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Shuangyu
Shuangyu () was a port on Liuheng Island () off the coast of Zhejiang, China. During the 16th century, the port served as an illegal entrepôt of international trade, attracting traders from Japan, Southeast Asia, and Portugal in a time when private overseas trade was banned by China's ruling Ming dynasty. Portuguese sources called the place Liampó, taking the name of the nearby city of Ningbo on the mainland. Shuangyu's days as a smuggling hub and pirate haven began as early as 1524 and lasted until its destruction by the Ming navy in 1548, an event that was greatly exaggerated (and wrongly dated) by the 16th-century Portuguese travel writer Fernão Mendes Pinto. Illegal trade in the 16th century In the 16th century, a global demand for Chinese products like silk and porcelain coincided with a high demand of silver in China. However, the premier suppliers of silver in East Asia, the Japanese and the Portuguese, could not legally trade in China to meet the massive demand. At the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liuheng Island
Shuangyu () was a port on Liuheng Island () off the coast of Zhejiang, China. During the 16th century, the port served as an illegal entrepôt of international trade, attracting traders from Japan, Southeast Asia, and Portugal in a time when private overseas trade was banned by China's ruling Ming dynasty. Portuguese sources called the place Liampó, taking the name of the nearby city of Ningbo on the mainland. Shuangyu's days as a smuggling hub and pirate haven began as early as 1524 and lasted until its destruction by the Ming navy in 1548, an event that was greatly exaggerated (and wrongly dated) by the 16th-century Portuguese travel writer Fernão Mendes Pinto. Illegal trade in the 16th century In the 16th century, a global demand for Chinese products like silk and porcelain coincided with a high demand of silver in China. However, the premier suppliers of silver in East Asia, the Japanese and the Portuguese, could not legally trade in China to meet the massive demand. At the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jiajing Wokou Raids
The Jiajing wokou raids caused extensive damage to the coast of China in the 16th century, during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1521–67) in the Ming dynasty. The term "wokou" originally referred to Japanese pirates who crossed the sea and raided Korea and China; however, by the mid-Ming, the wokou consisted of multinational crewmen that included the Japanese and the Portuguese, but a great majority of them were Chinese instead. Mid-Ming wokou activity began to pose a serious problem in the 1540s, reached its peak in 1555, and subsided by 1567, with the extent of the destruction spreading across the coastal regions of Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong. Historical background Maritime trade in 16th century China Up until the establishment of the Ming dynasty in 1368, China had had a great maritime trading tradition that extended the Chinese trading network by sea all the way into the Indian Ocean. In 1371, the Ming founder Hongwu Emperor implemented the " maritim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wang Zhi (pirate)
Wang Zhi (), art name Wufeng (), was a Chinese pirate lord of the 16th century, one of the main figures among the ''wokou'' pirates prevalent during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor. Originally a salt merchant, Wang Zhi turned to smuggling during the Ming dynasty's period of maritime prohibitions banning all private overseas trade, and eventually became the head of a pirate syndicate stretching across the East and South China Seas, from Japan to Thailand. Through his clandestine trade, he is credited for spreading European firearms throughout East Asia, and for his role in leading the first Europeans (the Portuguese) to reach Japan in 1543. On the other hand, the Ming emperor and government blamed Wang Zhi for the ravages of the Jiajing wokou raids, for which they imprisoned and later executed Wang Zhi in 1560 when he was ashore in China trying to negotiate a relaxation of its maritime prohibitions. Early life Wang Zhi was a native of She County of Huizhou (in present-day Huan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lu Tang
Lu Tang (), courtesy name Ziming, was an army officer of the Ming dynasty in China. He participated in the suppression of the Jiajing wokou raids from 1547 to 1562, during which he fought the Portuguese smugglers who settled in pirate havens on the outlying islands of the Chinese coast. The Portuguese called him Luthissi, a combination of his surname Lu and the position he held, "dusi" (), or regional military commander. As a seasoned general, Lu Tang was a skilled strategist but suffered many setbacks on the battlefield. His career was not only affected by his military fortunes, but also the fates of the numerous commanders that he served. Raze of Shuangyu A native of Runing, Henan, Lu Tang began his career by inheriting a minor military position from his father. By 1548, he rose to the post of Regional Military Commander () of Fujian, where he gained the confidence of the Zhejiang grand coordinator Zhu Wan. On 15 April 1548, Zhu Wan ordered Lu Tang and Ke Qiao () to lead a flee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhu Wan
Zhu Wan (; September 29, 1494 – January 2, 1550), courtesy name Zichun () and art name Qiuya (), was a Chinese general of the Ming dynasty. He was known for his uncompromising stance against the Jiajing wokou pirates (so named because they raided during the Jiajing era) and the gentry members who secretly supported them. Early life and career Zhu Wan was born in Changzhou (), now a part of Suzhou, to the schoolteacher Zhu Ang () and his concubine surnamed Shi (). Throughout his upbringing, Zhu Wan and his mother were subject to various abuse by his father's principal wife and his half-brothers. The abuses started three days after he was born when they tried to starve him to death and lasted as late as 1546. His mother shielded him from the abuse when she could and once, an uncle and a cousin intervened to save him from death. Zhu Wan did not mention his father's role in the abuses, but wrote that his father was patient and strict when he taught him the classics and history. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 satellite county-level cities, and 2 rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea. Ningbo is the southern economic center of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, and is also the core city and center of the Ningbo Metropolitan Area. To the north, Hangzhou Bay separates Ningbo from Shanghai; to the east lies Zhoushan in the East China Sea; on the west and south, Ningbo borders Shaoxing and Taizhou respectively. As of the 2020 Chinese National Census, the entire administrated area of Ningbo City had a population of 9.4 million (9,404,283), of which 4,479,635 lived in the built-up (or metro) area of its five urban districts. Within the next decade, the cities of Cixi, Yunhao and Fenghua will likely also be co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ningbo Incident
The Ningbo Incident (; ja, 寧波の乱) was a 1523 brawl between trade representatives of two Japanese ''daimyō'' clans — the Ōuchi and the Hosokawa — in the Ming Chinese city of Ningbo. The Ōuchi pillaged and harmed local residents, causing massive damage. The turmoil resulted in the interruption of the Ming-Japanese trade and led to a surge in piratical (''wokou'') activity on the Chinese coast. The episode is also known by the names Ningbo Tribute Conflict (寧波争貢事件), Mingzhou Incident (明州之亂), or the Sōsetsu Incident (宗設之亂). Background Ming China considered Japan a tributary state in its Sinocentric world order. Under the Ming tributary system, Japan could present tribute to the Chinese imperial court and be rewarded in the form of gifts by the emperor. This was essentially an exchange of Japanese products for Chinese goods, and, being the only legal form of trade between China and Japan during the Ming's maritime prohibitions, was extrem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuegang
Yuegang () was a seaport situated at the estuary of the Jiulong River near Zhangzhou in Fujian, China. Known as a smuggling hub since the early Ming dynasty, Yuegang rose to prominence in the 16th century as the Ming government cracked down on other hubs of private maritime trade, deemed illegal at the time due to the isolationist ''haijin'' laws. When the prohibitions were lifted in 1567, Yuegang was designated as the port in Fujian from where it is legal to trade overseas. Since then, it flourished as the Chinese terminus of the trans-Pacific trade carried by the Manila galleon through its trade with the Spanish Philippines until it was overshadowed by Xiamen in the 17th century. Smuggling trade The coastal province of Fujian was home to a long maritime tradition, giving rise to many great ports during the Song dynasty (960–1279) such as Quanzhou and Fuzhou, from where sea trade abroad to Southeast Asia, the Hindu world, the Islamic world, and the East African world brought mer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haijin
The Haijin () or sea ban was a series of related isolationist policies in China restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty. Despite official proclamations the Ming policy was not enforced in practice, and trade continued without hindrance. The early Qing dynasty's anti-insurgent "Great Clearance" was more definitive with devastating effects on communities along the coast. First imposed to deal with Japanese piracy amid the mopping up of Yuan dynasty partisans, the sea ban was completely counterproductive: by the 16th century, piracy and smuggling were endemic and mostly consisted of Chinese who had been dispossessed by the policy. China's foreign trade was limited to irregular and expensive tribute missions, and the military pressure from the Mongols after the disastrous Battle of Tumu led to the scrapping of Zheng He's fleets. Piracy dropped to negligible levels only upon the end of the policy in 1567, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maritime Prohibition
The Haijin () or sea ban was a series of related isolationist policies in China restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty. Despite official proclamations the Ming policy was not enforced in practice, and trade continued without hindrance. The early Qing dynasty's anti-insurgent "Great Clearance" was more definitive with devastating effects on communities along the coast. First imposed to deal with Japanese piracy amid the mopping up of Yuan dynasty partisans, the sea ban was completely counterproductive: by the 16th century, piracy and smuggling were endemic and mostly consisted of Chinese who had been dispossessed by the policy. China's foreign trade was limited to irregular and expensive tribute missions, and the military pressure from the Mongols after the disastrous Battle of Tumu led to the scrapping of Zheng He's fleets. Piracy dropped to negligible levels only upon the end of the policy in 1567, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallows
A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks of grain or minerals, usually positioned in markets or toll gates. The term was also used for a projecting framework from which a ship's anchor might be raised so that it is no longer sitting on the bottom, i.e., "weighing heanchor,” while avoiding striking the ship’s hull. In modern usage it has come to mean almost exclusively a scaffold or gibbet used for execution by hanging. Etymology The term "gallows" was derived from a Proto-Germanic word '' galgô'' that refers to a "pole", "rod" or "tree branch". With the beginning of Christianization, Ulfilas used the term ''galga'' in his Gothic Testament to refer to the cross of Christ, until the use of the Latin term (crux = cross) prevailed. Forms of hanging Gallows can take several f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entrepôt
An ''entrepôt'' (; ) or transshipment port is a port, city, or trading post where merchandise may be imported, stored, or traded, usually to be exported again. Such cities often sprang up and such ports and trading posts often developed into commercial cities due to the growth and expansion of long-distance trade. These places played a critical role in trade during the days of wind-powered shipping. In modern times customs areas have largely made entrepôts obsolete, but the term is still used to refer to duty-free ports with a high volume of re-export trade. ''Entrepôt'' also means 'warehouse' in modern French, and is derived from the Latin roots 'between' + 'position', literally 'that which is placed between.' Entrepôts had an important role in the early modern period, when mercantile shipping flourished between Europe and its colonial empires in the Americas and Asia. For example, the spice trade to Europe, which necessitated long trade routes, led to a much higher m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
