Shaping the Blue Dragon : Maritime China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Po, Ronald C., author.

Series:

Studies in Port and Maritime History Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History.

China--History.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (342 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Shaping the Blue Dragon

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2024.

Language Note:

eng

Summary:

An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and through Knowledge Unlatched. Throughout much of history, imperial China has exhibited a seemingly capricious relationship with the sea. At times, it has welcomed commerce and travel across its vast waters with open arms, yet at others, it has sought to completely cordon off the littoral and the waters beyond. This intermittent approach has fostered a maritime community that, over time, has become increasingly estranged from the dominating Confucian society. Consequently, this has led to behaviours among the coastal residents that pose challenges for those attempting to govern them, with each influencing the other in turn. In Shaping the Blue Dragon, Ronald Po examines China's relationship with the maritime world from the Ming through the Qing by following the stories of ordinary and extraordinary people engaging with the blue domain. Pirates, cartographers, administrators, naval generals, maritime writers, emperors, visionaries, and travellers. Most of their stories are unheard in the Anglophone community. Despite the range of their backgrounds and expertise, their cumulative lives were all bounded to the sea. They bared their own souls and mirrored their own logics and reflections in their actions, yet in doing so their characters, identities, and life histories were largely shaped by a maritime China that was in transition between the fourteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: The Pirate King

Chapter 3: The Private Advisor

Chapter 4: The Cartographers

Chapter 5: The Legendary Admiral

Chapter 6: The Master of the Sea

Chapter 7: The Envoy

Chapter 8: The Traveller

Chapter 9: Conclusion

Glossary

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-83553-745-6

1-83553-744-8

OCLC:

1519991056

Access Restriction:

Open Access Unrestricted online access