Revisiting Dongjiang: Northern Soldiers and Maritime Trade During the Ming-Qing Transition

Professor Zhao Shiyu (Peking University)

 

Part of the China Humanities Seminar series, co-sponsored with the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the Mahindra Humanities Center and the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University

 

Dongjiang was a short-lived military base established at the mouth of the Yalu River in the late Ming. Commanded by Mao Wenlong, it was intended as a check on Later Jin/Qing forces. It was eliminated after Mao’s death by Yuan Chonghuan. Previously scholarship has mainly focused on the relationship between the two men, but because many of its officers later surrendered to the Qing, Dongjiang has a much broader significance. Indeed, it provides a crucial link between the maritime trade in South China and that in North China. Revisiting the history of Dongjiang allows us to place the Ming-Qing transition in the context of global history.

 

Zhao Shiyu is Professor of History at Peking University.  His books include Kuanghuan yu richang (Carnival and the Everyday), a study of temple fairs in Ming-Qing.  He is the translator of the Chinese edition of the Cambridge Illustrated History of China and a contributor to the Qing history project.