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153 EIGHT The Kangxi Emperor Bans Trade with Southeast Asia I n October 1716, the Kangxi emperor decided to bring an immediate halt to all Chinese navigation to Southeast Asia, targeting mainly Chinese private traders operating there. He ordered imperial fleets to seize all ships found carrying forbidden cargo; merchants guilty of violating the ban could be exiled to remote Manchuria. In announcing his decision, the emperor explained, During one of my tours, I visited Suzhou, and the shipbuilders there told me that every year thousands of ships were built in the coastal area for the specific purpose of trading with peoples across the seas, but only half of those ships returned to China.The others were sold abroad for profit. . . . After many years of investigating this matter personally, I have concluded that maritime defense is imperative. But I am not certain that those coastal governors-general and governors are aware of this. Regions such as Karaba and Luzon have long been populated by Han people and, as a result, have harbored bandits and rebels since the Ming. . . . Zhang Boxing reported that many merchants export Chinese rice to other countries. Further investigations must be carried out before we know whether this report is accurate. But preventive action is necessary. . . . Whereas trade with the Eastern Ocean will continue, trade with the Southern Ocean has to stop. Certainly, ships from Western countries may sail to China if they wish, though I suspect that the countries in the Western Ocean will become a threat to China in one hundred years.The Han people lack the solidarity of the Manchus and Mongols. After many years of rule, I am obliged to admit that the Han people are difficult to rule.1 The emperor’s decision was made on the basis of his long-term observation of Western travelers, Han merchants, and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia,a group he had expected his open-door policy to benefit.But concerns about national security overrode other considerations.The ban has received some scholarly attention.Nakamura Hiromu,for example,has given it brief mention,2 and Guo Chengkang, in his article, considers it in terms of 154 Chapter 8 the relationship between the center and regional governments.3 Others have even understood it as the inauguration of Chinese isolation.4 The 1716 trade ban has otherwise received no significant analysis. As noted, the 1684 opendoor policy was a response to the incursions of the global economy. Much as this policy change was the result of an intricate matrix of factors, the 1716 ban was likewise the culmination of a complex range of considerations. Of these considerations, several points can be made. As trade between China and Southeast Asia flourished following the 1684 policy reform, the emperor grew concerned about security and the food supply. The mounting distrust between the Han and Manchu and the expansion of the Chinese diaspora aggravated his worries, prompting finally his decision to ban trade with Southeast Asia. Yet the trade network had already penetrated deep into local communities, and the ban consequently resulted in new social and economic problems for the coastal economy. When Kangxi’s successor, his son Yongzheng, and provincial officials had to confront these problems, they viewed the question of overseas trade from a fundamentally different perspective .Focusing their attention on economic rather than ethnic issues,they decided to rescind the ban. In tracing the evolution of the imposition of the ban and its eventual rescission, it is useful to look at, first, how diplomatic and ethnic problems convinced the emperor that untrustworthy Han merchants had to be prevented from sailing to Southeast Asia; second, the consequences of the new ban and the efforts of provincial officials to change it; and, finally, what factors pushed Yongzheng to return to the 1684 policy. 1 Believing that trade between China and the outside world, including Western countries, would benefit his realm, in 1684, Kangxi lifted the maritime trade ban imposed in 1656, permitting foreign ships to dock at any Chinese coastal port. The economic, scientific, and religious exchanges that ensued proved exceedingly rich, but unexpected problems led the emperor to reconsider. First, the massive export of rice contributed to domestic shortages in the later Kangxi period. Some officials, such as Zhang Boxing, voiced concerns about “maritime merchants’ shipping a large amount of rice from Jiangnan abroad” while Chinese peasants were going hungry.5 Some proposed setting a limit on grain exports.6 Although Kangxi noted in his comments accompanying the...

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