(East-West Question) Liu Jingyu: From Zheng He to Columbus, why are Chinese and Western views of the ocean different?
China News Agency, Changchun, April 29th: From Zheng He to Columbus, why are Chinese and Western views of the ocean different?
——Interview with Associate Professor Liu Jingyu of Beihua University
China News Agency reporter Guo Jia
In the 15th century, a group of navigators emerged around the world, leading mankind to the ocean. Zheng He in the east and Columbus in the west can be called outstanding representatives.
The era of great voyages opened the prelude to globalization.
Nowadays, the contradictions arising from the competition among countries to develop and utilize the ocean are increasing, and the issue of ocean governance has attracted the attention of the international community.
Recently, Liu Jingyu, an associate professor of Beihua University, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East-West Question", starting from "Zheng He's voyages to the West", and talked about the Chinese and Western ocean views.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Agency: Zheng He's voyages to the West were the largest series of maritime expeditions in world history before the voyage of the European Geographical Discovery. Why was Zheng He's voyage earlier than Columbus and other Western navigators?
Liu Jingyu: Zheng He's voyages to the West took place in the Yongle and Xuande years of the Ming Dynasty (1405-1433). It was the largest sea voyage in ancient Chinese history. Voyages to the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, and have visited more than 30 countries and regions.
Zheng He's fleet model.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Ranyang
In 1488, the Portuguese Dias reached the southernmost Cape of Good Hope in Africa. Columbus, a Genoese born in Italy in 1451, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 and opened up a new route to the Americas. From 1519 to 1522, the Portuguese Magellan completed his voyage around the world.
The magnificent nautical movement was about a century later than Zheng He's voyages to the West. The reasons for this are as follows:
First, the purpose of sailing activities is different.
The largest ocean voyage in ancient China was, on the one hand, to establish and improve a wider tribute system, and on the other hand, to maintain trade with countries along the way under the premise of peace and exchange, to gain a better understanding of the world, and to stabilize the ruling order internally. need.
The overseas voyages organized by the West, especially Portugal and Spain, were more aimed at promoting European colonial expansion, searching for gold and spreading Christianity.
Second, the economic conditions of sailing are different.
The development of ancient Chinese shipbuilding and marine culture, supported by the Ming Dynasty court, provided the necessary economic conditions for ocean navigation.
The overseas colonial exploration of the West and the opening of new routes were accompanied by the rise of capitalism, the primitive accumulation of capital, and the need for religious dissemination. This is why China's large-scale ocean voyages were earlier than the West.
Third, the development of navigation technology is different.
Zheng He's voyages combined static positioning and dynamic navigation.
Columbus followed Zheng He's navigation techniques.
In addition, in Zheng He's cognition, the world is a "round sky and a place", sailing is relatively easy in ideological concepts, and there is less resistance from neighboring countries.
Most Western navigators believe that the earth is spherical, full of challenges and unknowns, and that there are many small European countries, it is difficult to organize large-scale ocean exploration and voyages.
Columbus Day Parade in New York, USA.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Yang
However, although Zheng He's seven voyages to the West showed China's maritime power to the world, by the time of the Opium War, the Chinese people's awareness of the sea had fallen behind.
After the founding of New China, especially after entering the 21st century, China's ocean consciousness was fully awakened.
China News Agency reporter: China has a long coastline. How did the ancients develop and utilize the ocean?
Faced with the sea as well, why are China's and the West's attitudes towards the sea so different?
Liu Jingyu: The Jingtoushan site excavated in Zhejiang Province in 2013 is the first shell mound site in the Yangtze River Delta region, dating from 8,300 to 7,800 years ago, about 1,000 years earlier than the Hemudu culture.
This shows that the ancient Chinese inhabitants developed and utilized the ocean very early.
"Han Book Geography" outlines the route of the South China Sea during the Qin and Han dynasties, traveling far to areas including the Strait of Malacca, South Asia and India; during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Chinese people's development and utilization of the ocean jumped to a new height, Mingzhou (now Ningbo), Quanzhou, and Panyu (now the Guangzhou area) are all ports for ships to enter and leave; the Song Dynasty encouraged maritime trade, and Song Gaozong believed that "the benefits of ships in the city are the greatest, and if they are handled properly, the income will be in the millions". During this period, marine activities Unprecedented frequency, unprecedented abundance of marine knowledge.
On the whole, the Chinese dynasties before the Ming Dynasty adopted a positive maritime policy, and the government and private merchants made use of the ocean one after another, and only then did the Maritime Silk Road prosper.
Quanzhou was once one of the highly prosperous commercial and trade centers in the world marine trade network from the 10th to the 14th century. As a dialogue window between China and the world in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it showed China's complete marine trade system, developed economy and diverse and inclusive culture. manner.
Photo by Chen Yingjie issued by China News Agency
Geographical environment has played an important role in the development of western ocean view.
In pre-modern Western countries, many lands were not suitable for large-scale farming and belonged to a shortage economy, so they were more dependent on maritime trade.
The view of the ocean evolved in this context, including trade and the conquest of others, which eventually led to the large-scale overseas colonization of the West.
The ancient Chinese farming civilization has always been dominant, and farming has brought people plenty of food, which makes the Chinese pay more attention to recuperation and internal affairs.
This is why China has not developed a risky, expansive view of the ocean like the West.
China News Agency reporter: You just mentioned that "China's ocean consciousness has only fully awakened after the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially after entering the 21st century." What are the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western ocean views during this period?
Liu Jingyu: The desire for wealth is not only the forerunner of the great geographical discovery of mankind and the earliest globalization, but also establishes the rule that the dominant party is the rule maker of the ocean.
The exclusivity of marine rights has become the western view of the ocean for a long time.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has established a new maritime order and clarified the maritime rights and responsibilities of coastal states. However, because of its focus on utilization and development and neglecting protection, the sustainability of the ocean has been severely damaged. In this case, the world All countries have begun to explore a new marine order, including the maintenance and governance of the ocean, the restoration of marine ecology, and the construction of a marine political system, but the premise of this view of the ocean is still dominated by the West.
China is a typical land-sea country, with vast land and sea areas.
The concept of ocean established by China in the new era is to actively integrate into the global ocean governance system, jointly promote the construction of ocean order, jointly manage the marine environment and develop marine resources with western maritime countries.
Under the system of ocean rules and order dominated by the West, on the one hand, we must strive to develop the ocean in an all-round way with Western maritime countries, and on the other hand, we must also assume the responsibility of being a major maritime country in the new era, based on the construction of a community with a shared future for the ocean. , maintain the healthy and sound development of marine civilization, enhance international consensus, promote China's right to speak in the development and utilization of oceans around the world, and maintain ocean peace.
On August 16, 2021, the three-and-a-half-month fishing moratorium in the South China Sea ended. Thousands of sails competed in Hainan and other places, and it was a busy scene.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Luo Yunfei
China News Service: Contemporary China attaches great importance to the development of blue partnership.
In your opinion, what are the outstanding features of China's ocean view in the new era?
What will it bring to the world?
Liu Jingyu: At present, China is integrating into the global ocean development and utilization with a more active and open attitude.
The most obvious is the Belt and Road Initiative.
It includes the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road".
The construction of China's ocean view in the new era is also a concrete practice of the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" and the construction of a community with a shared future for the ocean.
Promoting the construction of the Maritime Silk Road is conducive to building a community of interests with Eurasian countries, enhancing the open space for development, and at the same time promoting the joint development and utilization of the ocean from a global perspective, contributing to the peace and prosperity of mankind.
At the first exhibition in Fuzhou, the Maritime Silk Road Imported Commodities Exhibition Area attracted people to visit.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Lv Ming
The main purpose of the ocean view advocated by China is peaceful cooperation and joint development, but at the same time, it is necessary to build an important force for maintaining ocean and national security.
The reason for this, on the one hand, is in line with the peaceful development path of China's diplomacy, and on the other hand, it is also based on the historical experience, that is, the prosperity and development of a country cannot be separated from the ocean.
Taken together, the outstanding features of China's ocean view in the new era are as follows:
First, take peaceful development and joint development as the main theme, and oppose unilateral maritime hegemony; second, commit to building a community with a shared future for the ocean and promote the integration of marine cultures; third, maintain the peace and stability of the ocean.
The China Ocean View in the New Era is a good choice to further build the paradigm of ocean development worldwide. It can contribute "China's strength" and "China's solution" in the aspects of global ocean governance, cooperative development, and dispute settlement.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Liu Jingyu, associate professor of the East Asia Center of Beihua University, director of the World History Department, director of the Chinese Society of Japanese History, has been a visiting scholar at Peking University and Oberlin University in Japan. It has also received more attention, and in recent years, he has published works such as "Research on Marine History from the Perspective of the "Belt and Road".