782 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 987 



executed pliotograpli of the author and the 

 nine-page biographical sketch will be appreci- 

 ated by those who knew him and to those un- 

 familiar with his life will convey the pleasing 

 impression of a strong unique personality. 

 C. A. Browne 



CHINA'S FOBEIGN TRADE IN MEDIEVAL 

 TIMES 



The history of commercial intercourse, bound 

 up as it is with the history of the origin and 

 development of navigation, is a most fascina- 

 ting subject, more especially the study of the 

 commercial relations between the difPerent 

 Oriental peoples. A valuable contribution to 

 this subject has recently been issued by Pro- 

 fessor Friedrich Hirth, of Columbia Univer- 

 sity, and Mr. W. W. Eockhill. This is a 

 translation from the Chinese, with introduc- 

 tion and commentary, of the work by Chau 

 Ju-Kua, treating primarily of products, and 

 incidentally of the customs of the various 

 countries known to the Chinese in the twelfth 

 and thirteenth centuries of our era. The intro- 

 duction by the translators supplies us with 

 much valuable information on Chinese trade 

 derived from a number of other sources.^ 



Of the many interesting facts to be gleaned 

 from a perusal of this book, we can only very 

 briefly touch upon a few of the more striking. 

 The work appeals especially to careful and 

 thorough students of the subject. 



The trade of Canton was the object of ear- 

 nest solicitude to the Chinese government, be- 

 cause of the large revenue derivable from it. 

 One of the port regulations implies a determi- 

 nation to give all importers an equal chance, 

 as far as possible, for as each ship arrived its 

 cargo was discharged, and the merchandise 

 placed in the government storehouses and 

 kept there until the last ship of the season 



1 Chau Ju-Kua = his work on the Chinese and 

 Arab trade in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 

 turies, entitled "Chu-fan-chi. " Translated from 

 the Chinese and annotated by Friedrich Hirth 

 and W. W. Eockhill, St. Petersburg, Printing 

 Office of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1911. 

 Pp. X + 288. 8°. 



sailed in. Only then were goods placed at the 

 owners' disposal for sale, the government re- 

 taining thirty per cent, as customs duties. 

 Thus the first comer was not allowed to secure 

 the cream of the market to the prejudice of 

 those who might have had a longer voyage, or 

 else have been detained by stress of weather.^ 



Toward the close of the tenth century the 

 Chinese government, realizing the great value 

 of its Canton trade, undertook an active prop- 

 aganda to encourage its development, envoys 

 being despatched with the wherewithal to se- 

 cure the good-will of the South Sea traders. 

 Among other inducements special trading li- 

 censes were oilered. The results were soon 

 apparent, merchandise poured in so freely 

 that the difficulty was to find a good market 

 for it. The rapid increase under this foster- 

 ing care is shown by the fact that while from 

 1049 to 1053, elephants' tusks, rhinoceros 

 horns, strings of pearls, aromatics, incense, 

 etc., were annually imported to the value of 

 53,000 " units of count," these annual im- 

 ports had risen in 1175 to over 500,000 " units 

 of count." While the monetary equivalent is 

 an unknown quantity, the figures suffice to 

 show the great increase of the Canton trade.' 



The government import duties amounted to 

 thirty per cent, from the middle of the ninth 

 century a.d. and this rate remained practically 

 unchanged for several centuries thereafter. If 

 any part of a ship's cargo was removed with- 

 out the knowledge of the officials the whole 

 cargo was confiscated and the offender was 

 punished according to the gravity of the of- 

 fense. Therefore we need not wonder that a 

 Chinese authority (the Pingchou-k'o-t'an) 

 should be able to state : " so it is that traders 

 do not dare to violate the regulations." * 



The Chinese author does not confine himself 

 to a description of the chief productions of 

 each of the regions he passes in review, al- 

 though this is the principal aim of his work, 

 but he also gives many brief notes regarding 

 the customs, dress, etc., of the different peoples 

 and details of the court ceremonials. 



2 Op. cit., p. 15. 



3 Op. cit., p. 19. 

 * Op. cit., p. 21. 



