Editor's note: Hainan's ancient economy and trade were not as depressed as we thought. Qiongdao is located overseas with a small population, but because of its unique geographical advantages, it has become an important stop of China's ancient overseas trade. Since the Song Dynasty, with the development of overseas trade and the frequent flow of people, Hainan Island has gradually bid farewell to desolation. The Maritime Silk Road was the busiest maritime passage in ancient China, bringing porcelain and silk, businessmen and immigrants to Hainan Island, as well as advanced cultural atmosphere and production methods.
Hainan Island guards the throat of the South China Sea Strait and has been an important post station of the Maritime Silk Road for thousands of years. Passing ships continue to sail to a wider sea area after berthing, sheltering from the wind or replenishing. For most businessmen, this is actually not their final destination, but the large number of immigrants and commodity circulation they brought promoted the development and development of this once "isolated overseas" island.
Major domestic routes
The export is mainly native agarwood, betel nut, coconut, pony, feather and red bean, and the import is mainly rice, cattle, silk, yarn, lacquerware and porcelain.
Major international routes
Mainly entrepot trade between Chinese mainland and South China Sea countries.
(1) Southeast Asia-Hainan-Guangzhou or Quanzhou (porcelain and copper coins produced in Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang are exported overseas via Qiongdao, while pearls and incense medicines are mainly imported from Southeast Asia).
② Hainan (export local agarwood, brown sugar, tortoise shell, etc. )-Xiamen-Fuzhou-Ningbo (loaded with local porcelain, silk, cloth, etc. )-Japan Changqi (imports cotton yarn and cotton products from Japan. ).
Wanzhou Island in Wanning is a refuge for ancient merchant ships. The picture shows a Vietnamese iron ship that ran aground and sank in the early Qing Dynasty. Photo by Li Xingyu
Under the clear water surface of the original port of Dazhou Island in Wanning City, an iron boat lay quietly in the water. If the water is shallow, you can clearly see the outline of the iron boat. It is said that this is a Vietnamese tribute ship that ran aground here in the early Qing Dynasty. Later generations specially built a small temple not far away to commemorate their ancestors. ...
On the beach near Guangpo Town, Lingshui Li Autonomous County, not only beautiful shells, but also pieces of porcelain from the Song Dynasty were washed ashore by the sea. People who live nearby are not surprised, because it used to be close to the busy sea passage, and countless merchant ships have docked here for thousands of years. These broken porcelain pieces may be one of the sunken ships left at the bottom of the sea ...
Maritime?Silk?Road
The earliest recorded Maritime Silk Road in China began in the Western Han Dynasty, almost at the same time as the onshore Silk Road. However, it was not until the Song Dynasty that Hainan Island, located in this maritime trade channel, really entered the development track.
When we look back at that period of history, hundreds of years or even nearly a thousand years have passed! At present, according to the data registered by the Underwater Research Center of China History Museum, there are more than 2,000 ancient shipwrecks in the South China Sea. From these ancient shipwrecks in the Five Dynasties, the Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, not only intact porcelain was found, but also a large number of important cultural relics such as silver ingots and coins were found.
These sunken ships lying on the seabed for many years seem to tell us the busy Maritime Silk Road in another way.
The earliest recorded Maritime Silk Road in China began in the Western Han Dynasty, almost at the same time as the onshore Silk Road. Meng, director of the Local Culture Research Committee of Hainan Tourism Development Research Association, believes that it was not until the Song Dynasty that the maritime Silk Road centered on the southern coast really began to develop with the southward movement of the political and economic center and the obstruction of the northern war on the land Silk Road. Hainan Island, located in this maritime trade channel, really entered the development track from this period.
Back in the Song Dynasty, there were many merchant ships in Guangzhou and Quanzhou, and businessmen with various accents were busy directing dockers to carry goods, which became the busiest port in China and even the world at that time. After the merchant ships loaded with China porcelain and China silk leave Guangzhou or Quanzhou, almost all of them will transport these exquisite porcelain to the Philippines, Zhancheng, Persian Gulf and other places through the South China Sea, and then smart Persian businessmen will sell these porcelain shipped from afar to all parts of West Asia and even Europe. (Yang Ji)