Prosperity, Region and Institutions in Maritime China: The South Fukien Pattern, 946-1368

501 Pages·2001·16.582 MB·English

by  Billy K L So

Prosperity, Region, and Institutions
in Maritime China
The South Fukien Pattern, 946-i368
Harvard
East Asian
Monographs, 195

Prosperity, Region, and Institutions
in Maritime China
The South Fukien Pattern, 946-1368
Billy K. L. So
Published by the Harvard University Asia Center
and distributed by Harvard University Press
Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London, 2000
© 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
Printed in the United States ofA merica
The Harvard University Asia Center publishes a monograph series and, in coordination with
the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, the Korea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of
Japanese Studies, and other faculties and institutes, administers research projects designed to
further scholarly understanding of China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and other Asian countries.
The Center also sponsors projects addressing multidisciplinary and regional issues in Asia.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
So, Billy K. L., 1952-
Prosperity, region, and institutions in maritime China/ Billy K. L. So.
p. cm. --(Harvard East Asian monographs)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-674-00371-3 (alk . paper)
1. Fujian Sheng (China)--Economic conditions. 2. China--History--Sung dynasty,
960-1279. 3. China--History--Yiian dynasty, 1260-1368. I. Title. II. Series.
Hc428.F84 s58 2000
330.951 •024--dc21
00-063441
Index by Mary Mortensen
Printed on acid-free paper
®
Last figure below indicates year of this printing
IO 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
Frontispiece: Tz'u-t'ung was a popular place-name for Ch'iian-chou used by both the locals and
foreign traders during medieval times. Meng-hua-lu is borrowed from the title of a twelfth­
century work recounting the glamour of the Northern Sung imperial capital K'ai-feng long
after its decline. It literally means "to dream of the lost prosperity."
Dedicated to those who devoted their lives
to bringing lasting peace and prosperity to more people

Acknowledgments
This book is the final product of a long-term research project that has lasted
over two decades. It began with my research for the Master of Philosophy
degree at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1976 to 1978. During
these years, I have received much valuable advice and assistance from so
many that only a small fraction of them can be mentioned here.
First, I thank all the history professors who equipped me to work in
this discipline at both the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Aus­
tralian National University, where I completed my undergraduate and post­
graduate education. In particular, I am indebted to Ch'iian Han-sheng for
introducing me to the field of socioeconomic history. and to Yii Ying-shih
for the enlightenment I gained in his courses on intellectual history. My the­
sis supervisors-Wang Gungwu, Colin Jeffcott, and the late Yen Keng­
wang-broadened my horizons so that I could see the significance of the
topic from which the present book evolved. I am grateful to the Australian
government for a generous British Commonwealth Scholarship that enabled
me not only to finish my doctorate but also to conduct intensive research
in local libraries and archives in South Fukien and Japan in late 1980 and
early1981.
My subsequent academic career at the National University of Singapore
and the Chinese University of Hong Kong brought me such stimulating
colleagues as Lee Cheuk-yin, Alan Chan, Yung Sai-shing, Leung Yuen-sang,
Hsii Cho-yun, Chan Hok-lam, Chu Hung-lam, Lian Peng. Kwok Siu-tong,
Yip Hon-ming, and Wang Fan-shen, just to name a few. In particular, I owe
much to Leung Yuen-sang for his constant moral support in the final stage
of this project. Also, I was much inspired by the humanistic and cross-
Acknowledgments
Vlll
disciplinary scholarship of Hsii Cho-yun, an orientation that is echoed in
this book.
Although Shiba Yo shinobu has never-been my formal supervisor, he
certainly is the most important mentor of my academic pursuit. His con­
stant concern and encouragement, scholarly enthusiasm, and penetrating in­
sights into Chinese economic history have generated a vital driving force in
me, and I am profoundly indebted to him. I thank Liu Ts'un-yan and Denis
Twitchett for their invaluable encouragement and advice since my Canberra
days. Thanks also go to James Lee for first introducing me to the scholarship
of G. William Skinner in 1977 and then in 1993 to his friend Lian Peng, who
brought the works of Douglass C. North to my attention. The work of
these constituted the pillars of the conceptual framework of the present
book.
From fall 1996 to spring 1997, I had the wonderful opportunity of spend­
ing a year in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a Harvard-Ye nching Visiting
Scholar. That was a crucial moment in the conceptualization of the third
part of this book. I owe thanks to the enormous intellectual stimulation I re­
ceived in the classes and seminars offered by Peter Bol, Tu Wei-ming, Jef­
frey Sachs, and William Alford, among others. They helped shape my
thinking in the final version of this work. I thank Patrick Hanan, Tu Wei­
ming, and the Harvard-Ye nching Institute for making that visit possible.
In my struggle for access to South Fukien data, I owe much to those local
scholars, especially the staff of the Museum of Overseas Relations in
Ch'iian-chou, who braved enormous risks to preserve local archives during
the Cultural Revolution; and to those who endured great hardship in the
field to create a rich body of information, without which the present study
would have been impossible. I especially thank Ch' en Ta-sheng, Yang Chin­
chang, and the late Chuang Wei-chi for kindly providing me many crucial
materials.
As an interdisciplinary study, this book involves certain fields outside
Chinese economic history. There are many who took pains to significantly
improve my otherwise amateur arguments in those areas. Regarding trade
ceramics, thanks must be given to Kamei Meitoku, Peter Lam, Teng Chung,
Lai Shuk-yi, Richard Pearson, John Guy, Hsieh Ming-liang, and the late
Hsii Ch'ing-ch'iian and Mikami Tsugio. To Ho Chui-mei, I am especially
indebted for her supply of both illuminating ideas and rich and rare data. In
my discussion of the complex issues of the Chinese legal tradition, I was
Acknowledgments
IX
much inspired by Brian McKnight, Albert Chen, Philip Huang, Liang
Chih-p'ing, and William Alford. On issues of informal institutions, I bene­
fited greatly from feedback at various stages from Yii Ying-shih, Julia Ching,
John Lagerway, Daniel Overmyer, and Cynthia Brokaw. Yeung Yue-man
kindly read Part II and suggested many improvements from a geographer's
perspective. Han Li-ming, Leslie Young, and Tam On-kit gave important
advice on business organization, risk management, entrepreneurship, and
the book's potential implications for contemporary China's economic re­
form. I learned much from my psychologist colleague Leung Kwok's good
knowledge of rational choice theory. John Miksic, Ben Bronson, Janice Star­
gardt, and an anonymous reader for the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies·
kindly enriched my understanding of Srivijayan history. And Irving Lo has
immensely improved the English translations of poems and rhythmical ma­
terials in citations.
Throughout the years, it has been a delight to enjoy the scholarly com­
radeship of Lee Tung-hua, Hugh Clark, Angela Schottenhammer, and,
more recently, Wang Lien-mao. Despite scholarly disagreements, we share
a common interest in the serious study of South Fukien and Ch'iian-chou.
For the final draft, I am very grateful to David Faure, Peter Golas, Peter Bol,
Richard von Glahn, and the anonymous reviewers for the Harvard Univer­
sity Asia Center, who kindly read through the lengthy manuscript and pro­
vided important advice for improvement, and to John Chaffee, Hugh Clark,
David McMullen, Donald Sutton, and Wang Yeh-chien, who greatly en­
couraged me by taking an interest in it.
Acknowledgment should be made to the Research Grant Council in
Hong Kong for an earmarked grant that partially supported research leading
to some findings on legal practices in Part III. Earlier versions of parts of the
book appeared in T'oung Pao, Journal of Sung and Yuan Studies, and Journal of
the American Oriental Society. Their kind consent to the use of these materials
is deeply appreciated. In the process of research and rewriting, I enjoyed the
reliable assistance of Leung Wei-kei, Josephine Khu, and Charles Fossel­
man. Too See-lou kindly prepared the maps. The remarkably professional
hands of John Ziemer have transformed the manuscript into a far more
readable presentation, corrected numerous errors, and urged me to rethink
and refine many arguments. I owe him much for greatly enhancing the
book's overall quality. And I sincerely thank Wang Fan-shen for his exqui­
site calligraphy on the Chinese title.
x Acknowledgments
Finally, it is difficult to find adequate expression for my profound grati­
tude to Sufumi for her great intellectual aspirations and for her unfailing
support, often accompanied with inspiring advice, at various frustrating
stages of this long process, which has virtually accompanied our marriage for
the past eighteen years. Without her constant moral support and sacrifices
in shouldering the leadership of the family while pursuing her own academic
career, I would never have been able to complete this project. Also, I must
thank Duane for contributing countless evenings in his childhood that he
could have spent playing chess with his dad. It is not entirely a coincidence
that I write this acknowledgment on his birthday.
Despite all this wonderful assistance, there admittedly remain defects
in this final product. It goes without saying that for them I am solely respon­
sible.
B.K.L.S.