Autarky and the Rise and Fall of Piracy in Ming China

Abstract

We examine the impact of rigorous trade suppression during 1550-1567 on the sharp rise of piracy in this period of Ming China. By analyzing a uniquely constructed historical data set, we find that the enforcement of a "sea (trade) ban" policy led to a rise in pirate attacks that was 1.3 times greater among the coastal prefectures more suitable for silk manufactures-our proxy for greater trade potential. Our study illuminates the conflicts in which China subsequently engaged with the Western powers, conflicts that eventually resulted in the forced abandonment of its long upheld autarkic principle.iracy was rampant in China between 1550 and 1567, during which time the number of pirate attacks topped 30 each year. This followed nearly two centuries when piracy had been rare with about one incident a year. 1 In these two difficult decades, the Chinese pirates stationed mainly on islands off the southeast coasts raided more than two-thirds of all coastal prefectures and occupied a third of them. 2 Chinese pirates plundered silk and other popular export items, in the process kidnapping, and even killing were common affairs (So 1975;Geiss 1978;Wills 1979). 3 The attacks were severe; they produced

Unified China and Divided Europe

“…We argue that this was geographically determined, as major geographical obstacles shielded China's eastern, western, and southern flanks (Figure ). In the mid‐1500s, coastal China did face extensive raiding by pirates (Kung and Ma, ). However, the problem was short‐lived and in no way comparable to the perennial threat posed by the Eurasian steppe.…”

Oceans of History, Seas of Change: Recent Revisionist Writing in Western Languages About China and East Asian Maritime History During the Period 1500–1630

“…82Brook 2010, p. 223 attributes the earlier rise of piracy and the economic regional slump that hit the Chinese coast to the aggressive actions of the Portuguese who arrived in the South China Sea area in the 1510s. For an economic analysis of the piracy attacks, see Kung and Ma 2014.…”