No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Qing China and Its Offshore Islands in the Long Eighteenth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2024
Abstract
A significant paradigm shift in the examination of China’s engagement with the maritime world has taken place over the past decade. The conventional image of the Qing dynasty in the long eighteenth century as being merely land-orientated has now become obsolete. Historians are no longer satisfied with this stereotype and have put aside the conception that the Qing only realized the importance of strategic marine governance after the First Opium War. In view of this historiographical turn, I seek to deepen our understanding of the Great Qing in relation to the sea. By focusing on a series of sea charts, alongside some relevant palace papers, from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, I will argue that the Qing’s process of locating and charting those offshore islands was an essential, indicative, and demonstrative step for the central authority to project its imperial power onto the waters off the coast of China long before the arrival of Western gunboats in the age of global rivalry.
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.
References
1 Zhonghua renmin gongheguo ziran ziyuanbu, ed., Haidao tongji diaocha gongbao (Beijing, 2018), p. 2.
2 Quanguo haidao ziyuan zonghe kaifa shiyan baogao bianxie zu, ed., Quanguo haidao ziyuan zonghe kaifa shiyan baogao (Beijing, 1996), p. 15; Yang Wenhe, Zhongguo haidao (Beijing, 2000), pp. 220–1.
3 Johnston, James D., China and Japan: being a narrative of the cruise of the U.S. steam-frigate Powhatan, in the years 1857, 58, 59, and 60 (Philadelphia, PA, 1861), p. 218Google Scholar.
4 Ibid.
5 Staunton, George Leonard, An historical account of the embassy to the emperor of China (London, 1797), p. 129Google Scholar; Winterbotham, William, An historical, geographical, and philosophical view of the Chinese empire (London, 1795), p. 107Google Scholar; Cruttwell, Clement, The new universal gazetteer (London, 1798), p. 3-P1Google Scholar.
6 While a substantial tome titled Zhongguo haidao zhi (Gazetteer of islands in China) was published in 2013, it primarily serves as a descriptive reference, providing extensive information on the climate, geography, and demographics of China’s offshore islands. See Zhongguo haidao zhi bianzuan weiyuanhui, ed., Zhongguo haidao zhi (Beijing, 2013).
7 See, for instance, Elleman, Bruce A., Taiwan’s offshore islands: pathway or barrier? (Newport, RI, 2019)Google Scholar; Muscolino, Micah S., Fishing wars and environmental change in late imperial and modern China (Cambridge, MA, 2009), p. 20Google Scholar; Jane Kate Leonard, ‘The Qing strategic highway on the northeast coast’, in Angela Schottenhammer and Roderich Ptak, eds., The perception of maritime space in traditional Chinese sources (Wiesbaden, 2006), pp. 27–40; Unryu Suganuma, Sovereign rights and territorial space in Sino-Japanese relations irredentism and the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands (Honolulu, HI, 2001), pp. 96–7; Ng Chin-keong, ‘Information and knowledge: Qing China’s perceptions of the maritime world in the eighteenth century’, in Angela Schottenhammer, ed., The East Asian maritime world, 1400–1800: its fabrics of power and dynamics of exchanges (Wiesbaden, 2007), p. 91.
8 Loewe, Michael, Faith, myth, and reason in Han China (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 28–9Google Scholar, 116. Strassberg, Richard E., ed., A Chinese bestiary: strange creatures from the guideways through mountains and seas (Berkeley, CA, 2018), pp. 182Google Scholar, 185, and 205.
9 For instance, the two imagined islands in the sea, Penglan and Fangzhang, were considered holy sites in Daoist mythology. See Peipei Qiu, Basho and the Dao: the Zhuangzi and the transformation of haikai (Honolulu, HI, 2005), p. 87; Livia Kohn, ed., Daoism handbook (Leiden, 2000), p. 794.
10 Andrade, Tonio, ‘The Zheng state and the fall of Dutch Formosa, 1662’, in Stephan Haggard and David C. Kang, eds., East Asia in the world: twelve events that shaped the modern international order (Cambridge, 2020), p. 162Google Scholar; Dawley, Evan N., Becoming Taiwanese: ethnogenesis in a colonial city, 1880s–1950s (Leiden, 2020), p. 35Google Scholar.
11 Teng, Emma, Taiwan’s imagined geography: Chinese colonial travel writing and pictures, 1683–1895 (Cambridge, MA, 2004), p. 81Google Scholar.
12 John E. Wills, ‘Relations with maritime Europeans’, in Frederick W. Mote and Denis Twitchett, eds., The Cambridge history of China, VIII, Part 2: The Ming dynasty, 1368–1644 (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 333–75.
13 Kang, David Chan-oong, East Asia before the west: five centuries of trade and tribute (New York, NY, 2010), p. 119Google Scholar.
14 Song Chun, ‘Zoubao zunzhi yanjin liumin zai haidao gaiwu juzhu’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 14 Dec. 1789 (archive preserved in The National Palace Museum (NPM), document number: 085062).
15 Grant McCall, ‘Nissology: a proposal for consideration’, Journal of the Pacific Society, 17 (1994), p. 103.
16 Ibid.
17 Kong Anguo, Shangshu zhengyi (Beijing, 1999), p. 137.
18 Fang Kongzhao, Quanbian lüe ji, collected in Sibu jinhui congkan (Beijing, 2000), XI, p. 311.
19 Ibid.
20 Wei Huan, Jiubian tongkao, collected in Sikuquanshu cunmu congshu (Jinan, 1996), CCVXXVI, p. 40.
21 Gan Gang et al., Penglai xianzhi (Kangxi 12 nian keben), juan 2, ‘fuyi’, 4a–5a; Yan Youxi et al., Laizhou fuzhi (Qianlong 5 nian keben), juan 3, ‘dingfu’, 16a.
22 Qinding DaQing huidian shili: Jiaqing chao (Taipei, 1992), juan 629, ‘Bingbu: lüying chufenli haijin 1’, p. 1149.
23 Shi Lang, Jinghai jishi (Taiwan wenxian shiliao congkan, no. 6), ‘Rangde chupi shu’, p. 67.
24 Zhuang Dahong, ed., Yangjiang xianzhi (Guangzhou, 2009), juan 8, ‘zashi zhishiji’, p. 443.
25 Zhang Dianzhu, ed., Xinning xianshi (Kangxi 25 nian keben), 198a.
26 Ibid.
27 Li Huanzuan, Qingqi xianlei zhixuanbian (Taiwan wenxian shiliao congkan, no. 9), juan 7, p. 652; Yan Ruyi, Yangfang jiyao (Taipei, 1995), p. 1.
28 Yue Jin et al., Shandong Tongzhi, in Wenyuange sikuquanshu (Taipei, 2005), CXXXI, juan 20, p. 443.
29 Tian Wenjing, ‘Zouchen fanghu shamen dengdao shiyizhe’, a memorial submitted to the Yongzheng emperor on 16 Feb. 1732 (archive preserved in NPM, document number: 402006802).
30 Kaerjishan, ‘Chajin yanhai daoyu hushi zhaoken ji chaolu shigo ji shenshi xingming danyou’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 11 Aug. 1747 (archive preserved in NPM, document number: 001164).
31 Chen Dashou, ‘Zoubao Shanghang diaomin yuejing chaiwu bing yanhai shisi dao zheng zhan qingxing you’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 13 June 1747 (archive preserved in NPM, document number: 000896).
32 Hauʻofa, Epeli, ‘Our sea of islands’, The Contemporary Pacific, 6 (1994), pp. 152–3.Google Scholar
33 John Connell and Robert Aldrich, ‘Europe’s overseas territories: vestiges of colonialism or windows on the world?’, in Helen M. Hintjens and Malyn D. D. Newitt, eds., The political economy of small tropical islands (Exeter, 1992), p. 37.
34 Ward, R. G., ‘South Pacific island futures: paradise, prosperity or pauperism’, The Contemporary Pacific, 5 (1993), p. 10Google Scholar.
35 Yan Ruyi, Yangfang jiyao (Daoguang wushu zhongxia yue version), juan 1, 2a, 3b.
36 Daqing huidian: Yongzheng chao, juan 139, ‘Bingbu zhifangsi: haijin’, p. 2213.
37 Miles, Steven B., Chinese diasporas: a social history of global migration (Cambridge, 2020), pp. 52–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Guotong, Li, Migrating Fujianese: ethnic, family, and gender identities in an early modern maritime world (Leiden, 2016), pp. 177–97Google Scholar.
38 Xiangshan xianzhi (Daoguang ba nian keben; Guangzhou: Lingnan meishu chubanshe, 2007), juan 2, ‘jianzhi’, p. 315.
39 Yang Yongbin, ‘Guangdong xunfu Jiebao zhuoding xunjian dengci fenbie shengxu’, collected in Zhang Weiren, ed., Ming Qing Dangan (Taipei, 1986–95), document number: A 61-67 (26-16), B35038.
40 Xiangshan xianzhi, juan 2, ‘jianzhi’, p. 315.
41 James A. Millward, ‘“Coming onto the map”: “Western regions” geography and cartographic nomenclature in the making of Chinese empire in Xinjiang’, Late Imperial China, 20 (1999), pp. 61–98.
42 My speculation, if I may say so, is that these charts were produced very much based on estimations by experienced captains or sailors on these ships, which is very similar to the charting methods used by Portuguese and Spanish pilots, known as ponto de fantasia (points of fantasy), an idea that expressed the uncertainty of the estimation process.
43 Park, Hyunhee, Mapping the Chinese and Islamic worlds: cross-cultural exchange in pre-modern Asia (Cambridge, 2012), 172CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Deng, Gang, Maritime sector, institutions, and sea power of premodern China (London, 1999), pp. 167–8Google Scholar.
44 See Po, Ronald C., ‘Mapping maritime power and control: a study of the late eighteenth-century qisheng yanhai tu (a coastal map of the seven provinces)’, Late Imperial China, 37 (2016), pp. 93–136CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
45 See Po, Ronald C., The blue frontier: maritime vision and power in the Qing empire (Cambridge, 2018), pp. 10–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
46 See Zhou Xianwen, ed., Taiwan wenxian shiliao congkan (Taipei, 1987), VI, no. 199, p. 617.
47 For more about the history of those chuanzhao, see Fujian yanhai hangwu dangan (Jiaqing chao), in Taiwan wenxian huikan (Taipei, 1957–72), V, no. 15.
48 For a more in-depth exploration of the inner–outer model in the context of Qing maritime governance during the long eighteenth century, see Po, The blue frontier, pp. 44–88.
49 Cui Yingjie, ‘Zouwei chaming Shandongsheng haimian qingxing bing wu weige zhizhao rendeng hunxing chukou yu shandao dachang juzhu shi’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 26 Mar. 1767 (archive preserved in the First Historical Archives of China (FHA), document number: 04-01-01-0270-062); see also Lü Mingfu, ‘Zoucheng Shandong Deng Lai erfu dong bei nan sanxun daoyu qingce’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor in 1764 (archive preserved in FHA; document number: 03-0364-075).
50 Cressy, David, England’s islands in a sea of troubles (Oxford, 2020), p. 130CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
51 See Hongbin, Wang, Qingdai qianqi haifang: Sixiang yu zhidu (Beijing, 2002Google Scholar).
52 Qing Gaozong shilu (Beijing, 1986), juan 586, ‘Qianlong ershisi nian wuyue jiashen’ tiao, p. 501.
53 Fukangan, ‘Zou wei chagai waihai neihe chuanzhi ji qingcha haidao zhanzhu jumin qing zhanxian banli shi’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 5 Nov. 1789 (archive preserved in FHA; document number: 04-01-30-0495-007).
54 Antony, Robert J., The golden age of piracy in China, 1520–1810: a short history with documents (London, 2022), p. 40Google Scholar.
55 Kong Yuxun, ‘Zoufu kancha Guangdong waiyang daoyu guanxia shi’, a memorial submitted to the Yongzheng emperor on 28 May 1726 (archive preserved in NPM, document number: 402013594); Yue Jun, ‘Zoubao Miaodao wei haijiang zhongzhen qingshe zhuanyuan guanli zhe’, a memorial submitted to the Yongzheng emperor on 21 Dec. 1731 (archive preserved in NPM, document number: 402012436).
56 Wiesner, Merry E., Early modern Europe, 1450–1789 (Cambridge, 2013), pp. 505–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
57 Mosca, Matthew, From frontier policy to foreign policy: the question of India and the transformation of geopolitics in Qing China (Stanford, CA, 2013)Google Scholar.
58 Hostetler, Laura, Qing colonial enterprise: ethnography and cartography in early modern China (Chicago, IL, 2005), p. 26Google Scholar.
59 Smith, Richard J., Mapping China and managing the world culture, cartography and cosmology in late imperial times (London, 2013), p. 76CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
60 Jiaoluochanglin, ‘Zouwei zunzhi yuzou ge haidao hukou shumu you junjichudang zhejian’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 10 Dec. 1789 (archive preserved in NPM, document number: 042938).
61 For details pertaining to the embargo policies in early Qing, see Hang, Xing, Conflict and commerce in maritime East Asia: the Zheng family and the shaping of the modern world, c. 1620–1720 (Cambridge, 2015), pp. 146–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yangwen, Zheng, China on the sea: how the maritime world shaped modern China (Leiden, 2011), pp. 62–5Google Scholar; Kuhn, Philip A., Chinese among others: emigration in modern times (Lanham, MD, 2008), p. 21CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yoshio, Hayashida, Teishi Taiwan shi (Tokyo, 2003), pp. 159–217Google Scholar.
62 Wang, Wensheng, White Lotus rebels and South China pirates (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 18–19Google Scholar.
63 Heshen’s memorial was summarized in Song Chun, ‘Zoubao zunzhi yanjin liumin zai haidao gaiwu juzhu’; see also Jiaoluochanglin, ‘Zouwei chaming haikou daoyu zhuoshou shuishi zhanchuan yi li chachan yibian xunfang shi’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 21 Sept. 1789 (archive preserved in NPM, document number: 403058301).
64 Fukangan, ‘Zouwei chagai waihai neihe chuanzhi ji qingcha haidao zhanzhu jumin qingzhanxian banlishi’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 15 Nov. 1789 (archive preserved in FHA, document number: 04-01-30-0495-007).
65 Gioroi Ulana, ‘Zoubao chaming Min Zhe ersheng haidao liaofang minhu fenbie chaihui quzhu biancha’, a memorial submitted to the Qianlong emperor on 2 Sept. 1790 (archive preserved in NPM, document number: 045510).
66 Ibid. See the comments left by the Qianlong emperor in this memorial.
67 ‘Fujian Zhejiang ersheng gonggai haidao shu qingdan’ (a report preserved in NPM, document number: 045559).
68 Heylyn, Peter, A full relation of two journeys: the one into the main-land of France, the other into some of the adjacent islands (London, 1656), p. 280Google Scholar.
69 See, for instance, Po, The blue frontier; Ng, ‘Information and knowledge: Qing China’s perceptions of the maritime world in the eighteenth century’; Guy, R. Kent, Qing governors and their provinces: the evolution of territorial administration in China, 1644–1796 (Seattle, WA, 2010), pp. 87–98Google Scholar; Callahan, William A., Contingent states: Greater China and transnational relations (Minneapolis, MN, 2004), p. 93Google Scholar; Burbank, Jane and Cooper, Frederick, Empires in world history: power and the politics of difference (Princeton, NJ, 2021), p. 294CrossRefGoogle Scholar.