market; Mink, otters, lynxes, otters, etc., are not allowed to be traded." 2. The road to the south by land. This route mainly starts from Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet and other places to reach the economic and cultural exchanges in Southeast Asia and South Asia, among which exchanges with Annam, Myanmar, India, Gurkha and other countries are more frequent. For example, on the first day of December in the 57th year of Qianlong (1792), the general Fukangan and other ministers had a joint title, the content of which was to discuss with the Gurkha the matter of trade and trade in the Tibetan region, which recorded the basic principles of trade with the Gurkha determined by the Qing government: First, trade was allowed. "The Gurkha industry has returned to its fate and surrendered, and it is allowed to still buy and sell." Second, the government is in charge. "All trade and other matters should be handled by officials, and Kabulun and others are not allowed to talk about it privately." Third, ensure fairness. "Two or four times in the first year of age shall be restricted. The Minister in Tibet still inspects the money from time to time, and personally supervises the money in the department, so that the price can be set fairly, so that there will be no further disputes. "For example, on the second day of the eighth month of the 58th year of Qianlong (1793), Guo Shixun, the acting governor of Liangguang, said that in addition to setting up markets in the Muma Valleys in Gaoping Town and the Donkey Driving Houses in Langshan Town, as stipulated in the original trade and trade regulations, Annam also set up a market in Huashan in Langshan Town. After investigation, Huashan is indeed convenient and densely populated, which is conducive to trade between the two sides. Guo Shixun believed that it was indeed advisable for Annam to add a local market in Huashan "according to local conditions", and proposed that the Huashan local market be formally added to the trade regulations. It can be seen that the border trade between China and Vietnam in the Qing Dynasty was very frequent. Example 3: In December of the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), Zhou Fu, the acting governor of Liangjiang, submitted a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the local tea grown in the southern provinces would be affected by the import of tea from Ceylon and India, which would lead to the bankruptcy of tea merchants, the replanting of tea households, and the exclusion of local tea from the market. After sending personnel to Ceylon and India to inspect the methods of tea cultivation by the British, it was found that "mainland tea is conformist to the old law, the factory name is odd and zero, the business is sloppy, and it is easy to falsify, and adulterated and impure", so this situation will not be able to compete with imported Ceylon and Indian tea. At the same time, it also put forward countermeasures such as "setting up machine factories and establishing large and small companies". The question of how to protect and improve national industries in foreign trade is raised here. 3. The overland westward desert route. This route is a continuation of the Silk Road in the traditional sense, and it has played a huge role in the long history of Sino-foreign exchanges. Since the Han Dynasty passed through the Western Regions, the economic and cultural exchanges between the Central Plains and the Northwest Frontier have always existed. After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road arose, and the Song and Ming dynasties were unable to effectively control the Western Regions, and the official exchanges between China and foreign countries in the northwest were greatly restricted. However, the archives reveal that during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Silk Road paved with yellow sand was very active. In the archives of the Ming Dynasty, there is a post on the fifth day of the eighth month of the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637) on the opening of the Zhangjiakou market to buy horses and the date of the closure, which records that the imperial horse eunuch sent the imperial horse eunuch to Zhangjiakou to buy horses in the market, and after the market was closed, he swore with the leaders of the various ministries that "the horse market will be opened forever, thinking that it will be beneficial to each other for a long time", and rewarded the leaders of each department with tea cloth and other items. During the Qing Dynasty, especially in the 22nd year of Qianlong (1757), after the northwestern frontier was completely pacified, trade in the west was gradually resumed, and many countries bordering Xinjiang in Central Asia began to establish contacts with the Qing government and sent envoys to Beijing. In the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762), Aiwuhan (now Afghanistan) Khan Ahmetsha sent an envoy to Beijing to make a pilgrimage to Emperor Qianlong, and was warmly received by the governors of various places along the way. It was in this positive and friendly atmosphere that the Qing government's contacts with Central Asian countries showed a benign trend, and this ancient Silk Road was once again full of vitality. From the archives of the Qing Dynasty, it can be seen that the Qing government has long mobilized silk cloth from Jiangnan to transport it to Xinjiang through Shaanxi and Gansu to exchange horses and other goods, and the main trading places in Xinjiang at that time were in Tarbagatai, Kashgar, Kulun, Ili and other places, and the trade objects were not only local tribes, but also Kazakhstan, Russia, Kokand and other countries. On November 28, the 22nd year of Qianlong (1757), Huang Tinggui, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, said that Kazakhstan and other places "are horse-producing areas, and horses can be exchanged and the shortfall in inland allocation can also be filled." It can be seen from this that an important purpose of the Qianlong Dynasty's resumption of trade in the west was to obtain horses from Kazakhstan and other places. On November 11, the 24th year of Qianlong (1759), Yongde, a third-class guard stationed in Urumqi, wrote a Manchu memo, the main content of which was to report the details of the exchange of horses and the amount of silver taels used with Kazakhstan. In the trade between the Qing government and Kazakhstan, it paid great attention to the trade needs of Kazakhstan, such as the color of silk, the Kazakhs liked blue, blue, red, sauce and bronze, brown, etc., and Emperor Qianlong ordered the trade satin to "be solved according to the color opened". The archives also record that in the 43rd year of Qianlong (1778), Suo Lin, a servant of the Imperial Court, went to Kulun as a messenger to handle transactions with the merchants of "Oros". Emperor Qianlong was very angry at Sorin's unauthorized decision to close the Sino-Russian trade route, and immediately dismissed him. It can be seen that Emperor Qianlong still attached great importance to Sino-Russian trade. During this period, non-governmental economic and cultural exchanges in the northwestern frontier were also frequent, and it can be seen from the Qing court's repeated edicts to strictly investigate the illegal trading of jade, horses, tea, and other goods. 4. Overland northbound steppe road. This route is mainly from the mainland through the Mongolian steppe, Central Asia steppe and Russia and other countries of economic and cultural exchanges. During the Qing Dynasty, the Russian emperor repeatedly sent missions to China to negotiate trade matters. During the Kangxi period, the Qing government set up a Russian Pavilion in Beijing to house Russian missions and caravans. During the Yongzheng period, an official mission was also sent to participate in the enthronement ceremony of the Russian emperor. As the Qing Dynasty signed border demarcation and trade treaties with Russia during the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods, Nebuchu, Kyakhta, Kulun and other places obtained legal trade status, and the traditional steppe Silk Road entered its heyday. There is a document from Russia on the 12th day of the first month of the 38th year of Kangxi (1699), which is a message from the secretary general of the Russian Siberian Affairs Yamen to Suo Etu, the minister of the Qing Dynasty, and its content is to send merchants to Beijing for trade by the order of the Russian emperor, "please give preferential treatment". On November 30, 1719, the Russian governor of Siberia, Cherkassky, sent a letter to the Qing court, saying: The Russian Emperor has learned that a number of Russian merchants have indeed engaged in some kind of deviant behavior in your country, and that there will be no further acts of any harm to the Chinese government. At the same time, I beg permission to send the caravan to the caravan as usual, and allow it to enter the interior as far as Peking. The contents of such archives related to daily trade disputes show that Sino-Russian trade has become normalized, and also reflect the breadth and depth of Sino-Russian trade at that time. The existing archives of the First History Museum such as the trade license of Russian businessmen to China, the triple license for transporting goods, the inventory of goods valuation, and the list of values of imported and exported goods reflect the scale and content of Sino-Russian trade in more detail.
3. The Maritime Silk Road in the archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties
Generally speaking, the Maritime Silk Road refers to the route from the South China Sea through the Indian Ocean to East Africa and Europe, and was a sea passage for transportation, trade and cultural exchanges between ancient China and foreign countries. The road is centered on the South China Sea, so it is also called the "South China Sea Silk Road". Because of the large number of ceramics and spices transported by sea, it is also known as the "Maritime Ceramics Road" or "Maritime Spice Road". The starting point of the Maritime Silk Road is mainly Guangzhou and Quanzhou, which was once known as the "Guangzhou Tonghaiyi Road" in history. The archives of the First History Museum reveal that the Maritime Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties was not just a traditional route from the South China Sea to the West, but was divided into four directions: the East, the South Sea, the West, and the Americas. 1. The Maritime Oriental Road. This route is mainly for economic and cultural exchanges with East Asian countries. East Asia was the core of the tributary system during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Korea, the Ryukyus and China have had suzerain-vassal relations and tributary trade for more than 500 years. Although Japan was on the periphery of the tributary system, it also maintained close trade with China. In the archives of the First History Museum, there is a painted map, and the ink pen is written in vertical script "Grain Transport Map from Shandong to North Korea". After research, this is the 37th year of Kangxi (1698) on December 15 Shilang Tao Dai Jin presented, is a map from Shandong to North Korea to transport relief grain and rice. At that time, there was a continuous famine in Korea, and this map was probably drawn to report the situation to the imperial court after the relief of grain and rice was delivered to Korea. The ships shown in this picture transported grain and rice from Shandong along the sea route to the Yalu River, and then transshipped ashore, which is a vivid example of maritime transportation in the Beiyang waters of the Qing Dynasty. During the reign of Kang Yongqian, the Qing court had always encouraged merchant ships to go to Japan to purchase and transport foreign copper, and the maritime trade between China and Japan grew rapidly. On the third day of the third month of March in the ninth year of Yongzheng (1731), Yin Jishan, the governor of Jiangsu, had a request to send personnel to Japan to purchase foreign copper, which said that "the purchase of foreign copper merchant ships into the sea, or the inconvenience of wind letters, can not be booked". Yin Jishan reported to the imperial court at the same time, and was visiting with the governors of the provinces, carefully planning, "counting the copper that the provinces need to do". It can be seen that there are many foreign copper purchases in Japan. According to the archives, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Guozijian in Beijing had a special Ryukyu official school, and the king of Zhongshan in the Ryukyu Kingdom "sent officials and students to study in prisons", took a boat to Fujian, and then landed in the north to go to Beijing. The Ryukyu Kingdom sent officials and students to study abroad in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which reflected an aspect of the cultural exchange on the Maritime Silk Road during the Ming and Qing dynasties. 2. The Maritime Road to the South Seas. This route is mainly for economic and cultural exchanges with the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and other South Asian countries, and is mostly for tribute, trade, consuls and business visits. Southeast Asian countries were an important part of the tributary system of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and since the early Ming Dynasty, Southeast Asian countries have gradually established tributary relations with China. The Philippines was known as Sulu in ancient times, the tributary trade exchanges in the Ming and Qing dynasties have been continuous, and on the sixth day of September in the thirteenth year of Yongzheng (1735), the Admiral of Fujian Naval Division Wang Jun made a specific report to the imperial court on the number of ships that traded in Xiamen from various parts of Luzon in Sulu State. On the first day of November in the 26th year of Qianlong (1761), Tuken of the Fuzhou General Society reported that the Sulu State had come to Xiamen to ask for tax exemption for the goods carried during the tribute period, which was approved by Emperor Qianlong. The Qing government has been encouraging coastal provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong to import rice from Siam, Annam and other Southeast Asian countries to relieve grain pressure. On the fifth day of September in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743), Emperor Qianlong sent a message to the governor of Fujian and Guangdong, "rice and grain are the basic food for the people", and foreign merchants who carry rice and grain on ships will be exempted from customs duties, and other goods will be levied as usual. After the middle of the Guangxu period, at the request of foreign envoys and local governors, the Qing government paid more and more attention to the affairs of the Nanyang region, and successively selected officials to inspect the situation of merchants and people. In the 13th year of Guangxu (1887), on October 24, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Liangguang, reported that officials were sent to Nanyang to visit the business situation of the Chinese people. Judging from this file, the investigation is very detailed, and it is believed that there are more than 50,000 Chinese in Little Luzon (Manila), "the trade is the most prosperous, and the victim is also the deepest", and "it is necessary to have a consul general"; Penang "should add a deputy consul"; Since the British occupation of Yangon, "it is a hidden danger for China" and "it is advisable to set up a vice consul"; There are more than 70,000 Chinese in Sumatra, and "it is advisable to set up a consul general". The archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Guangxu period also record that the Qing government set up a consulate general in Australia, with Liang Lanxun as the consul general; A consulate was set up in New Zealand, with Huang Rongliang as the consul. As a result, the government of the late Qing Dynasty successively set up consular offices in various places in Nanyang to deal with overseas affairs and submit business reports. On the third day of July in the 33rd year of Guangxu (1907), Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili, sent ships to inspect various ports in Nanyang, and the local expatriates "saw the Chinese warships coming south" and "thundered with joy". In the archives of a history museum, there are also "Oriental Nanyang Seaway Map" and "Southwest Ocean Needle Road Direction Map", which is the Qing government's exchanges with Southeast Asian countries and drawn a seaway map, which depicts the routes, needle routes and time required from China's coastal ports to Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries, and explains the local resources with words, which is a vivid embodiment of the Maritime Silk Road in the Nanyang region. 3. The Western Route by Sea. This route is the traditional maritime Silk Road, which is mainly for economic and cultural exchanges between China and West Asia, Africa and Europe through the sea route. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the opening of new shipping routes and geographical discoveries by Western powers, as well as with the technological achievements of the Industrial Revolution, the Maritime Silk Road has been extended from a regional sea route to a global trade network. Between the third year of Yongle (1405) and the eighth year of Xuande (1433), Zheng He's fleet went to the West seven times and visited more than 30 countries in Asia and Africa. The Ming Dynasty's "Selected Book of Martial Arts" in the First History Museum records the situation of the entourage sailors and other figures in the Western fleet that followed Zheng He. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the sea ban was implemented, and the "Living Registration" on July 11, the 23rd year of Kangxi (1684) recorded that the Kangxi Emperor convened the courtiers to discuss the lifting of the sea ban. In the following year, the Qing government established four major customs on the southeast coast, namely Guangdong Customs, Fujian Customs, Zhejiang Customs, and Jiangxi Customs, and formally implemented the policy of opening the sea to trade. As a result, economic and cultural exchanges between Qing China and Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden and other countries became more and more frequent by sea. As a result, the French merchant ship "Amphitrite", the Swedish merchant ship "Gothenburg", and the British Magalny mission set sail for China one after another. For Western science and technology, medicine and exotic foreign goods, the emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong were very interested. On July 27, the 57th year of the Kangxi reign (1718), Yang Lin, the governor of Liangguang, issued a royal approval: "If there are people from the West, if there are all kinds of knowledge or medical practitioners, they must be sent to the capital as soon as possible", and ordered that the purchase of exotic foreign goods for the inner court "do not hesitate to spare". A large number of missionaries with expertise in astronomy, medicine, painting and other fields entered the palace, including the Italian painter Lang Shining, the German astronomer Dai Jinxian, and the French architect Jiang Youren, who presided over the construction of the Great Water Law Hall of the Old Summer Palace. It is worth mentioning that in the twenty-ninth year of Qianlong (1764), Lang Shining, a Western painter of the Qing Palace, painted the "Battle Map of the Western Regions", and the following year it was sent to the West by sea to make copper engravings, and after all kinds of twists and turns, the copper engravings made by France were finally sent to the eyes of Emperor Qianlong after 12 years, which is a very typical story of the intersection of Chinese and Western cultures performed by the Maritime Silk Road. There are also a large number of records of foreign merchant ships and tribute ships shipwrecked in the archives, such as the 26th year of Qianlong (1761) on September 15, the Guangdong governor Toundo's recital, reflecting that the Swedish merchant ship was sunk by the wind and the sailors were killed, and asked for compensation and assistance according to the custom. This shows that the Qing government has formed a set of measures and policies related to maintaining the order of maritime trade. 4. The Maritime Way of America. It was the farthest route of the Maritime Silk Road, originally from North America around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa to the Indian Ocean, then across the Strait of Malacca to Guangzhou, China, and later via the Pacific Ocean via Sumatra to Guangzhou. In the first year of the Wanli Dynasty (1573), two cargo ships carrying Chinese silk and porcelain arrived in the Mexican port of Acapulco from Manila, marking the official beginning of trade between China and the Americas. For more than 200 years, the "galleon trade" with the Philippines as a transit was the most important trade route between China and the Americas. In the 49th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1784), the American merchant ship "Empress of China" made its maiden voyage to China and sailed into Huangpu Port in Guangzhou. When the Empress of China returned to the United States the following year, it was quickly sold out of Chinese merchandise. The direct opening of the Sino-US route has opened the door to mutual exchange between China and the United States, and promoted the rapid development of trade between China and the United States. On the 12th day of the seventh month of the 23rd year of Daoguang (1843), the joint title of the governor of Liangjiang, Qi Ying and others, recorded that "the ships of various countries came to Guangdong to trade, but England and its port feet were the most, followed by Mirican (the United States), and several were Xiangqi." This shows that trade with China was second only to Britain in the United States at that time. In the development and economic development of the Americas, overseas Chinese and Chinese workers have also made contributions. In the twenty-eighth year of Daoguang (1848), gold was discovered in California, USA, and a large number of laborers were urgently needed for mining, and a large number of overseas Chinese and Chinese workers poured into the United States, and Latin American countries also recruited a large number of workers in China. On the 10th day of the first month of July in the first year of Guangxu (1875), Li Hongzhang reported that Chinese workers were transported to the Americas like piglets, and there were "pig houses" in Macao and other places. In the seventh year of Guangxu Dynasty, China and Brazil signed the Treaty of Reconciliation and Commerce, Article 1 of which stipulates that "each other may go to live abroad" and "each shall be protected for his or her own property", thus providing legitimacy for Brazil to recruit workers in China. In addition to economic trade, China and the United States also exchanged cultures, and the "Geng Money Study Abroad" in the late Qing Dynasty was one of them. From the first year of Xuantong (1909) to the third year of Xuantong (1911), the Qing government sent three batches of Geng students to study in the United States, cultivating a large number of famous talents for modern China. It can be seen from the list of international students in the United States that Mei Yiqi, who later became the lifelong president of Tsinghua University, Hu Gangfu, one of the founders of modern physics in China, and Hu Shi, an advocate of the New Culture Movement, are among them.
Fourth, the important value and unique role of the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties
The systematic arrangement of the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties provides a richer and more authoritative document cornerstone for the study of the Silk Road from the level of dynastic governments and the state. Through the investigation of the archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties, it will help us to correct and re-understand the historical positioning of the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties. First, the Silk Road was not interrupted during the Ming and Qing dynasties, but continued and stretched in earnest. We have noticed that the academic circles at home and abroad highly recognize that the Silk Road is a symbol of the Chinese nation going to the world, and the ups and downs of the Silk Road are closely related to the rise and fall of the Chinese nation. However, for a long period of time, the research on the Silk Road in the academic circles mainly stayed in the Han and Tang dynasties, and the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties was seriously ignored and distorted, and even the existence of the Silk Road in modern China was not recognized. Why was the Silk Road downplayed during the Ming and Qing dynasties? There are roughly two reasons: first, people were influenced by the traditional perception of the Qing Dynasty to close off the country, and once did not recognize the existence of the Silk Road in modern China, and even believed that the Silk Road had a historical blank period. Even if some scholars admit that there was a Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties, they feel that it was a dead end and insignificant. As a result, the historical role of the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties was often seriously weakened. Second, the new world trade rules and order brought about by the wanton colonial aggression of the Western powers in modern times have completely different connotations and influences from the traditional trade exchanges between China and its neighbors near and far, and the process of the gradual promotion of this new colonial trade order by the great powers is also the process of the traditional Chinese mutually beneficial trade order being squeezed out and gradually forgotten. Through excavation and combing, the detailed palace archives fully reveal that the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties was not interrupted, but continued all the time, despite the ups and downs of different time periods. Through these dynastic archives and historical memories, we can hear the sound of camel bells on the land Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and see that the maritime Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties is still a sail film. Second, the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties was not limited to the two classic roads in the traditional narrative, but formed many routes criss-crossed, and at least eight routes can be listed according to the current archival research. For a long time, when it comes to the Silk Road, most people think that it is only the land Silk Road from Xinjiang to the west and the maritime Silk Road from the South China Sea to the West. The excavation of the Silk Road archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties confirms that the Silk Road of the Ming and Qing dynasties not only exists and continues, but also has its own characteristics, and even constitutes a Silk Road network in a specific historical period. This is far from being limited to the traditional simple land road and sea line, but with the development of ancient science and technology and the advent of the ship age, multiple lines are carried out simultaneously, showing the general pattern of China's exchanges with the world during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It should be noted that in modern times, although long-distance maritime trade has gradually become the main form of connecting the world, the East Asian region centered on China is still active in diplomatic and trade activities through land routes, that is to say, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the maritime Silk Road and the land Silk Road have always been parallel, but different stages have their own emphasis. At the same time, Korea, Ryukyu, Vietnam and other countries in the traditional Chinese tributary system still retained the traditional tributary trade before the disintegration of the Chinese tributary system in the late Qing Dynasty. The archival documents that have been handed down to this day provide us with the outline of the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties, that is, the land Silk Road and the maritime Silk Road are divided into four directions. The eight routes of the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties are based on the historical interpretation of the Silk Road based on the excavation of the Ming and Qing archives in the First History Museum, and are the expansion of the ancient Silk Road in the industrial age and the steamship era. This Silk Road framework, which basically covers all China-centered trade routes and trade activities in the Ming and Qing dynasties, is a new interpretation of the end of the history of the Silk Road, and will greatly enrich and change the traditional understanding of the Silk Road. Third, the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties outline the space-time corridor that connects history and reality, and provides an important historical basis and documentary support for the "Belt and Road" national initiative. Through the investigation of the Silk Road archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties, we can roughly restore the trade links between China and the world during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and deepen our historical understanding of the rich and colorful human interactions that took place in this ancient land, which is also the value of these precious archives. We can see the thousands of weather of the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which was an extension of the ancient Silk Road, a criss-crossing long-distance trade circle, and a network of Chinese and foreign exchanges extending in all directions. A large number of archival records of economic and cultural exchanges between China and countries and regions along the Silk Road during the Ming and Qing dynasties fully illustrate the two-way nature of exchanges between the East and the West, and explain the special form of existence and important historical status of the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties. From a certain point of view, as a high-minded "Belt and Road" initiative, the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties is the closest to its time and the most direct historical connection. Through the in-depth excavation of the historical value and cultural connotation of the Ming and Qing Dynasty palace archives, the historical and cultural content of the "Belt and Road" initiative has been further enriched. It can be said that the Silk Road in the Ming and Qing dynasties constituted a Sino-foreign sea and land transportation context that was in line with today's "Belt and Road" framework, and the Silk Road archives in the Ming and Qing dynasties are the historical interpretation of the "Belt and Road" initiative.
Author: Li Guorong, former deputy director and researcher of the First Historical Archives of China, president of the magazine "Historical Archives", director of the Academic Committee of Archives and Literature Compilation of the Chinese Archives Society, secretary-general of the Qing Palace History Research Association, and a national archival leader.
This article is excerpted from the general preface of the "Illustrated Dictionary of Silk Road Archives in the Ming and Qing Dynasties".