China on the Sea China Studies
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China on the Sea China Studies Editors Glen Dudbridge Frank Pieke VOLUME 21 The titles published in this series are listed at www.brill.com/chs China on the Sea How the Maritime World Shaped Modern China By Zheng Yangwen 鄭揚文 LEIDEN • BOSTON 2014 Cover caption: The several known complete sets of “Copper engravings of the European palaces in Yuan Ming Yuan” [圆明园西洋楼铜板画] each include 20 images. However, the set belonging to the John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, was recently found to include a unique additional colour image. Jottings at the top and bottom read: “Planche 2e qui a été commencée à être mise en couleurs” and “Planche 2e esquissée pour la couleur”. Reproduced by courtesy of the University Librarian and Director, the John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zheng, Yangwen. China on the sea / by Zheng Yangwen. p. cm. — (China studies ; v. 21) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-19477-9 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. China—Commerce—Foreign countries. 2. China—Foreign economic relations—History. 3. China—History—Qing dynasty, 1644–1912. 4. China—Merchant marine—History. I. Title. HF3834.Z476 2011 387.50951’0903—dc23 2011034522 ISSN 1570-1344 ISBN 978 90 04 28160 8 (paperback) ISBN 978 90 04 19478 6 (e-book) This paperback was originally published in hardback under ISBN 978-90-04-19477-9. Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS Preface ................................................................................................. vii Diagrams, Tables and Illustrations ................................................. ix Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 Chapter One Facing the Seas ....................................................... 15 Chapter Two “The Inconsistency of the Seas” .......................... 59 Chapter Three Feeding China ...................................................... 95 Chapter Four Cette Merveilleuse Machine ................................. 135 Chapter Five Les Palais Européens ............................................ 169 Chapter Six “Wind of the West” [西洋风] ................................ 207 Chapter Seven Pattern and Variation: Indigenisation ............. 245 Chapter Eight “Race for Oriental Opulence” ............................ 283 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 321 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 327 Index .................................................................................................... 353 PREFACE I stumbled upon a gold mine in September 2004 when I joined the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University of Singapore, where I had the privilege to spend more than two years working with Anthony Reid, Wang Gungwu, Bryan S. Turner, Gavin Jones, Brenda Yeoh and Chua Beng Huat. ARI exposed me not only to Southeast Asian scholars but also the region itself, which has broadened my understanding of China. I benefited enormously from conferences and seminars held in ARI, and from conversations with a long list of Southeast Asian scholars who visited the Institute. They include James C. Scott, Leonard Blusse, Carl Trocki, James Warren, Victor Lieber- man, Charles J-H Macdonald, George B. Souza, Eric Tagliacozzo, Chee Heng Leng, Noelle Rodriguez, Mika Toyota, Vatthana Pholsena, Kwee Hui Kian, Maung Aung Myoe, and many more. While old col- leagues from Singapore, in particular John Miksic, Geoff Wade and Bruce Lockhart, have continued to help me since I left ARI, new col- leagues in Manchester, in particular Joseph Bergin and Tim Parkin, have enlightened me about Bourbon France and Roman Europe. I wish to thank the British Academy for the Small Grant that allowed me to visit the Number One History Archive in Beijing and the Palace Museum in Taipei. I am very grateful to Professor Chen Chunsheng, who hosted me at the Institute of Historical Anthropology of Sun Zhongshan University in the summer of 2009, and to Director Huang Kewu and Dr. Jennifer Chang Ning, who hosted me at the Institute of Modern History of Academia Sinica in the spring of 2010. Special thanks go to Profes- sors Zhuang Jifa, Lai Huimin, Drs Julie-Marie Strange, Paulo Drinot, Pedro R. Pinto, Till Geiger and Charles Alymer who helped me to find sources, and to Vicky Morrisroe and Jonathan Jucker who quickly copyedited the manuscript. I want to thank Katie Chin, Qin Higley and Karen Cullen at Brill who put up with me and with my endless questions in the past year. I also want to thank Peter Gatrell, Paul Fou- racre, Nick Higham, Frank Mort, Natalie Zacek, Bidisha Ray, Laurence Brown, Glyn Redworth, Bertrand Taithe, Penny Summerfield and Hannah Barker for their encouragement and support over the past few years. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to the staff, especially Elizabeth viii preface Gow, John Hodgson and Jacky Hardcastle, at the special collection of the John Rylands Library (Deansgate) at the University of Man- chester. With their help, I struck gold in the summer of 2010 when I discovered the Chinese Collection, especially the extremely rare Cop- per Engravings of the European Palaces in Yuan Ming Yuan [圆明园西 洋楼铜板画] or, which had been hidden for more than a century and a half. Manchester has continued to surprise and grow me. Zheng Yangwen 鄭揚文 9 June 2011 DIAGRAMS, TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Diagrams 3.1 Estimated Rice Price Levels in China, 1723–1735 ............. 102 3.2 Rice Price Fluctuation, 1644–1793 ........................................ 108 Tables 2.1 Chinese ships calling on Batavia 1720s to 1740s ................ 90 5.1 Salt merchant financial contribution to the Qing court ........ 200 6.1 Sino-British trade to the first decade of the 19th century .................................................................................. 227 Illustrations 1.1 Fa Xian Travel Map ................................................................. 28 1.2 Changsha Ceramics ................................................................. 34 2.1 Canton Customs Inspection ................................................... 66 4.1 Lady Seated at the Virginals ................................................... 137 4.2 Clocks: Qing Court Collection .............................................. 153 4.3 Clock: Foreigner Writing Chinese Character ...................... 158 4.4 Watches: Qing Court Collection ........................................... 163 5.1 Chinese Orchestra .................................................................... 171 5.2 The Three Celestial Islands ..................................................... 175 5.3 Yongzheng Portrait .................................................................. 176 5.4 Dressing Table with Clock and Singsong ............................ 178 5.5 Yuan Ming Yuan [圆明园] Layout ....................................... 181 5.6 Panorama View of the European Palaces ............................ 183 5.7 Harmonious, Exotic, Interesting [谐奇趣] .......................... 184 5.8 Hall of Peaceful Seas [海晏堂] .............................................. 193 5.9 Big Water Magic [大水法] ..................................................... 195 6.1 Kangxi’s Fur-Lined Imperial Robe ........................................ 234 6.2 Puppeteer: European Scene .................................................... 239 7.1 Kaiping Watchtowers [开平碉楼] ......................................... 272 8.1 Tang Cargo ................................................................................ 287 8.2 Painting Porcelain .................................................................... 288 INTRODUCTION In June 2005 the Asian Civilisation Museum in Singapore exhibited some four hundred ceramics which had been recovered from the old- est shipwreck found in Southeast Asia. The ceramics bore no resem- blance to the familiar blue and white Ming and Qing porcelain, nor did they look like the rarer white Song and Yuan ware. Made in a kiln in Changsha in the Tang dynasty (618–906), these were the long-vanished Changsha ceramics [长沙窑]. Named the “Tang cargo” by excavators and archaeologists, these fascinating ceramics were shipped from the city of Yangzhou, on the banks of the Grand Canal in northeast interior China. In other words, these wares had arrived in Yangzhou for export after having been transported over long distances from south central China via the Xiang and Yangzi Rivers. What is more, the Changsha ceramics—some intact after nearly 1400 years buried under the sea— were contained in large jars which had been made in Vietnam. They were painted with Arabic characters and clearly destined for Arabia. The vessel itself