Page 71 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

38 M. Liu

Anping County Annuals, the Jingdezhen porcelain exported through the seaports of
Zhangzhou Bay should have been transferred by Fuzhou. The coarse porcelains
products of Zhangzhou Kiln were mainly shipped to the Philippines for Manila
galleon trade, and some were transported to southeast Asia via Thailand and
Vietnam or northward to Japan. The !ne Jingdezhen wares were mainly transported
to Middle East and Europe markets. Jingdezhen porcelain characterized by the
Kraak style wares had been extremely popular in the European markets and widely
used as a luxury good by the upper class society. Although Zhangzhou Kiln
porcelain had entered Europe and America through the early global network of
maritime trade, they were mainly discovered in Asian regions. A large number of
blue and white porcelains and over glazed enamel decorated ceramics of
Zhangzhou Kiln were unearthed from the archaeological layers in the urban ruins of
Osaka, Nagasaki, Gifu and Hirado in Japan dating from the second half of the 16th
to the !rst half of the 17th century. The excavation of the Hoi An (!!) seaport
site of central coast of Vietnam unearthed a large number of Chinese ceramics
dating from the end of the 16th to the !rst half of the 17th century, most of which
were the ceramic products of Fujian and Guangdong rather than those of
Jingdezhen (Li 2007).

2.3 The Emerging of the New Maritime Order in the Late
Ming Dynasty and the Exportation of Jingdezhen
Porcelains

At the end of Ming Dynasty, with the rising and developing of the Zheng’s family
maritime trade group, a new maritime system emerged in eastern Asia oceanic
regions. After Zheng Zhilong ("$!) was recruited by the Ming imperial court in
1630, the maritime trade of Zhangzhou Bay area was monopolized by the Zheng’s
group. VOC also gradually replaced Portuguese and Spanish as the main western
maritime force dominating the trade in Eastern Asia. Then the main maritime
power competition happened between the Dutch and the Zheng’s group, resulting
temporarily a new maritime trading order in Eastern Asia.
Historical documents revealed the developing and changing of the maritime
trade of Zhangzhou Bay region at that time. The Manila galleon cargo trade was
always prosperous and was valued by the Zheng’s group. Most of the Chinese junks
for Manila did not depart from Yuegang but from Zheng group’s base and
hometown Anhai. Xiamen-Anhai region in the eastern part of Zhangzhou Bay had
played more important role. The VOC’s historical archives at Batavia also illus-
trated that Anhai had continued to be the major trading seaport of China in the
1640s and 1660s (Chen 2017).
During the process of competition between different maritime powers, Taiwan
island had been increasingly important in the eastern Asia maritime trade system.
During the early 17th century, VOC occupied Dayuan of Taiwan and built the