Sea silk culture | maritime silk road and Hainan development
The Maritime Silk Road refers to a trade channel connecting China with South Asia, West Asia and even the non-European continent. This commercial road starts from the southeast coastal ports of Quanzhou, Guangzhou Hepu and other cities in the east, passes the Strait of Malacca in dochina Peninsula and the Indian Peninsula, and reaches the coasts of West Asia, East Africa and Eastern Europe.
Hainan Island and Leizhou Peninsula are facing across the sea, and the average width of the strait is less than 30 kilometers. Its unique geographical location makes Hainan Island an impossible stop on the Maritime Silk Road. During his visit to ASEAN in October 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the strategic vision of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
The exact origin of the Maritime Silk Road is now impossible. The earliest known record comes from the Book of Han · Geography, which records: " Since the sun south barrier, Xuwen, Hepu shipping can be in May, have the Yuan country... Chen Li...... city pearl, bi li, stone foreign body, gold, zeng and to."It can be seen that, at least in the Western Han Dynasty, a channel of trade and cultural exchanges had been formed in the South China Sea. The reason is largely due to the establishment of South Vietnam.
During the alternation of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Nanyue State was established in the Lingnan region. Due to the distance from the Central Plains and the hostile state of the Western Han Dynasty government, the Nanyue state began to turn its eyes to the vast expanse of blue waves. The ancestors drove wooden boats and braved the wind and waves to sell silk to Nanyang by sea for all kinds of goods needed. Xuwen and Hepu have developed into important ports during this period.
After Emperor Wudi destroyed the state of Nanyue, he incorporated Hainan Island into the territory of the Han Dynasty. The government of the Western Han Dynasty set up two counties of daner and Zhuya on Hainan Island, including 16 counties, and realized the unification of the counties and counties of the Han Dynasty. With the support of official forces, the maritime Silk Road trade became more prosperous. At this time, the large-scale regional cash crop production in Hainan Island began to organize, and the trade with the mainland and Southeast Asia became increasingly close.
In 111 BC, under the command of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, Lubode led his army into the Lingnan region, ending the local power of the Nanyue State. Later, he divided his territories of Lingnan, Jiaocheng and Hainan into nine counties, among which Zhuya and Daner were in Hainan.
In the ninth year of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty (166), " Andun, the king of the Great Qin Dynasty, sent envoys to offer ivory, rhinoceros horn and tortoissiseshell."This is the first historical visit between China and Rome.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Soochow had a long coastline. The development of shipbuilding technology has laid a solid foundation for the subsequent ocean-going trade. In the chaotic Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties and the unified Tang Dynasty, with the stronger and stronger national strength, the land and maritime Silk Road developed rapidly. At this time, the Persian Empire and the Arab Empires in Central Asia flourished successively, and maintained long-term economic and cultural exchanges with the Central Plains Dynasty. During this period, China's porcelain industry developed rapidly, and the porcelain exported to all over the world was highly praised and sought after.
During the late Tang and Five Dynasties to the Southern Song Dynasty, the land Silk Road was basically cut off due to the influence of war. During the Five Dynasties, the Southern Han, Fujian, Wuyue and other countries began to develop overseas trade; the Southern Song Dynasty was more actively developing sea transportation.
In the Tang and Song Dynasties, with the development of shipbuilding industry and navigation technology, deep-sea ships traded in the South China Sea through the monsoon. The eastern starting point of the Maritime Silk Road is concentrated in Ningbo, Quanzhou, Guangzhou and other ports to the east of Leizhou Peninsula. The east and west sides of Hainan Island and the islands and reefs of Xisha and Nansha under its jurisdiction have naturally become an important transit station for this trade channel.
During this period, silk fabrics, porcelain and lacquer ware from the mainland continuously entered Hainan, affecting the manufacturing industry of Hainan. With the sale of spices, Hainan aloes, sandalwood, real incense has also become hot goods, Hainan pear, red sandalwood and other precious wood have become inland and Nanyang favored commodities; Hainan fishery has also been continuous development, tropical Marine economy in the economy of Hainan Island also plays an important role. Eight hundred years ago, a Fujian merchant ship full of cargo set sail from Quanzhou Port, Fujian Province, and headed south via the Maritime Silk Road. When sailing to the Xisha Huaguang Reef (within the range of the Xisha Islands, Hainan Province), it unfortunately hit the reef and sank. In 1996, local fishermen found the merchant ship to light.
It was also during this period that Persians, Arabs and Muslims along the way began to gather or settle in various ports of Hainan province; a large number of historical names with "Tibetan" were immigrants along the Maritime Silk Road. After the end of the Song Dynasty, the mainland migration to Hainan Island gradually became a scale, and the development of Hainan Island received the attention of the dynasty. It is worth mentioning that Songjiang people in the late Song Dynasty went to Yazhou, Hainan, learned cotton spinning technology from Li women, and later brought these technologies back to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, triggering the revolution of textile technology in this region, which greatly stimulated the development of silk products in East China; the silk produced in this area returned to Hainan and exported to countries along the Maritime Silk Road.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the land and maritime Silk Road flourished unprecedented; in the early Ming Dynasty, Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Seas flourished. For most of the time afterwards, the rulers of the Ming and Qing dynasties implemented the policy of lockdown, and the Maritime Silk Road became a depression. During the Republic of China period, due to the frequent wars, China's shipping development was slow.
Despite this, Hainan island's private trade has never stopped. Due to regional development differences, Hainan, along with many people along the southeast coast, has joined the Silk Road into the Lower Nanyang River, and a considerable part has also traveled far from Europe and the United States. During the period of the Republic of China, it became a trend; now the southeast Asian countries have a considerable proportion of Chinese, Hainan people occupy a large proportion.
In September and October 2013, During Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Central Asian and Southeast Asian countries, he put forward the major initiative of jointly building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which has attracted great attention from the international community.
In 2015, under the new Belt and Road national strategy, Hainan Island was integrated into the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" with a "gateway strategy" attitude, and built into a "Service cooperation base in the South China Sea". In this way, the status of Hainan Island in this famous business road has been clarified, which has ushered in remarkable development opportunities and radiated new vitality.
