Introduction to Quanzhou Trade
By Angela Schottenhammer
In the Confucian tradition neither trade nor the social status of merchants were looked upon
as worthy of appreciation. While this should be acknowledged, caution should be observed
about generalizing this negative attitude towards trade in ancient Chinese history. We know
that commercial relations in China have never been completely suppressed, interregional
trade especially has indeed even been promoted by certain emperors. Archaeological evidence
has proved that early interregional trade relations can be traced back at least to the 6th and
7th centuries BC, for some luxury articles like lapis lazuli perhaps even to the
third millennium BC. The goods that were to be exchanged were transported from China to
the West and vice versa along the famous "Silk Road". Silk, as the epithet "silk road"
already suggests, was the supreme Chinese export commodity, the epitome of what all
foreign merchants longed for, at least at this early date. Overseas trade relations have existed
since the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220); in this era it is possible to find documented
evidence for the dispatch of envoys from the Roman Empire to China. Moving on to the first
centuries of the Christian era Persian and Arabian merchants played a prominent role in
building up and consolidating commercial contacts with countries to the east, including
various kingdoms in India, in the Street of Malacca, and the Malay Peninsula, to mention
only a few of their ports of call. They also extended their networks to the Chinese mainland.
These merchants had already established foreign settlements in Guangzhou (Canton) by the
7th and 8th centuries.
Quanzhou in the province Fujian is also well-known for its historical overseas trade relations.
From the 9th to the 11th century its overseas trade experienced an unremitting boom period
and by the Southern Song (1127-1278) and Yuan Dynasties (1279-1367), it reached its zenith.
We know this from several Chinese and foreign sources, which describe the lively
commercial intercourse at Quanzhou and the great number of ships, which arrived there
every year in very general terms. But where did this flourishing overseas trade come from
and what particular features characterized it in the Song Dynasty, the very time period during
which the trade underwent decisive political and economic changes? It serves little purpose
to try to explain this economic surge in its own terms using arguments like "The economic
upswing took place because of steady economic development". This can be dismissed as a
tautological circle, which is unfortunately a relatively favourite way of
argumentation.
An explanation of the special development of Quanzhou's overseas trade during the Song
Dynasty, demands more than a study of the contemporary local political, economic and
geographical circumstances - by analysing both written sources and archaeological remains
-, it requires the simultaneous consideration of the nation-wide politico-economic
interrelationship of Song China; that is to say, the local development of Quanzhou cannot
be satisfactorily explained by leaving aside or neglecting the development of the central
state, of which it was part. The Song government did indeed exert a significant influence on
the progressive development of this local trade, although, in the beginning, officially it took
only a cursory interest in it. There can be no doubt that it is essential to explain the specific
relationship between the state and this locally-based trade.
Some current, overwhelming Chinese, explanations tend to trace the economic boom in the
overseas trade back to deficiencies in local agricultural conditions which prompted the
people of Quanzhou to look for destinations overseas from where they could procure their
food supplies, as well as other products not native to the region. Close examination shows
this is unfounded. Firstly, to develop international trade relations all parties involved must
have adequate economic means at their disposal and a surplus of products which they can
exchange. If the people of Quanzhou were so destitute, what would they have used as an
exchange commodity in order to procure what they lacked? Deficiency in a local economy
can therefore never be the reason for the development of a flourishing trade. The idea that
it was only after Quanzhou had once been forced to import grain from other regions (because
of increasing population) that the local farmers were compelled to redirect their land use
towards the production of commercial articles or otherwise allow their land to lie waste in
order to engage in some profit-yielding activities, also seems unlikely. The second
consideration hinges on the fact that it was not agricultural produce which formed the
mainstay of this trade. This honour fell to items like porcelain and silk, aromatics, jewels and
the likes, namely products which can be categorized as luxury goods. Following this logic
yet another question obtrudes: who would want and could buy all the articles foreign and
Chinese merchants brought to Quanzhou if everybody was poor? Even, if all the articles
were transported directly to the Imperial Court, some Chinese merchants had first to advance
the money.
We know from the written sources that it was not the Song government which "initiated" this
overseas trade. In fact it did not even show any particular ambition to promote it at the
inception of the dynasty, only engaging in it at a time when it was already
flourishing.
A contrary picture emerges from a more serious study of sources. These tell us that the
description of Quanzhou varies at different periods of time and, cogently, complaints about
bad agricultural and living conditions, as a rule, were not expressed during Northern Song
Dynasty. Pertinently archaeological evidence has proved that a considerable area, which later
became waste land, was densely populated and built up in Song times. We can also learn
more about the specific relationship of the flourishing port and the direction of its hinterland
to commercial purposes, a fact which turns out to be very interesting in connection with the
development of local industries.
Starting port
In modern Chinese articles dealing with the history of this overseas trade, Quanzhou is,
generally speaking, referred to as "the starting port of the overseas silk and porcelain road".
This is intriguing as that in Song times silk was not produced on a large scale in Quanzhou.
Does this mean, that this main export commodity was produced at other places and had to
be transported to Quanzhou first? Also very famous kilns for the production of porcelain
were - with the exception of Dehua - situated at other, different places. Interestingly, the
written sources tell us that it was usually not high quality porcelain that was exported, but
products of a medium or lower quality, items which would be more likely to meet the
criterion of being suitable to "survive" transportation by ship. So, was it really porcelain
that was exported from Quanzhou or various kinds of stoneware?
If at least some of the products were also produced in Quanzhou, we have to ask, where
were they produced, how did they rank in the quality stakes, and who provided the financial
means for the production? To give more satisfactory answers to these questions recent
archaeological excavations in Quanzhou and its hinterland as well as an investigation of the
local natural and technical conditions should be instigated and the results compared with the
written sources. A more detailed analysis of archaeological relics and written sources could
thus provide further information about the structure of local craft and manufacturing during
the Song Dynasty. (The fact that by Song times Quanzhou was integrated into a
supraregional transport and market system has already been sufficiently proved by several
Chinese, Japanese, and Western scholars). A comparison with remains of porcelain found
overseas shows which products were specially produced for export and to which countries
they were shipped. The situation with silk is a bit more difficult, because it is highly unusual
for any of it to have survived. For the most part we are forced to rely on contemporary
written sources and subject them to a critical investigation. Yet another item which requires
deeper examination is the local metal manufacturing.
Only by examining this local development within its specific historical context will it be
possible not only to state facts, but also to explain an early example of a local economic
boom, based mainly on overseas trade. This is why the specific reference of the Song
government to the flourishing overseas trade in Quanzhou may not be overlooked. The
government did not decide to organize and promote this overseas trade officially before the
late 11th century, in other words at a time when the economic rise of the Quanzhou overseas
trade was already an established fact.
Maritime Office
Indubitably, the history of the official institution which monopolized the overseas trade of
Quanzhou from late 11th century onward, the "Maritime Office" or "shibo si",
and the
numerous discussions in the purlieus of the Song officialdom on the advisability of central
or local financial organization structures can teach us a lot about changes in the government's
political and economic deliberations. It was a political discourse which gained in importance
especially as the background to the reform and anti-reform movement in 11th-century China.
These changes in the government's attitude towards overseas trade can also be observed by
studying the history of a rapidly expanding contemporaneous industrial sector, which can
be regarded as a sine qua non of overseas trade, - the shipbuilding industry.
The results of the research work will be published with the organizational and financial
support of the IIAS in some articles and one monograph.
Dr Angela Schottenhammer started mid April 1996 as an individual research fellow at the IIAS studying the 'History of the Overseas Trade of Quanzhou in the Chinese Province Fujian from the 10th to the early 14th centuries'.