Chinese Maritime Activities and Socioeconomic Development, c. 2100 B.C. - 1900 A.D.

(Hardback)

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China's long-term maritime history has been overlooked by the scholarly community, so much so that there is a misconception that the Chinese were sea- or ocean-phobic. This image has been promoted rather deliberately because a sailing-aversive China would fit in well with the non-capitalist development framework. This study shows that from 2100 BC to AD 1900, the Chinese were as enthusiastic about and capable of seagoing activities as other peoples. Evidence shows that economic interests provided Chinese sailing-related activities with a lasting impetus, and the private sector played a central role. However, maritime activities in China raise at least two paradoxes: the activities were incompatible with the agrarian dominance in the Chinese premodern economy, and there was a huge gap between China's maritime potential and maritime growth. This situation was symptomatic of both positive and negative effects of technical and economic aspects of premodern China. Technologically, limited maritime growth resulted from climatic and hydrographic conditions favourable to agriculture. Economically, it resulted from low Chinese participation in maritime activities because of safe returns from the agricultural sector. This book provides readers with a long-term analysis of Chinese maritime activities and their economic consequences in industries, infrastructure, trade, migration and government policies. It provides an insight into the causes for sterility of capitalist industrialization in premodern China.

Reviews

"Deng succeeds admirably in suggesting the importance of maritime activities of the overall development of China, a question strangely under-researched in Western languages....Chinese Maritime Activities is an intriguing and convenient introduction to Chinese economic maritime history....[h]e deserves credit for posing and important question of broad significance."-International Journal of Martime History
"Gang Deng's sweeping monograph departs from this pattern, successfully reassessing the place of the sea in Chinese history over a period of three thousand years. ...[T]he book should certainly compel a productive debate on the role of north and south, steppe and sea in the historical development of China. Deng's case for the importance of the sea in Chinese history is arresting, cumulative, and in the end quite convincing. ...Deng has written an impressive book with implications that extend well beyond the central thesis. ...I found his work full of relevant data and stimulating arguements about China's myriad interconnections with a much wider world. In sum, this a serious contribution to the ongoing effects to fathom the full extent and consequences of commercial, cultural, and biological interchange in the Old World, whether land-bound or seaborne."-The International History Review
Deng succeeds admirably in suggesting the importance of maritime activities of the overall development of China, a question strangely under-researched in Western languages....Chinese Maritime Activities is an intriguing and convenient introduction to Chinese economic maritime history....[h]e deserves credit for posing and important question of broad significance.-International Journal of Martime History
Gang Deng's sweeping monograph departs from this pattern, successfully reassessing the place of the sea in Chinese history over a period of three thousand years. ...[T]he book should certainly compel a productive debate on the role of north and south, steppe and sea in the historical development of China. Deng's case for the importance of the sea in Chinese history is arresting, cumulative, and in the end quite convincing. ...Deng has written an impressive book with implications that extend well beyond the central thesis. ...I found his work full of relevant data and stimulating arguements about China's myriad interconnections with a much wider world. In sum, this a serious contribution to the ongoing effects to fathom the full extent and consequences of commercial, cultural, and biological interchange in the Old World, whether land-bound or seaborne.-The International History Review
This study is of great value to China scholars because it provides a detailed synthesis of the major topics in Chinese maritime development over a long period of time. It includes excellent maps of China's coastal contours, seasonal current and wind patterns, and pan-Asian sea routes, as well as helpful illustrations of coastal and ocean-going vessels. It also provides a carefully selected, comprehensive, and up-to-date bibliography that includes works by east Asian as well as Western scholars. Particularly valuable are Deng's incisive explanations of unique features of Chinese navigational technology, such as axial and movable rudders, broad stem and stern constructions, multi-deck and multi-hold structures, and sail and rigging configurations....This book provides both the China scholar and the general reader with an excellent, well-written treatment of the grand span of Chinese maritime history.-The American Neptune
"This study is of great value to China scholars because it provides a detailed synthesis of the major topics in Chinese maritime development over a long period of time. It includes excellent maps of China's coastal contours, seasonal current and wind patterns, and pan-Asian sea routes, as well as helpful illustrations of coastal and ocean-going vessels. It also provides a carefully selected, comprehensive, and up-to-date bibliography that includes works by east Asian as well as Western scholars. Particularly valuable are Deng's incisive explanations of unique features of Chinese navigational technology, such as axial and movable rudders, broad stem and stern constructions, multi-deck and multi-hold structures, and sail and rigging configurations....This book provides both the China scholar and the general reader with an excellent, well-written treatment of the grand span of Chinese maritime history."-The American Neptune

Author Bio

GANG DENG is Lecturer in Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research interest is in long-term comparative economic development of world history. He is the author of Development versus Stagnation: Technology Continuity and Agricultural Progress in Premodern China (Greenwood, 1993).