Page 10 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

Chinese gold, silk and ceramics, Indonesian spices, Japanese silver and lacquer ware
long before any European ship appeared. A complex system of trading and foreign
relations had been in place for centuries, mainly working according to the rules of the
Chinese tributary system. Countries wanting to trade with China had to send tribute
missions to the Chinese Emperor, to acknowledge the cultural superiority of the
“Middle Kingdom”. From the 11th to the 14th century the South China Sea saw an
intensity of maritime traffic like in the Baltic or Mediterranean Sea in Europe.
Quanzhou (泉 州), beside the Taiwan Strait and at the north east corner of the South
China Sea, was the most relevant port during that time. During the Ming dynasty
countries such as Annam (northern Vietnam), Champa (southern Vietnam), Korea,
Japan, the Sultanate of Malacca, Java, Sukhothai, Ceylon and even Indian provinces
have accepted the tributary relationship. Official tributary trade was the predominant
form of commodity exchange, since private trading was banned. However, being a
tributary state of China did not imply a colonial status, it established an economic
relationship based on mutual benefit.
Malacca was one of the most important entrepots and trading hubs before the
Portuguese arrived. Traders from all parts of Asia built their warehouses in Malacca –
a city taking advantage of its strategic geographic location and the cosmopolitan
attitude of the Malacca Sultanate. The Malacca strait linking the South China Sea with
the Indian Ocean is still today one of the most important shipping routes in the world.
The main maritime Eurasian Silk Road of today still includes the Strait of Malacca
(but with Singapore instead of Malacca as main entrepot), the Strait of Hormuz and
the Suez Canal. More than six centuries after the creation of Malacca, the Chinese
Government is linking itself to this vibrant intercultural exchange by creating the
so-called one belt, one road initiative. One belt refers to the new maritime belt from
Asia to Europe and the one road to the reactivation of the ancient Silk Road.
Map 3: Major porcelain trading routes 1550-1685

Soon after having established the first trading posts (factories) and fortifications in

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