Research On The Historical Status Of Miaodao Islands In Ancient Maritime Communication

Miaodao Islands, located at the junction of Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, is the sea bridge of Liaodong Peninsula and the Shandong Peninsula,and the gateway to the Bohai Sea . It is a chain of 32 islands scattering in the Bohai Strait, and the distances between islands are in the line of sight. So the sailing condition is very convenient. Therefore, from the perspective of human navigational activities, the temple Islands in the navigation history played a role that can not be overlooked. This paper, from the perspective of political, military, economic, and cultural, proves the historical status of temple Islands in the ancient sea traffic history.First, because of the special geographical conditions and convenient navigational facilities, in the pre-Qin period when navigational technology was still very backward, our ancestors already explored a route: from Shandong Peninsula to Liaodong Peninsula passing by Miaodao Islands, then along the former trip to the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It can be said that this is the main traffic route, during 2,000 years of China-Korea contacts, and the main traffic route of China-Japan political contacts .Secondly, Miaodao Islands is the military base on what ancient China attacked Northeast region and Korean Peninsula. Since Han Dynasty, most of the maritime military activities between the Central government and the Northeast region and Goguryeo passed by Miaodao Islands. The geographical position of Miaodao Islands makes it not only necessary route that send troops to the land, but also the Central government's military bases. Miaodao Islands is easy to defend and hard to attack, so in the process of using military forces, it can be the base of material reserving, the camp farming, and army training to prevent enemy attack. Of cause, it can be used to launch military attacks as a port. Since the Song Dynasty,the military status of Miaodao Islands manifested mainly in the value of its coastal defense. In the Song-Liao confrontation period, Miaodao e Islands is the redoubt of northern ports in Shandong Peninsula. Then Ming and Qing Dynasty came, when Japanese and western powers harass us, and Miaodao Islands, as a gateway of all ports spreading Bohai Sea, standed on the defense frontline. It can be said that Miaodao Islands not only had an important auxiliary functions for the defense of northern ports in Shandong Peninsula, but also defensed the region of Beijing-Tianjin. From the military strategic point of view, it had far-reaching significance in the history of ancient military.Third, the historical status of Miaodao Islands in economic and cultural aspects should not be overlooked. It played an important role for the spread and exchange of ancient human civilizations in prehistoric times. In Yuan Dynasty, one of the Temple Islands, called Miaodao Island(also called ShaMen Island), became the necessary port because of its special geographical location. Although sea transport of grain was not stable in Ming Dynasty, Seaborne operation was still supporting the economic lifeline. Miaodao Islands held a significant position in seaborne operation. Seaborne promoted the prosperity of the North-South trade in China. Along with the development of maritime transport, Mazu belief that rised in Fujian gradually spreaded to the North, and XianYing Temple in Miaodao Island became the first Palace where Mazu was warshiped. As Miaodao Island occupied an important position in the ancient marine traffic, it gradually became one of Mazu Cultural Centre in the North, and made a positive contribution for the spreading of Mazu culture in Northern China.Through the demonstration to the historical status of Miaodao Temple Islands, the author gives it a clear positioning. Miaodao Islands was the maritime association point between ancient China and Northeast Asia region in the political history . And it was the redoubt on which Central dynasty use military forces to the Northeast Asian region. It was the distribution center of seaborne and the maritime trade history between southern and northern China, and it was the intermediate station of culture spreading between Central China and Northeast region. At last, it was the center of Mazu culture spreading to the North.In short, the status of Miaodao Islands in maritime communication between southern and northern China and in the history of exchange between ancient China and Northeast Asia region is essentially very important and irreplaceable.