Song Maritime Trade

Timeline

1. 971–1087Guangzhou · Guangzhou CityAfter Northern Song unification, a maritime trade office was set up in Guangzhou, instituting the 'choujie' duty levy and 'bomai' official purchase systems for foreign ships, requiring merchant ships to hold official permits to sail and undergo inspection on return. Maritime trade revenues went into the inner treasury and became an important source of state finance.
2. 1087–1230Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Mingzhou · Fujian ProvinceQuanzhou and Mingzhou successively established maritime trade offices, and the Southern Song maritime trade network expanded to Champa, Srivijaya, Arabia, and Chola. The court used maritime trade revenues for military expenses and annual grants, foreign merchants enjoyed legal protection in ports, forming one of the world's earliest official maritime trade management systems.
3. 1231–1240Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office · Quanzhou CityAfter the Mongols destroyed the Jin, the Song-Mongol war intensified; overland Silk Road and north-of-the-Huai trade routes were blocked, and maritime trade became the Southern Song's main channel for foreign exchange and strategic materials. Maritime trade offices tightened control over foreign ship movements, and revenues funded anti-Mongol military pay. Champa, Srivijaya, and others continued trading with the Southern Song, with spices and rice seeds imported by sea.
4. 1240–1279Southeast coast · Southeast coastIn the late Southern Song, annual maritime trade revenues reached several hundred thousand guan, an important share of fiscal income. Quanzhou became the world's largest port, crowded with Arab and Persian merchants. After the fall of Song, the Yuan inherited and expanded the maritime trade system, and Song maritime trade management experience influenced later Ming and Qing maritime prohibition and opening policies.