Page 74 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

2 The Cultural Change of Kilns and Contents of Export … 41

Taiwan in 1662, founding hereditary kingdom capitalizing at Dayuan (Zeelandia of
Dutch and Tainan now) until overthrown by Qing imperial court in 1683. During
this period of Zheng’s family kingdom, the overseas trade of southeast coast of
China was basically monopolized by Koxinga. Zhengjing ("") also inherited his
father’s enterprise of overseas trade, keeping maritime trade at Chaoshan ("() of
Guangdong, other seaports of Fujian, and Nagasaki of Japan. Both Xiamen and
Taiwan were the important relay seaports of their oversea trade.
The Donggu (!)) shipwreck discovered in Dongshan (!$) county of south to
Xiamen was identi!ed as a warship of the late period of Zheng’s group (Chen 2001).
The porcelains from the site included some pieces of Jingdezhen products of the
Kangxi period, several Japanese porcelains and large quantities of ceramics of south
Fujian. The most representative wares from the site were two types of blue and white
porcelains, one was the plates with pattern of one autumn leaf (Fig. 2.8: 2–4), another
was the bowls with pattern of Chinese character writing (Fig. 2.8: 5–7). The similar
plates with pattern of one autumn leaf were also found in the Zhucuo (#*) and
Xiuzhuan (#!) kiln sites of Zhao’an (!!) county, Dongkou (&+) kiln site of
Pinghe county and the Gao’an (!!) kiln site of Hua’an (,!) county in
Zhangzhou region (FJPM 1997: sheet 43). The latest archaeological survey shows
that they were also produced in Fuchang (!#), Zhutanei (#!") and Zhuangzao
(&!) kiln sites in Longjuan (!') township of Anxi county (Fig. 2.9), where were
adjacent to Hua’an County of Zhangzhou. The bowls with the pattern of Chinese
character writing were also found in the kiln sites of Zhangzhou region, such as the
Huotian ("!) kiln of Yunxiao (%") county, Wanyaoshan (!"$) kiln of Pinghe
county, Pingshui (")) kiln of Zhangpu (!"), and in Zhucuo kiln and Xiuzhuan
kiln of Zhao’an county (FJPM 1997: 3, 19, 21–25). In addition to the blue and white
products, there were also white glazed ware, brown glazed wares and beige glazed
wares collected from the shipwreck site (Fig. 2.8: 8, 11, 12). Some !ne white cups
and bowls were the typical products of Dehua (Fig. 2.8: 9–10), while other white
porcelains and beige glazed wares were also the products of kiln sites in Hua’an and
Nanjing (!!) counties of Zhangzhou. In a word, the porcelain content of the
Donggu shipwreck represented the production of the local kiln of the south coast of
Fujian in 17th century.
Similar combinations of artifacts were also widely discovered in other places of
southeast coast of China, Taiwan, Japan, southeast Asia islands, Thailand, Vietnam
and the Spanish colonies in Latin America, basically covering the whole scope of
the trade network of Zheng’s maritime empire in this period. The blue and white
plates with the pattern of one autumn leaf and the bowls with the pattern Chinese
character writing were mostly discovered in Taiwan, especially in Tainan (#!)
and Kaohsiung (!!). They were also found in shipwrecks in the coast of Japan
and in the sites of Vietnam and Thailand. They were also identi!ed in the shipwreck
of Vung Tau, Vietnam, which might sink after 29th year of Kangxi court (1690)
(GXMZAR, et al. 2009: X, VIII). Though most of the porcelains from the Vung
Tau wreck were Jingdezhen wares of the Kangxi period, the porcelains from