A Study Of The Sino-Japanese Trade In The Late Ming And Early Qing Dynasties

In the period of late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Sino-Japanese private trade was very important in the East Asia. In the field of economy, the the Sino-Japanese trade volume was very huge, moreover, the great quantity of silver pouring into China from Japan also had far-reaching influence on the society and economy. In the field of politics, the Ming government and Japanese government failed to rebuild the official contacts since the end of the tribute trade and Japan continued to dissociate itself from the tribute trade system in the Qing dynasty. Therefore, the private overseas trade was the only channel to keep the bilateral relations which was of great political significance. With a wider vision, we could find that the Sino-Japanese private trade was an important part of the world overseas trade system, however, its significance was ignored by the academic circles in a long time. In the Sino-Japanese private trade of this period, Portugal,Holland and Southeast Asia were also involved, undertaking the transshipment trade or serving as the Middletown. Therefore, the Sino-Japanese trade was not only limited in the East Asia, but was the important link to connect the Europe -Southeast Asia -East Asia trade circle. Deep research of this subject has profound significance on the study of the world overseas trade patterns.In the historiography circle, scholars have been probing into the Sino-Japanese private trade and have achieved some meaningful accomplishments, however, there still exists some shortages. Firstly, a systemic and integrated explanation on different regions' prosperity and decline of the trade has not been given. This text tries to describe the general trade appearance dynamically and give a detailed analysis with various factors taken into account. Secondly, there were some indirect channels besides the direct trade between Chinese and Japanese merchants. These indirect channels need further research in order to make the study of the Sino-Japanese private trade more complete. Thirdly, the former studies pay more attention to the policies of Chinese government without particular focus on the Japanese policies and international environment changes which will be further discussed in this paper. Finally, there is some dispute about the overseas trade policy during the early stage of Shunzhi period which needs further textual research.This thesis tries to do some integrated research, from the perspectives of background, bilateral trade policies, the indirect channels, goods and regions as well as impact of the trade, to illuminate the development and evolution of the Sino-Japanese trade in the period of late Ming and early Qing dynasties. It consists of seven chapters of the main text plus the introduction and conclusion totaling about two hundred thousand words.Chapter one gives introduction of the background of the rise of the Sino-Japanese private trade. First of all, the development of the commodity economy provided a foundation for the private trade. Secondly, the advancement of the technology of the navigation and shipbuilding provided technical support for the overseas trade. Finally, in the middle of Ming dynasty , the tribute trade declined and the Sino-Japanese tribute trade even broken off. So there was huge trade demand but without a legal trade channel. In this case, the western colonists entered the southeast coast of China which promoted the development of the local private overseas trade. All these aspects above constituted the background of the rise of the Sino-Japanese private trade.Chapter two and three mainly introduced the bilateral trade policies carried out by the governments of two sides. In the late Ming dynasty, because of the negative influence of the "Japanese pirates" in the Jiajing period and the Korean War in the Wanli period, the Ming government forbidden the trade between China and Japan. However, the attitude of the Oing dynasty rulers changed greatly. The concession trade with Japan was allowed in the Shunzhi period, and the trade even became totally free after the sea forbidding policy was abolished by the Emperor Kangxi. On the whole, the government's trade policy towards Japan changed from negative to positive, which was contrary to the Japanese government's policy. In the early Edo Period of Japan, the government carried out free trade policy to encourage the Chinese merchants to trade with Japanese, but this kind of policy transformed into Closed-door Policy soon. After the sea forbidding policy was abolished by the Emperor Kangxi, the Japanese government enacted a series of laws to restrict the trade with China in order to avoid the excess outflow of the Japanese silver and copper. Under the circumstances, the trade volume decreased and the Sino-Japanese trade went from prosperity to decline.Chapter four is mainly focus on the major regions of the Sino-Japanese private trade. Guangdong province played an important role in the trade in the late Ming dynasty. During the alternation from Ming to Qing, the Sino-Japanese private trade in Fujian province was very flourishing.After the free policy was carried out by the Emperor Kangxi, the overseas trade in Zhejiang and Jiangsu areas was the most prosperous of all. That is to say, the center of the trade with Japan transited from south to north which had close relationship with the policy of the government as well as the development of the overseas trade group and regional economies.Chapter five is mainly concerned with the indirect channels of the Sino-Japanese trade. The Portuguese occupied Macao in Jiajing period and started to control the trade between Macao and Nagasaki. In the same way, the Dutch occupied Taiwan and controlled the trade between Dayuan and Nagasaki. In addition, it was prescribed that only Nagasaki was permitted to have trade relations with Foreign countries in Japan, but the fact was not like this. The Duima state and Samo state also separately kept business relations with Ryukyu and Korea. Although this kind of trade was on behalf of state but not the port of country, it still was significant to Japanese economy. Finally, the trade between Southeast Asia and Nagasaki controlled by Chinese merchants also occupied a certain proportion in the trade markets.Chapter six makes an analysis on the main goods of the Sino-Japanese trade. The goods exported from china to Japan was raw silk, silk products, sugar, china, books and so on,which were relatively stable. In the late Ming dynasty, Japan was lack of goods to be exchanged so the silver served as the main medium of payment. In the early Qing dynasty, the output quantity of Japanese copper increased rapidly and Japanese government gradually obtained the initiative of the trade. In this period, the bilateral trade policies were made in accordance with the situations of the copper trade.Chapter seven is concerned with the influence of the Sino-Japanese trade. Firstly, it promoted the development of the Chinese handicraft, commercial farming and commerce. It is important to stress that it also promoted economic integration of the south-eastern coastal areas and served as the driving force of the "early industrialization in Jiangnan area". Secondly, the large quantity of Japanese silver pouring into china had strong impact on the society and economy which had cloth relations with the establish of silver standard, the development of the commodity economy as well as the reform of single tax in silver. Finally, the trade contacts promoted the culture communication of the two countries, especially the Chinese Monks' east journey and books spreading to Japan contributed greatly to the development of Japanese culture.