17세기 초 동아시아 해양세계의 변화와 海商 李旦

Abstract

A sea trader Li Dan(李旦, ?~1625) is also called Li Xi(李習) and Li Xu(李旭). He was born in Quanzhou(泉州) in about the 1560s. Quanzhou was the place where overseas trade was active from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and where smuggling was active even when the ban on maritime trade or intercourse with foreign countries(海禁) was implemented in the Ming Dynasty. In particular, overseas sailing by Chinese people became possible after Yuegang(月港), Changchou(漳州) opened. And when sailing trade with Spain started, the Quanzhou and Changchou people actively participated in overseas trade. At that time, Li Dan was active in Manila under these circumstances. li Dan was a head of the community leading the Chinese living in Manila, but in 1603 the Spanish massacred approximately 20,000 Chinese living there and stole their property. li Dan lost all his property there and was compelled to have a hard time in a galley. Then li Dan settled in Japan when he ran away from the drudgery in 1607. li Dan became a head of Chinese quarter, Hirado and a prominent trader in 1613. In 1619, he became a leader of overseas Chinese in Japan in areas including Nagasaki. The central business for his success was bringing what was demanded to Japan from China such as silk and medicine ingredients. He needed a trade network for a monopoly of Chinese cargo and exclusive sales in Japanese markets. In addition, another Chinese traders had relations with Manila and Indonesia. li Dan proceeded to trade in Taiwan about 1614. Through cooperation with Yan Siqi(顔思齊) who was based in this place about 1621, he stably succeeded in trade. As active trade began with Taiwan and the Netherlands East India Company occupying Penghu, asking for free trade and plundered and set the coast in Fujian on fire, li Dan made VOC to withdraw from Penghu(澎湖) and go to Taiwan, and what they needed to be withdrawn. However, li Dan was compelled to return to Hirado without being cared for because of an illness and passed away in July, 1625. After his death, there were too many small and large groups of pirates on the coast until Zheng Zhilong(鄭芝龍) terminated the Liu Xiang(劉香)group in 1635, and the meeting and parting of pirates repeated. Thus, armed conflicts and competition on the coast after his death was more evidence that shows the status and charisma of li Dan as a sea trader. As European power appeared in East Asia in the 17th century, a different trade structure was needed. Under the trade prohibition policy, as the model of trade in part of the coastal area including Macao, Guǎngdōng and Yuegang became completed, new trade practices were formed and settled. li Dan, who delivered tasks with respect to trade with the Ming Dynasty and secured trading space as a coordinator, would be a significant coordinate in examining the roles and future historical positions of sea traders.