Maritime Sector, Institutions, and Sea Power of Premodern China (review)

Maritime Sector, Institutions, and Sea Power of Premodern China. By Gang Deng. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999. Pp. xix+289. $65.

In this book, Gang Deng's purpose is twofold: first, to describe the nature of China's maritime sector, its resources and institutions, and its impact on maritime Asia in the period prior to the arrival of Europeans; second, to explain the reasons for China's inability to counter European maritime power in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He employs a broad definition of sea power that includes China's maritime resources, technology, institutions, commerce, and shipping, rather than focusing on naval power alone. This enables him to make a strong case for the significance and dynamism of the Chinese maritime sector, which was, for the most part, driven and dominated by nongovernmental activities. Only from the tenth to the early fifteenth centuries were there sustained efforts by the imperial government to develop naval power and tap the revenue potential of coastal and overseas trade and shipping.

Deng highlights the multiplicity of ways that maritime activity influenced and was, in turn, influenced by Chinese culture. He argues that Chinese maritime developments--from the evolution of naval technology to the emergence of a skilled marine labor force, maritime support industries, and a commercialized economy--shaped many important aspects of Chinese life and played a dominant role in economic and political relations with maritime Asia.

The first two chapters are the most useful to students of Chinese maritime history. Deng employs the concept of developmental linkages to show the ways that maritime activities emerged from and then penetrated culture and history in the maritime sector. "Backward linkages" are those foundational supports upon which maritime activity depended and include technical aspects of ship construction and design as well as the all-important evolution of sail and rigging design and the compass, which gave Chinese mariners the ability to navigate on the high seas as well as to maneuver in dangerous coastal waters and crowded harbors. Technological aspects of naval development are also addressed in chapter 4, which discusses Chinese maritime supremacy in Asia prior to the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century.

The second set of backward linkages that Deng explores are those support activities upon which navigation depended, including shipbuilding facilities and technology, organizational and labor specialization in shipbuilding, the natural resources required and consumed in this industry, and the demands it placed on agricultural labor and food supplies, support industries, and services such as banking and postal agencies. These linkages draw attention to the broad range of institutions and activities that were embedded in the maritime sector.

Deng's treatment of forward linkages is equally useful for showing how maritime activities influenced the emergence of export commodities and a commercial economy. He underscores the early development of the ceramic, silk, and cotton industries and the gradual replacement of these goods in the export trade with processed primary goods such as tea and sugar during the Ming-Qing period.

Other parts of the book, on maritime institutions and Chinese sea power, are less useful on the whole, because Deng's coverage of key issues and his organization lack coherence and thoroughness. Careful argumentation gives way to strident assertions about the paramount importance of the maritime sector in Chinese history. The narrative is marred by repetition and a confusing welter of subheads. A serious omission also occurs in the chapter on maritime institutions. Deng defines "formal institutions" as government organizations, laws, and policies, and "informal institutions" as "popular views and secular interest," and he limits his treatment to these two categories. He thus omits important nongovernmental institutions, such as commercial law, markets and distribution networks, and trade associations--all of which played a crucial role in urban port governance and the management of maritime trade, shipping, and security--as well as a host of complex regulatory mechanisms for stabilizing local markets and trade practices. By leaving out...