Guo Linlin, Party School of the Pudong Committee of the Communist Party of China
The starting point of the Maritime Silk Road has always been a subject of multiple theories. Among the more representative ones are Yangzhou Port, Guangzhou Port, Quanzhou Port, and Ningbo Port (known as Mingzhou Port during the Five Dynasties period). When viewed from the perspective of the exchange of goods in foreign economic and trade, all the above - mentioned theories hold water. However, the Silk Road has never been a purely trade - related route. Instead, it has been intertwined with political, military, economic, and cultural factors. From this perspective, Mingzhou should be regarded as the starting and departure port of the Maritime Silk Road during the Five Dynasties period.
Firstly, it is a product of economic development. The more developed the economy is, the more tradable goods there are and the stronger the purchasing power becomes. During the Five Dynasties period, the economic center of China shifted to the south. The first to benefit were the peaceful and stable southern countries, among which the Wuyue Kingdom benefited the most from the Maritime Silk Road. The difference between the Maritime Silk Road and the Overland Silk Road is that the participants of the former are not simply exchanging goods. Instead, they are based on international division of labor and have formed scale advantages (tea), technological advantages (porcelain), and monopolistic advantages (silk). Special workshops that produce goods specifically for “export” have emerged, such as the porcelain workshops in Yuezhou, the porcelain workshops in Quanzhou, and the silk workshops in Suzhou and Hangzhou. Thanks to the advanced navigation technology, the Wuyue Kingdom, which “served China well,” facilitated trade between the Yangtze River basin and the Yellow River basin. It even set up a special trade agency in the north to regulate trade. Looking at the later period, the Song Dynasty successively established maritime trade offices in Guangzhou, Mingzhou, and Quanzhou to specifically manage overseas trade, which shows that the trade volume at that time was quite large. However, in terms of the order of establishment, Guangzhou and Mingzhou were obviously earlier than Quanzhou and had a larger scale than Quanzhou.
Secondly, it is a product of government support. As early as the Tang Dynasty or even earlier, there was maritime trade in Yangzhou and Guangzhou. However, the political purposes they carried were different. For example, Yangzhou was more of a government - led action, including exchanges with Japan and Goryeo, while Guangzhou did not have such obvious functions. However, after the Five Dynasties, due to the internal turmoil of Yang Wu and the active actions of the Wuyue Kingdom, the functions of Yangzhou were gradually replaced by Mingzhou. For example, representing China in exchanges with Goryeo and Japan, engaging in mutually beneficial trade with Japan, mediating internal conflicts in Goryeo, and representing the suzerain to show its power to Bohai and other vassal states all set off from Mingzhou Port (or from Hangzhou via Mingzhou Port). Quanzhou did not have this function during the Five Dynasties period. The trade extended by political means introduced many new agricultural and even livestock species, enriching domestic production.
Thirdly, cultural exchanges are subordinate to political exchanges. During the Five Dynasties period, envoys from various countries landed and even lived long - term in the ports of Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Mingzhou, and Quanzhou. These envoys not only became “trade representatives” in the local areas but also brought advanced production technology, seeds, medicine, and even cultural and religious practices into China. According to existing materials, many envoys in Yangzhou and Mingzhou had political representative identities. After the Song Dynasty, Mingzhou specifically set up reception agencies for envoys from Japan and Goryeo. In addition to the Buddhist exchanges between the Wuyue Kingdom and Goryeo and other countries, Japan also purchased a large number of Buddhist scriptures printed in the Wuyue Kingdom. Christianity and Islam, which came with merchant ships, also spread in the coastal cities, forming a rich and colorful mechanism for cultural exchanges.