What is the reason for this change from the Silk Road to the Maritime Silk Road?

Whether it is the Silk Road on land or the Silk Road on the sea, it is enough to prove that China was not independent of the world at an earlier time. The rise and fall of a maritime Silk Road is the epitome of the rise and fall of China's history.

Human civilization originated from rivers and flourished in the ocean. Today, no nation, country or civilization can avoid the ocean. Unfortunately, China, in the past two thousand years, obviously has the most favorable conditions. It first started to connect with the world through the ocean, but for two thousand years, China people didn't really discover and own the ocean.

From all over the world,

But never found the ocean.

The history of marine activities in China can be inferred to be about 6000 years. At this time, the activities are basically offshore activities, and the tools are canoes. It has a history of cultural relics. In about 2000, it expanded its activities to the South Pacific coast, using wooden boats as tools. Lacquerware, silk, pottery and bronze wares in China were exchanged for pearls, rhinoceros (cattle), tortoiseshell and so on.

Around the Qin Dynasty, Wei Zhi recorded a large number of immigrants from the Central Plains and Guanzhong who arrived on the Korean Peninsula by boat. By the Han dynasty, there were basically no obstacles to maritime exchanges between China and Japan.

Today's Maritime Silk Road-the sea route in the South China Sea is later than that in the East China Sea. Written records began in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. According to the Records of the Later Han Dynasty, China's merchant ships set out from Guangxi and arrived in South Asia such as Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Malaysia and Sri Lanka via the South China Sea. They have frequent contacts and exchanged silk for a large number of gold and precious stones, pearls and colored glasses.

From the Han Dynasty, after the Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty, the trade and transportation in the South China Sea became more and more developed. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Guangzhou rose and became the starting point for overseas exchanges. By this time, China's sailboats had reached many places, not only Southeast Asian countries, but also Indian countries, even Europe and Rome.

The maritime communication between the South China Sea and the South Pacific seems to be prosperous, but it must be pointed out that from the beginning, this communication was neither commercial nor equal. Needless to say, they are "barbarians" from their names. This concept can be openly written into history books. The book of the later Han Dynasty, Dongyi, said that more than 30 neighboring countries came to worship in the Han Dynasty, and Japan was one of them. The Japanese surrendered to the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty also named Minister Jin Yinshu as "Chinese Emperor". It is also said in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty that after Wang Mang's dictatorship, he wanted to expand his majesty and morality and ordered Wang (about India) to offer rhinoceroses.

There are many such records. For example, in the second year of Emperor Yan Xi's reign, Tianzhu came to worship heaven; In the ninth year of Huan, King An Dun of Qin presented ivory, rhinoceros horn and hawksbill ... Zhang Qian and Ban Chao, whom we are familiar with, went to the Western Regions. Naturally, it was not as simple as communication, but more importantly, they had to submit to all directions. Therefore, China's attitude towards neighboring countries is either conquest or appeasement. China's 2,000-year history proves that this has never changed.

Under this attitude, political purpose is paramount, and the dissemination of commercial activities is naturally not equal. On the contrary, however, it is China that pays for this inequality, because politically, it is not an exchange or a trade in goods. Overseas countries pay tribute to China, and China gives gifts to overseas countries. The amount of the gifts is often much higher than the value of the offerings, which also reflects the wealth and tolerance of China. Therefore, we have been very generous to these overseas tourists who come to China. And China's emissaries seldom make money when they go to sea, and they basically lose money. The biggest loss was Zheng He's seven voyages to the West. Just building a ship "feeds the money and food of thirteen provinces in the world". The cost of a fleet is nearly one million taels of silver, not to mention losing money every time we sail, so that the reason why we don't go west in the end is simply that we have no money.

Du Dongxing and Passive Acceptance

In the history of China, the maritime commercial exchanges among the people were considerable only in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The Tang Dynasty was the era when the Maritime Silk Road was formally formed. Maritime traffic reaches North Korea, Silla, Japan, Nantong, Southeast Asia, India and Persia. Starting from Guangzhou and sailing southwest, the Maritime Silk Road passes through more than 90 countries and regions, with a total mileage of about1.4000 km. At that time, in overseas trade, in addition to the "city ambassadors" of the official camp, private businessmen and landlords also began to build ships and sail. By the Song Dynasty, Guangzhou had become the largest port for overseas trade. Song Dynasty is the most developed era of China's economy, with frequent business activities and a complete business management system. At that time, the Trade Department was almost the embryonic form of today's customs, responsible for managing import and export merchant ships, checking smuggling activities and so on.

Although non-governmental trade was once brilliant, it was related to the environment and policies at that time, which was abnormal. In fact, the history of China's maritime communication is more of a history of cultural communication. This is also the only inspiration that the Maritime Silk Road can give us in today's era.

When it comes to the cultural exchange on the Maritime Silk Road, we can't help mentioning two people, one is Faxian and the other is Dharma. Faxian was the first person to cross the Maritime Silk Road in history. It was about 399 AD, 230 years earlier than Tang Sanzang's land travel. Fa Xian was born in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and became a monk at the age of 3. When I was old, I decided to go west to India to learn from Buddhist scriptures because I felt that there were few Buddhist scriptures in China and there were too many mistakes. At the age of 64, he set out from Chang 'an and arrived in India by land. This is the road that Tang Priest took later. Stationed in India for ten years. Although Fa Xian arrived in India by land, he returned to China by sea, which is today's Maritime Silk Road. In 4 1 1 year, he boarded a merchant ship returning to China in the lion country (now Sri Lanka), braving fierce wind and waves and fighting against bad weather. Unfortunately, he lost his way and drifted with the wind for more than 90 days and came to an island in Indonesia. After staying there for more than five months, I set out for Guangzhou by boat. After all kinds of difficulties and obstacles, I finally arrived at Laoshan Mountain in Shandong in 4 12 AD. After landing, he was welcomed by the people and went to Jiankang (now Nanjing) the following summer. This circle has traveled back and forth for almost half the world, and all the Buddhist classics he brought were from the sea.

Fa Xian went to the West, and a monk went to the East. He is dharma. About after Faxian's return 100, Indian monk Dharma also boarded the ship from India along Faxian's route and sailed to Guangzhou for shore, taking the same maritime Silk Road.

The spread of Buddhism to the East is undoubtedly one of the most important events in the cultural history of China. In fact, Faxian and Buddhism are only promoters of Buddhism's prosperity, not disseminators. Buddhism entered China much earlier than these two men, dating back to the Western Han Dynasty. Liang Qichao believed that Buddhism first came from the sea. Since the Han Dynasty, Tianzhu has been paying tribute by sea, and the traffic between China and India is also at sea rather than by land. So the spread of Buddhism naturally came from the sea.

As we know, the heyday of China's foreign cultural exchanges was in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but in the Tang Dynasty, the Silk Road on land was basically cut off, and almost all the exchanges between China and India, Arab countries and even Europe were carried out by sea until the maritime ban in the Ming Dynasty. The so-called Confucian cultural circle, or China cultural circle, is mainly concentrated around the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and the influence of the North and the West is much smaller.

This cultural exchange has obvious time division. Before the Ming Dynasty, culture radiated outward, which not only formed the so-called Confucian cultural circle in Southeast Asia, but also spread many cultures in China. For example, the four great inventions spread from China to Europe through India and Arabia, all before the Ming Dynasty. After the end of Qing Dynasty, culture spread inward, western learning came from the sea, and China passively accepted it.

However, it should be noted that these two kinds of communication are also problematic and unequal. Before the Ming Dynasty, China's culture was sublime and enlightened neighboring countries. At that time, people in China preferred to call foreigners "barbarians", meaning uncivilized people. After the Qing Dynasty, China culture was forcibly invaded, which was accompanied by a strong ship and a strong gun. Therefore, looking back at the history of cultural exchange in China, it is a bit miserable, not because of lack, but because of incorrect cultural attitude.

Helpless choice under the strong ship and the strong gun

China first closed the sea route in the Yuan Dynasty, and closed the sea four times, mostly because of the failure of foreign wars, and the court and the people competed for profits.

Although there were several sea bans in the Yuan Dynasty, the frequency was very high, but the time was not long, and it opened with the ban. By the Ming Dynasty, the maritime ban had become a long-term and formal system. In A.D. 1370, Zhu Yuanzhang cancelled Taicang Huang Du Shipping Company for the first time, and cancelled Quanzhou, Guangzhou and Mingzhou Shipping Company again four years later. In the following ten years, maritime people were prohibited from liaising with other countries, then foreign traffic was prohibited, and finally all non-governmental trade and the use of "fake goods" were completely banned.

There were strict regulations on the prohibition of the sea in the Ming Dynasty. Whether it is a powerful official or a civilian, it is illegal to build a ship with more than three masts. Those who went to the countryside to buy and sell committed adultery with pirates, beheaded them in public, and the whole family was sent to exile troops in the frontier. Whoever builds a ship with more than three masts and sells it to foreigners commits the same crime as leaking military information. The first offender was executed and the accomplice was exiled. All foreign goods are not allowed to be bought or sold, and the existing ones must be destroyed. ...

If private businesses were only prohibited by the people before, China's sea routes were completely closed after Zheng He's voyage to the West. Just after Zheng He's last voyage to the West 127, the Portuguese fleet knocked on the door of China and established the Macao colony.

After the Qing army entered the customs, the Qing dynasty continued to pursue the policy of closing the country to the outside world. Shunzhi and Kangxi dynasties issued five maritime bans, namely, the 12th year of Shunzhi (1655), 13th year of Shunzhi (1656), 1st year of Kangxi (1662) and 5th year of Kangxi (1666). In the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660), the first year of Kangxi (1662) and the seventeenth year of Kangxi (1678), the "order to move the sea" was issued three times, prohibiting people from going to sea for trade. By 1683, Kangxi partially lifted the ban at the request of the minister, but in fact it was only an open and Japanese maritime ban. Kangxi once said to the minister, "We will not trade with other countries except East Asia." And said: "In overseas countries such as the West, China will be afraid of being tired after thousands of years, which is contrary to our expectations." At this time, in order to prevent the impact of China products on Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan also imposed strict restrictions on trade with the Qing court.

After Kangxi, the Qing dynasty basically implemented the sea ban. After Qianlong, it was completely closed. At first, it was a four-port trade. Later, only Guangzhou was opened to the outside world, and thirteen banks monopolized its import and export trade.

In recent years, the topic of China and the ocean has been endless, such as a newly discovered chart of Zheng He, which is considered as the earliest discovery of the world by China people. This kind of obscenity is a continuation of China's beautiful dream. China people started sailing two thousand years ago, Ban Chao reached the Cape of Good Hope in the Han Dynasty, and Zheng He 142 1 arrived in Kenya. But what can these tell us?

Columbus discovered America in 1492. His voyage was 60 years later than Zheng He's, but Columbus and his colleagues brought back ships of gold and jewels, which were the original capital for the whole of Europe to enter modernization. Before that, Zheng He of China was still transporting their silver from ship to ship. While Europeans were exploring the earth and connecting the world with ships, China locked himself up and started the Chinese dream. So that 200 years later, when Europeans knocked on the door of China with iron cannons, China people were at a loss.

China's ban on the sea is just the eve of the industrial age in Europe. Commercial activities all over the sea area have brought countless wealth to European countries, which is the fundamental driving force for Europe's rapid development. When the greatest change came in the history of human civilization, China people cut off contact with the world. When Zhu Yuanzhang banned the sea, he said, "I can pass through foreign countries by sea, so I try to ban them from coming and going." ..... If you can't help but quit, everyone will be confused and trapped in the constitution of the crime. "The sea can reach foreign countries, and people know their interests because of business. This is why the sea was banned in the first place. This ban, at the most severe time, even stipulated that "inch boards are not allowed to enter the sea and sails are not allowed to enter the port". After the Silk Road on land was cut off, the Silk Road on the sea was finally cut off.

Enlightenment from the Maritime Silk Road

China people lost the ocean, or China people never owned the ocean.

The great voyage allowed Europeans to discover the world and let the world enter the industrial age. China's entry into modern history was marked by the Opium War of 1840, which was not only more than 300 years later than that of Europe, but also started with bullying.

Obviously, many people are still immersed in Zheng He's "feat" of going to the West. But the truth is, we have lost the best ocean age. Should we throw away the present? Therefore, for the ocean, the most important thing is not to salvage the sunken ship, nor is it a cultural card. The most important thing is how to get more biological resources and living space in the ocean and how to improve our cultural influence through the ocean. Our exploitation of the ocean is still at a very shallow level, and our culture has long been unable to influence the world. Isn't that what we need to worry about most?