View source for Haijin

{{Short description|Isolationist policy in early modern China}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| c = {{linktext|海禁}} | p = Hǎijìn | l = sea ban 
| altname = Suoguo | s2 = {{linktext|锁国}} | t2 = {{linktext|鎖國}} | p2 = Suǒguó | l2 = locked (closed) country
| altname3 = Biguan Suoguo | s3 = {{linktext|闭关锁国}} | t3 = {{linktext|閉關鎖國}} | p3 = Bìguān Suǒguó | l3 = closed border and locked country
}}
The '''Haijin''' ({{lang|zh-Hant|海禁}}) or '''sea ban''' was a series of related policies in China restricting private maritime trading during much of the [[Ming dynasty]] and early [[Qing dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Raymond W. K. Lau |title=Rethinking the Needham Question: A Non-Eurocentric Framework Transcending Dialogism |date=2024 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9789819794720 |page=321}}</ref> The sea ban was an anomaly in Chinese history as such restrictions were unknown during other eras;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stephan Haggard, David C. Kang |title=East Asia in the World: Twelve Events That Shaped the Modern International Order |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108479875 |page=45}}</ref>
the bans were each introduced for specific circumstances, rather than based on an age-old inward orientation.<ref name=inward>{{cite book |last1=Raymond W. K. Lau |title=Rethinking the Needham Question: A Non-Eurocentric Framework Transcending Dialogism |date=2024 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9789819794720 |pages=324–325}}</ref>

In the first sea ban introduced in 1371 by the Ming founder [[Zhu Yuanzhang]], Ming China's legal foreign trade was limited to [[Imperial Chinese tributary system|tribute missions]], placing international trade under a government monopoly.<ref name=raylau2/> Initially imposed to deal with [[Ashikaga shogunate|Japanese]] [[wokou|piracy]] amid anti-Ming insurgency, the Ming was not able to enforce the policy, and trade continued in forms such as [[smuggling]]. The sea ban was counterproductive: smuggling and piracy became endemic periodically (though not continuously),{{sfnp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA15 15]}} mostly perpetrated by Chinese who had been dispossessed by the policy. Piracy dropped to negligible levels upon the end of the policy in 1567. The policy slowed the growth of China's domestic trade, although the empire's weak enforcement of the policy opened the way for an unprecedented commercial revolution from the mid-1500s onward.<ref>{{citation |last = Rowe |first = William |title = China's Last Empire - The Great Qing | year = 2010 | pages = 123–124 | publisher = Harvard University Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KN7Awmzx2PAC |access-date=August 31, 2023| isbn = 9780674054554}}</ref> 

The early Qing dynasty established an anti-insurgent "[[Great Clearance]]" (1661–1683), prohibiting all residence and activities on the coast to weaken Ming loyalists. The order also caused considerable devastating effects on communities along the coast, until the Qing seized control of Ming loyalist bases in [[Taiwan]], then reopened coastal ports to foreign trade. Separately, strict travel restrictions were temporarily implemented during the brief trade ban between 1717 and 1727, also to prevent the growth of anti-Qing resistance. Later, the need to control trade gave birth to the [[Canton System]] of the [[Thirteen Factories]] (1757–1842), where trade was legalised but restricted.

Similar sea bans occurred in other [[East Asia]]n countries, such as the ''[[Sakoku]]'' policy in [[Edo period]] Japan by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]; or the isolationist policies of [[Joseon Korea]], before they were forced to end their isolation militarily in [[Bakumatsu|1853]] and [[Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876|1876]] respectively.

==Ming dynasty==
[[File:Wokou.jpg|right|300px|thumb|A map of [[wokou]] raiding, 14th–16th centuries. The early pirates were mostly based on outlying Japanese islands but targeted the Japanese as well as Korea and Ming China. The later ones were mostly Chinese dispossessed by Ming policy.]]

===Background===
The 14th century was a time of chaos throughout [[East Asia]]. The [[second plague pandemic|second]] [[bubonic plague]] pandemic began in [[Yuan Mongolia|Mongolia]] around 1330{{sfnp|Martin|2001|p=14}} and may have killed the majority of the population in [[Hebei]] and [[Shanxi]] and millions elsewhere.{{sfnp|McNeill|1998}} Another epidemic raged for three years from 1351 to 1354.{{sfnp|McNeill|1998}} Existing revolts over the government salt monopoly and severe floods along the [[Yellow River]] provoked the [[Red Turban Rebellion]]. The declaration of the [[Ming Empire|Ming]] in 1368 did not end its wars with [[Yuan dynasty|Mongol]] remnants under [[Toghon Temür]] in [[Northern Yuan|the north]] and under the [[Basalawarmi|Prince of Liang]] in [[Viceroy of Yun-Gui|the south]]. [[Gongmin of Goryeo|King Gongmin]] of [[Goryeo|Korea]] had begun freeing himself from the Mongols as well, retaking his country's northern provinces, when a [[Red Turban invasions of Goryeo|Red Turban]] invasion devastated the areas and laid waste to [[Pyongyang]]. In Japan, [[Emperor Go-Daigo|Emperor Daigo II]]'s [[Kenmu Restoration]] succeeded in overthrowing the [[Kamakura period|Kamakura shogunate]] but ultimately simply replaced them with the weaker [[Ashikaga shogunate|Ashikaga]]. The loose control over Japan's periphery led to [[wokou|pirates]] setting up bases on the realm's outlying islands,{{sfnp|Wang|1980|p=31}} particularly [[Tsushima Island|Tsushima]], [[Iki Island|Iki]], and the [[Gotō Islands|Gotōs]].<ref name=opa/><ref name=kawazaki/> These [[wokou]] ("Japanese pirates") raided Japan as well as Korea and China.{{sfnp|Wang|1980|p=31}} The followers of rival Chinese warlords [[Zhang Shicheng]] and [[Fang Guozhen]], who had emerged during the collapse of the Yuan but were defeated by the ascendant Ming, also fled to sea where they cooperated with Japanese outlaws to continue resisting the new dynasty.<ref name="raylau">{{cite book |last1=Raymond W. K. Lau |title=Rethinking the Needham Question: A Non-Eurocentric Framework Transcending Dialogism |date=2024 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9789819794720 |page=321}}</ref><ref name=zhangfang/>

The first Ming Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, regarded the Japanese piracy as an act of disrespect to his authority: his message to the [[Ashikaga shogunate|Japanese]] that his army would "capture and exterminate your bandits, head straight for your country, and put your [[emperor of Japan|king]] in bonds"{{sfnp|Kang|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=C7dPlL7_yi4C&pg=PA28 28]}} received the [[Ashikaga shogunate|Ashikaga shogun]]'s reply that "your great empire may be able to invade Japan but our small state is not short of a strategy to defend ourselves", causing the angered Ming Emperor to restrict trade further.<ref name=litt>{{harvp|Li|2010|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA13 13-14]}}.</ref>

===Initial implementation===
[[File:Japanese Pirate Armor (9883075884).jpg|thumb|A suit of wokou armour]]
As a rebel leader, Zhu Yuanzhang promoted foreign trade as a source of revenue.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA90 90]}} As Emperor, however, he issued the first sea ban in 1371.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA116 116]}} All foreign trade was to be conducted by official [[Imperial Chinese tributary system|tribute missions]], handled by representatives of the Ming Empire and its "vassal" states.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA91 91]}}  Private foreign trade was made punishable by death, with the offender's [[collective punishment|family and neighbors exiled]] from their homes.<ref>{{harvp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA3 3]}}.</ref> A few years later, in 1384, the Maritime Trade Intendancies (''Shibo Tiju Si'') at [[Ningbo]], [[Guangzhou]], and [[Quanzhou]] were shuttered.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA116 116]}} Ships, docks, and shipyards were destroyed and ports sabotaged with rocks and pine stakes.<ref name=lifo>{{harvp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA4 4]}}.</ref> Although the policy is now associated with imperial China generally, it was then at odds with Chinese tradition, which had pursued foreign trade as a source of revenue and become particularly important under the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]], [[Song dynasty|Song]], and [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]].<ref name=lifo/>

The Ming's third ruler the [[Yongle emperor]] launched the [[treasure voyages]] of [[Zheng He]], which were partly intended to monopolise overseas trade under the government.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mote |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory07mote |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=270}}</ref> The Yongle emperor succeeded in dramatically reducing piracy after 1403 by striking an agreement with Japan's [[Ashikaga Yoshimitsu]], restoring full tribute trade privileges and sending Ming fleets to Japan to help defeat the pirates.{{sfnp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA15 15]}} The initial wave of Japanese pirates were independently dealt with by [[Chŏng Mong-ju]] and [[Imagawa Sadayo]], who returned their booty and slaves to Korea;<ref name=opa>{{citation |last=Ōta |first=Kōki |title=''『倭寇: 日本あふれ活動史』 [''Wakō: Nihon Afure Katsudōshi'']'' |publisher=Bungeisha |date=2004 |page=98 }}. {{in lang|ja}}</ref><ref name=kawazaki>{{citation |last=Kawazoe |first=Shōji |title=''「対外関係の史的展開」 [''Taigai Kankei no Shiteki Tenkai'']'' |publisher=Bunken Shuppan |date=1996 |page=167 }}. {{in lang|ja}}</ref> [[Ashikaga Yoshimitsu]] delivered 20 more to China in 1405, which boiled them alive in a cauldron in [[Ningbo]].<ref>{{citation |first=Yosaburō |last=Takekoshi |title=The Economic Aspects of the History of the Civilization of Japan |date=1967 |page=344 }}.</ref>

However, [[Emperor Yingzong of Ming]]'s capture at the [[Battle of Tumu]] in 1449 greatly increased Mongol boldness in frontier attacks, while the still-growing private overseas trade caused price competition for the Ming government's import purchases, such as warhorses for the northern frontier. Hence, while Chinese trade within Asia continued after the treasure voyages, the Ming shifted their resources away from maritime affairs to deal with the Mongol threat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Waley-Cohen |first1=Joanna |title=The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History |date=2000 |publisher=W. W. Norton and Company |location=New York, London |isbn=039324251X |page=49}}</ref> As the Ming became increasingly focused on their north, the court also neglected tributary trade missions arriving at the maritime frontier; after 1500, maritime tribute missions mostly stopped and those few that continued were treated as purely commercial transactions in the port cities, without visiting the capital. The court thus failed to notice the ensuing rapid changes in global trade.<ref name=vol8/> Private, including unauthorised, Chinese trade in Southeast Asia expanded rapidly in the second half of the Ming dynasty.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mote |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory07mote |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=256}}</ref> When the Portuguese arrived in Malacca and the Moluccas in the early 1500s, trade patterns shifted as armed European ships started to bypass Muslim merchant networks and engage with private Chinese and Japanese merchants. This rise in private merchants coupled with the court prioritizing the northern frontier led to the collapse of the tribute trade system and its replacement by widespread smuggling.<ref name=vol8>{{cite book |last1=Fairbank|first1=John King |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 8: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |date=1978 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=323–325}}</ref>

Under the [[Jiajing Emperor]], after two Japanese factions [[Ningbo incident|clashed over the right to conduct the tribute trade mission]] in 1523, the emperor restricted trade further, causing sea raiders to [[Jiajing wokou raids|overrun the entire southeastern coast]].{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA6 6-7]}}

Nonetheless, because the sea ban was added by the Hongwu Emperor to his ''[[Ancestral Injunctions]]'',<ref name=lifo/> it continued to be broadly kept through most of the rest of his dynasty. For the next two centuries, the rich farmland of the south and the military theaters of the north were linked almost solely by the [[Jinghang Canal]].<ref>{{harvp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA168 168]}}.</ref>

===Rationale===
[[File:Hui'an Chongwu Cheng 20120302-20.jpg|thumb|A gate of the [[Chongwu]] Fortress in Fujian, built c. 1384]]
Although the policy has generally been ascribed to national defense against the pirates,{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA90 90]}} it was so obviously counterproductive and yet carried on for so long that other explanations have been offered. The initial conception seems to have been to use the Japanese need for Chinese goods to force them to terms.<ref name=litt/> The Hongwu emperor seemed to indicate that the policy was designed to prevent foreign nations from collaborating with his subjects to challenge his rule; for instance, Srivijaya was banned from trading as the emperor suspected them of spying.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mote |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory07mote |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=169}}</ref> It may have been the case that the Hongwu Emperor prioritized protecting his state against the [[Northern Yuan dynasty|Northern Yuan]] remnants, giving little attention to the maritime frontier defences. In the absence of a comprehensive frontier policy, the emperor attempted to use trade restrictions to manipulate foreign states like Japan and the former followers of rival Chinese warlords such as Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen into submission.<ref name=zhangfang>{{harvp|Li|2010|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA12 12-14]}}.</ref><ref name="raylau"/> The emperor's mention of the restrictions in his ''[[Ancestral Injunctions]]''<ref name=lifo/> may have been responsible for their continuation.

The usage of trade was also a powerful tool to entice foreign governments to abide by the tributary system and pressure uncooperative leaders.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mote |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory07mote |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=396}}</ref> The Ming state hence had a vested interest in maintaining the sea ban to protect the government trade monopoly and its associated benefits in diplomacy.<ref name=raylau2/> This interest, while powerful, may not have been enough on its own to motivate Chinese leaders to maintain the bans. The tribute system created undue stress according to the [[Ming Shilu]]. In an entry from May 1390, it is detailed that: "...the transport was difficult and it caused hardship for the people."<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Entry {{!}} Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu |url=https://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/reign/hong-wu/year-23-month-intercalary-4-day-3 |access-date=2025-07-30 |website=epress.nus.edu.sg}}</ref> Entries like these reflect the strain that a centralized, tribute-based trade system may have placed on the Chinese public. It is also possible that the bans were counteractive to China's economic growth. Tribute missions were so demanding that the government often placed restrictions on how often foreign traders could come to court.<ref name=":4" />

Parallels with Song and Yuan measures restricting outflows of [[bullion]] have led some to argue that it was intended to support the Hongwu Emperor's [[Ming currency|printing of fiat currency]],{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA90 90]}} whose use was continued by his successors as late as 1450. (By 1425, rampant [[counterfeit]]ing and [[hyperinflation]] meant people were already trading at about 0.014% of their original value.){{sfnp|Fairbank & al.|2006|p=134}}

Kangying Li asserts that the sea ban was a side effect of Zhu Yuanzhang's desire to elevate [[Confucianism|Confucian]] [[ren (Confucianism)|humaneness]] ({{lang|zh|{{linktext|仁}}}}, ''ren'') and eliminate greed from the realm's foreign relations.{{sfnp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA24 24–5]}} In Li's view, the sea ban could be linked to other early Ming policies such as sumptuary laws and land redistribution which attempted to curb luxury and wealth inequality, and hence shore up the legitimacy of the Ming regime. For the emperor, wealthy merchants living decadent lifestyles and buying up huge tracts of land were a threat to the smallholding peasantry which he saw as the foundation of Ming power.{{sfnp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA26 26-42]}}  Others suggest that the sea ban was a ploy to weaken the realm's southern subjects to the benefit of the central government.<ref name="Embree">{{citation |last1=Embree |first1=Ainslie Thomas |author1-link=Ainslie Embree |last2=Gluck |first2=Carol |author-link2=Carol Gluck |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Embree & al.|1997}} |title=Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching |year=1997 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=[[Armonk, New York|Armonk]] |isbn=978-1-56324-264-9 |oclc=32349203 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/asiainwesternwor00ains }}.</ref> 

===Effects===
[[File:WakouAttack.jpg|thumb|Attacks by the wokou. Fourteenth-century painting]]
Although the sea ban left the Ming army free to extirpate the remaining Yuan loyalists and secure China's borders, it tied up local resources. 74 coastal garrisons were established from Guangzhou in [[Guangdong]] to [[Shandong]];<ref name=lifo/> under the [[Yongle Emperor]], these outposts were notionally manned by 110,000 subjects.<ref name=cai>{{citation |last=Tsai |first=Henry Shih-shan |date=2001 |title=Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=0-295-98124-5 }}.</ref> The loss of income from taxes on trade<ref name=lifo/> contributed to chronic funding difficulties throughout the Ming, particularly for [[Zhejiang]] and [[Fujian]] provinces.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA7 7]}} The Ming also spent heavily on managing the tribute missions: the cost of accommodation for the embassy, escorting them to the capital and back, and presenting diplomatic gifts outweighed any profits the Ming received through the tribute trade.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA6 6]}}

The policy offered too little—decennial tribute trade missions—to meet the massive Japanese demand for Chinese goods, forcing the populace into smuggling for survival and worsening instability along the coast.<ref name=litt/> Whenever coastal defences attempted to interfere with the smuggling, the smugglers would turn to pillaging and kidnapping for ransom,<ref name=litt/> increasing the problem it was purporting to solve.<ref name=list>{{harvp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA17 17]}}.</ref> In the 16th century [[Jiajing wokou raids]], the "Japanese", "[[Wokou|dwarf]]", and "[[dongyi|eastern barbarian]]" pirates were mostly non-Japanese.{{sfnp|Wang|1980|p=31}}<ref name=list/><ref>{{harvp|Li|2010|[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA11 11]}}</ref>

The sea ban was largely unenforceable from its earliest years, and no effective enforcement was ever implemented. Local authorities themselves were frequently involved in the illicit trade, and usually ignored edicts to restrict trade. Military officers brokered trade deals and the wealthy families in the coastal settlements depended on its income. Ordinary workers found employment in trade-related industries. Many of the official posts to enforce trade regulations were left vacant and the court generally ignored the issue of overseas trade. In the 1520s the emperor rejected all attempts to halt illegal trade as these came from officials who had opposed the [[Great Rites Controversy|emperor's policy on rituals]], and very little trade took place under governmental channels instead of illicit means. The Grand Secretary of the court in the 1530s was from coastal Zhejiang province, and he proceeded to block any attempt to enforce the sea ban.  The most significant attempt to crush out the illicit trade was made by [[Zhu Wan]], an official appointed by the court in the 1540s, but just as he was making headway in wiping out the smugglers he was removed by the court on accusations of unauthorised killings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mote |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory07mote |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=168–169, 302, 396, 490–495, 509}}</ref> Bribery and disinterest occasionally permitted more leeway, as when the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] began trading at Guangzhou (1517), [[Shuangyu]] ("Liampo"), and [[Quanzhou]] ("Chincheu"),{{sfnp|''Knight's''|1841|p=[https://archive.org/details/b22013325/page/136 136]}} but crackdowns also occurred, as with the expulsion of the Portuguese in the 1520s, on the islands off Ningbo and [[Zhangzhou]] in 1547, or at [[Yuegang]] in 1549.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA117 117]}} The Portuguese were permitted to settle at [[Portuguese Macao|Macao]] in 1557, but only after several years of helping the Chinese suppress piracy.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA118 118]}}

Hence, trade with Japan continued unobstructed despite the embargo, through Chinese smugglers, Southeast Asian ports, or Portuguese; China remained entirely integrated in the world trading system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Waley-Cohen |first1=Joanna |title=The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History |date=2000 |publisher=W. W. Norton and Company |location=New York, London |isbn=039324251X |pages=52–54}}</ref> According to Kaoru Sugihara, China's restrictions on trade were less stringent than feudal restrictions on merchants in Europe and Japan, and Chinese traders relentlessly sought out foreign markets for Chinese exports. China's merchants from the mid-1500s prospered as much as those of any other nation operating in Asian waters.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Flynn|first1=Dennis Owen|last2=Giraldez|first2=Arturo|date=2002|title=Cycles of Silver: Global Economic Unity through the Mid-Eighteenth Century|journal=Journal of World History|volume=13|issue=2|page=402|doi=10.1353/jwh.2002.0035|s2cid=145805906|issn=1527-8050|quote=Feudal restrictions are likely to have been more severe in Continental Europe and Japan than in China [...]}}</ref>

On the other hand, coupled with the end of the expensive treasure voyages, the sea ban had the effect of suspending development of Chinese long-distance shipbuilding and navigation, replacing those with shorter Chinese smuggling routes in the East China Sea and South China Sea.<ref name=inward/>

===Global trade developments===
{{see also|Global silver trade from the 16th to 18th centuries|Manila galleon}}
[[File:Andres_Urdaneta_Tornaviaje.jpg|thumb|Northerly trade route as used by eastbound Manila galleons]]
European nations had a great desire for Chinese goods such as [[silk industry in China|silk]] and [[porcelain]],<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Flynn|first1=Dennis O.|last2=Giráldez|first2=Arturo|date=1995|title=Born with a "Silver Spoon": The Origin of World Trade in 1571|journal=Journal of World History|volume=6|issue=2|pages=201–221|jstor=20078638}}</ref> but Europeans did not have any goods which China desired except silver. Silver hence became the primary export to China to make up for the trade deficit.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Reorient|last=Frank|first=Andre|date=July 1998|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520214743|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/reorient00andr}}</ref> Aware of China's shortage of silver for use as currency in China's surging economy, Japanese warlords in [[Kyushu]] sought to increase silver production, needed to trade for Chinese luxury goods in high demand in Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Xing |first1=Hang |title=Conflict and Commerce in Maritime East Asia: The Zheng Family and the Shaping of the Modern World, c.1620–1720 |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107121843 |pages=28–29}}</ref> From the 1540s, silver imports into China acted as the cog running the wheel of global trade.<ref name="Flynn 2002 391–427">{{Cite journal|last1=Flynn|first1=Dennis Owen|last2=Giraldez|first2=Arturo|date=2002|title=Cycles of Silver: Global Economic Unity through the Mid-Eighteenth Century|journal=Journal of World History|volume=13|issue=2|pages=391–427|doi=10.1353/jwh.2002.0035|s2cid=145805906|issn=1527-8050}}</ref> 

Spain discovered vast amounts of silver, such as in the [[Potosí]] silver mines, to fuel their trade. Spanish America became the world's cheapest source of silver,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=011/llsl011.db&recNum=184|title=A Century of Lawmaking|website=Library of Congress|access-date=May 23, 2018}}</ref> producing 40,000 tons of silver in 200 years.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Silver, Trade, and War: Spain and America in the Making of Early Modern Europe|url=https://archive.org/details/silvertradewarsp00stei|url-access=limited|last1=Stein|first1=Stanley J.|last2=Stein|first2=Barbara H.|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/silvertradewarsp00stei/page/n32 21]|isbn=9780801861352 }}</ref> The ultimate destination for the mass amounts of silver produced in the world was China.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last1=Flynn|first1=Dennis O.|last2=Giráldez|first2=Arturo|date=2002|title=Cycles of Silver: Global Economic Unity through the Mid-Eighteenth Century|journal=Journal of World History|volume=13|issue=2|pages=391–427|jstor=20078977|doi=10.1353/jwh.2002.0035|s2cid=145805906}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> From 1500 to 1800, Mexico and Peru produced about 80%<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Flynn|first=Dennis O.|date=1995|title=Born with a "Silver Spoon": The Origin of World Trade in 1571|journal=Journal of World History|publisher=University of Hawaii Press}}</ref> of the world's silver with 30% of it eventually ending up in China.  In the late 16th and early 17th century, Japan also heavily exported silver into China.<ref name=":0" /> The discovery of the [[Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine|Iwami silver mines]] triggered Chinese merchants to swarm at Kyushu ports by 1540, overpowering the Ming's ability to regulate trade through the tributary system and turning the island of [[Shuangyu]] into a major smuggling post for silver imports.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stephan Haggard, David C. Kang |title=East Asia in the World: Twelve Events That Shaped the Modern International Order |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108479875 |pages=50–51}}</ref>

While large amounts of silver crossed the Pacific directly from the Americas,<ref name=":7" /> major outposts for the silver trade were in Southeast Asia such as in the Philippines,<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last1=Flynn|first1=Dennis O.|last2=Giraldez|first2=Arturo|date=1996|title=Silk for Silver: Manila-Macao Trade in the 17th Century|journal=Philippine Studies|volume=44|issue=1|pages=52–68|jstor=42634185}}</ref> and Manila served as a primary outpost for exchange of goods between the Americas, Japan, India, Indonesia and China.<ref name=":8" /> The galleon trade was supplied by merchants largely from ports of Fujian who traveled to Manila to sell the Spaniards spices, [[porcelain]], [[ivory]], [[lacquerware]], [[silk]] cloth and other valuable commodities.<ref>{{citation|last=Brook|first=Timothy|title=The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuMcHWWbXqMC|pages=205|year=1998|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-21091-3|authorlink=Timothy Brook}}
*{{citation|author=[[Charles C. Mann]]|title=1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IqaMEWNvsJQC|pages=149–150|year=2011|publisher=Random House Digital|isbn=978-0-307-59672-7}}</ref> Trade with Ming China via Manila served as a major source of revenue for the [[Spanish Empire]] and for Spanish in the Philippines. The trade became so lucrative that [[Seville]] merchants petitioned [[Philip II of Spain|their king]] to protect the monopoly of Seville's [[Casa de Contratación]]. This led to a 1593 decree that set a limit of two ships sailing each year from either Acapulco and Manila, with one kept in reserve in each port, and further limits on cargo quantities. Smuggling became widespread as Chinese and Spanish merchants cooperated to circumvent these Spanish rules.<ref name="CharlesMann">{{citation|author=Charles C. Mann|author-link=Charles C. Mann|title=1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IqaMEWNvsJQC|pages=123–163|year=2011|publisher=Random House Digital|isbn=9780307596727}}</ref>

====Lifting====
{{multiple image
 | image1 = Boîte, M.C. 2720.jpg
 | image2 = Boîte, M.C. 2720(3).jpg
 | footer = Porcelain, a valuable trade commodity, from the Longqing era. The underside displays the porcelain mark "Made in the Longqing [era] of the Great Ming."
}}
Pirate-smuggler groups continued to proliferate, and one such outlaw [[Wang Zhi (pirate)|Wang Zhi]] established a base at [[Hirado, Nagasaki|Hirado]] and the [[Gotō Islands]] in Japan and declared himself the King of Hui (徽, named after his home region of [[Huizhou, Anhui|Huizhou]] in [[Anhui]] province). In 1552, Wang sent a petition to the Ming court to abolish the sea ban. Although Wang was executed by the Ming in 1559 while attempting to reconcile with the court, it was clear to many court officials that the cause of piracy was the sea ban, and lobbied for its abolition.<ref name=raylau2>{{cite book |last1=Raymond W. K. Lau |title=Rethinking the Needham Question: A Non-Eurocentric Framework Transcending Dialogism |date=2024 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9789819794720 |pages=322–323}}</ref>

Piracy dropped to negligible levels only after the general abolition of the policy in 1567{{sfnp|Deng|1999}} upon the ascension of the [[Longqing Emperor]] and at the urging of the [[governor of Fujian]] Tu Zemin. Chinese merchants for both maritime and overland trade could apply for permits to engage in all foreign trade except with Japan (although some still traded there anyway, and Japanese traders also set themselves up in Southeast Asia to trade with incoming Chinese)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kangying Li |title=The Ming Maritime Trade Policy in Transition, 1368 to 1567 |date=2010 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=9783447061728 |page=177}}</ref> or involving weapons or other contraband goods; these included iron, sulfur, and copper. The number of foreign traders was capped by a license and quota system; no trading could take them away from China for longer than a year.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA118 118]}} The lifting of the sea ban coincided with the arrival of the first Spanish galleons from the Americas, creating a global trade link that would not be interrupted until the following century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mote |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory07mote |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=504–505}}</ref>

Maritime trade intendancies were re-established at Guangzhou and Ningbo in 1599, and Chinese merchants turned Yuegang (modern [[Haicheng, Fujian|Haicheng]], Fujian) into a thriving port.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA7 7]}}{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA118 118]}}

The end of the sea ban did not mark an imperial change of heart, however, so much as a recognition that the weakness of the later Ming state made it impossible to continue the prohibition. The state continued to attempt to regulate trade as heavily as it could, and foreigners were restricted to doing business through approved agents, with prohibitions against any direct business with ordinary Chinese.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA8 8]}} Accommodations could be made, but were slow in coming: the merchants of Yuegang were trading heavily with the Spanish within a year of [[Kingdom of Maynila|Maynila]]'s 1570 [[Spanish conquest of the Philippines|conquest]] by [[Martín de Goiti]]{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA118 118]}} but it was not until 1589 that the throne approved the city's requests for more merchant licenses to expand the trade.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA119 119]}} A 1613 edict prohibited maritime trade between the lands north and south of the Yangtze River, attempting to put a stop to captains claiming to be heading to Jiangsu and then diverting to Japan.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA281 281]}} Fu Yuanchu's 1639 memorial to the throne made the case that trade between [[Fujian]] and [[Dutch Formosa]] had made bans entirely unworkable.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA281 281]}}

==Qing dynasty==
[[File:Koxinga_territory.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Territory held ''(red)'' or influenced ''(pink)'' by [[Koxinga]] and his [[Southern Ming|Ming partisans]]/[[Kingdom of Tungning|pirates]]]]

===Background===
As the [[Qing Empire|Qing]] [[Qing conquest of the Ming|expanded south]] following [[Shanhai Pass|their victory at Shanhai Pass]], the [[Southern Ming]] were supported by the [[House of Koxinga|Zheng clan]]. [[Zheng Zhilong]] surrendered the passes through Zhejiang in exchange for a wealthy retirement, but his son [[Zheng Chenggong]]—better known by his [[Hokkien language|Hokkien]] honorific Koxinga—continued to resist from [[Xiamen]] but were driven from their mainland bases in 1661. After wresting its control from the [[Dutch Formosa|Dutch]], the [[House of Koxinga]] developed [[Taiwan Island|Taiwan]] as the [[Kingdom of Tungning]].

===Policy===
{{see also|Great Clearance}}
[[File:Koxinga, 2 cash, Yong Li Tong Bao, seal script.jpg|thumb|Bronze coin minted in Nagasaki for Koxinga's forces, inscribed [[Zhu Youlang|Yong Li]] Tong Bao in seal script]]
The [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] [[Dorgon#Dorgon's regency (1643–1650)|regent]] [[Dorgon|Prince Rui]] resumed the sea ban in 1647, but it was not effective until a more severe order followed in 1661{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA8 8]}} upon the ascension of the [[Kangxi Emperor]]. In an evacuation as the "[[Great Clearance]]" or "Frontier Shift", coastal residents of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, [[Jiangsu]], and parts of Shandong were required to destroy their property{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA8 8]}} and move inland {{nowrap|30–50 [[Li (unit)|li]]}} (about {{convert|16|-|26|km|abbr=on|sp=us|disp=or|0}}), with [[Qing army|Qing soldiers]] erecting boundary markers and enforcing the death penalty on those beyond it. Ships were destroyed, and foreign trade was again limited to that passing through [[Portuguese Macao|Macao]].{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA8 8]}} Checks and adjustments were made the following year, and the inhabitants of five [[county (China)|counties]]—[[Panyu District|Panyu]], [[Shunde]], [[Xinhui]], [[Dongguan]], and [[Zhongshan]]—moved again the year after that. Following numerous high-level memorials, the evacuation was no longer enforced after 1669.{{sfnp|Hayes|1974|p=119}} In 1684, following the destruction of [[Kingdom of Tungning|Tungning]], other bans were lifted.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA8 8]}} The year after that, customs offices were established in Guangzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and [[Songjiang Town|Songjiang]] to deal with foreign trade.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA9 9]}}

Repressive Qing policies such as the [[queue (hairstyle)|queue]] caused Chinese traders to [[Chinese diaspora|emigrate]] in such large numbers, however, that the [[Kangxi Emperor]] began to fear the military implications. The immigrant community in [[Jakarta]] was estimated at 100,000 and imperial agents were sent to [[Luzon]] to investigate rumors that a Ming heir was living there.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA9 9]}} A ban on trade in the "[[South China Sea|Southern Sea]]" followed in 1717, with tighter port inspections and travel restrictions.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA9 9]}} Emigrants were ordered to return to China within the next three years upon penalty of death; those emigrating in future were to face the same punishment.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA9 9]}}

===Relaxation===
Legal trade in the South China Sea resumed in 1727,{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA9 9]}} but the [[British East India Company|East India Company]]'s discovery that the prices and duties at Ningbo were both much lower than those at Guangzhou prompted them to begin shifting their trade north from 1755 to 1757.{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA10 10]}} The [[Qianlong Emperor]]'s attempt to discourage this shift through higher fees failed; in the winter of 1757, he declared that—effective the next year—Guangzhou (then [[romanization of Chinese|romanized]] as "Canton") was to be the only Chinese port permitted to foreign traders,{{sfnp|Shi|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mLBgaa8d4aMC&pg=PA10 10]}} beginning the [[Canton System]], with its [[Cohong]] and [[Thirteen Factories]]. Under the Canton system, the Qianlong Emperor restricted foreign merchants to trade only with licensed Chinese merchants, while the British government on their part issued a monopoly charter for trade only to the [[British East India Company]]. This arrangement was not challenged until the 19th century when the idea of free trade was popularised in the West.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conrad Schirokauer |last2=Miranda Brown |title=A Brief History of Chinese Civilization |date=2012 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0495913238 |page=221 |edition=4, illustrated}}</ref> Chinese merchants trading at foreign ports, on the other hand, were not affected by any of these regulations.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Waley-Cohen |first1=Joanna |title=The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History |date=2000 |publisher=W. W. Norton and Company |location=New York, London |isbn=039324251X |pages=99}}</ref> Chinese merchants could also trade freely and legally with Westerners (Spanish and Portuguese) in Xiamen and Macao, or with any country when trade was conducted through ports outside China such as Manila and Batavia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Peer Vries |title=State, Economy and the Great Divergence: Great Britain and China, 1680s-1850s |date=2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1472526403 |pages=353–354}}</ref> The Canton system did not completely affect Chinese trade with the rest of the world as Chinese merchants, with their large three-masted ocean junks, were heavily involved in global trade. By sailing to and from [[Siam]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Philippines]], they were major facilitators of the global trading system; the era was even described by Carl Trocki as a "Chinese century" of global commerce.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Po  |first=Chung-yam |date=28 June 2013 |publisher=Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg |title=Conceptualizing the Blue Frontier: The Great Qing and the Maritime World in the Long Eighteenth Century |pages=149–150 |url=http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/18877/1/PhD_Dissertation_CyPO.pdf }}</ref> 

===Effects===
The initial Qing sea ban curtailed Koxinga's influence on the Chinese mainland and ended with [[Kingdom of Tungning|his state]]'s defeat, which brought [[Taiwan Island|Taiwan]] into the [[Qing Empire]].

Nonetheless, it was quite harmful to the Chinese themselves, as documented in governors' and viceroys' memorials to the throne. Even before the Kangxi Emperor's restrictions, Jin Fu's 1659 memorial to the throne argued that the ban on foreign trade was limiting China's access to silver, harmfully restricting the money supply, and that lost trading opportunities cost Chinese merchants 7 or 8 million [[tael]]s a year.{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA216 216]}} European countries' trade with China was so extensive that they were forced to risk silver deficits to supply merchants in Asia.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Immobile Empire—The first great collision of East and West—the astonishing history of Britain's grand, ill-fated expedition to open China to Western Trade, 1792–94|last=Peyrefitte|first=Alain|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|year=1992}}</ref> As supplies of silver decreased in Europe, Europeans had less ability to purchase highly coveted Chinese goods. Merchants were no longer able to sustain the China trade through profits made by selling Chinese goods in the West and were forced to take bullion out of circulation in Europe to buy goods in China.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Rebellions and Revolutions: China from the 1800s to 2000|last=Gray|first=Jack|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|location=New York|pages=22–3}}</ref>

The policies revived piracy along the coast, while also providing a boon for [[Fences in Ming China|black markets]].{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} The Great Clearance was completely disruptive to China's southern coasts. Of the roughly 16,000 residents of [[Xin'an County (Bao'an)|Xin'an County]] (roughly modern [[Shenzhen]] and [[Hong Kong]]) who were driven inland in 1661, only 1,648 were recorded returning in 1669. Powerful [[typhoon]]s that year and in 1671 further destroyed local communities and discouraged resettlement.{{sfnp|Hayes|1974|p=119}} When trade restrictions were released, Fujian and Guangdong saw enormous outflows of migrants. The conflicts between the [[Punti|former residents]] and the newcomers such as the [[Hakka people|Hakka]] provoked lingering feuds that erupted into [[Punti-Hakka Clan Wars|local wars]] in the 1850s and 1860s and that fueled Guangdong's piracy into the 20th century.{{sfnp|Hayes|1974|pp=127–8}}

The restrictions imposed by the Qianlong Emperor that established the Canton System were highly lucrative for Guangzhou's Cohong<ref>{{cite book |last = Downs |first =  Jacques M.  |year = 1997 |title = The Golden Ghetto: The American Commercial Community at Canton and the Shaping of American China Policy, 1784-1844 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Tw4wBQAAQBAJ | publisher = Lehigh University Press; reprinted, Hong Kong University Press, 2014| location = Bethlehem, PA  |isbn = 0934223351|page=4}}
</ref>—the merchant [[Howqua]] became one of the world's wealthiest individuals—and normalized Guangzhou's tax base and inflow of foreign silver. Since imports were mostly [[bullion]], however, there emerged strong pressure on the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]]—for whom tea had become [[British tea culture|the national drink]] over the course of the 17th century—to find any means possible to adjust the balance of trade. This turned out to be [[History of opium in China|opium]] grown on [[plantation]]s in [[Company rule in India|India]], which became so lucrative and important that the [[Viceroy of Liangguang|viceroy]] [[Lin Zexu]]'s vigorous enforcement of existing laws against the smuggling of opium prompted the [[First Opium War]] and the beginning of the [[Unequal treaty|unequal treaties]] that restricted Qing sovereignty in the 19th century. The 1842 [[Treaty of Nanking]] opened the ports of Xiamen ("Amoy"), [[Fuzhou]] ("Fuchow"), Ningbo ("Ningpo"), and [[Shanghai]], but legal trade continued to be limited to specified ports to [[Xinhai Revolution|the end of the dynasty]].

==See also==
* [[Economy of the Ming dynasty]]
* [[Sakoku]]
* [[Great Divergence]]

==References==

===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

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[[Category:Foreign relations of the Ming dynasty]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of the Qing dynasty]]
[[Category:Isolationism]]
[[Category:History of foreign trade in China]]
[[Category:Maritime history of China]]