明代温州海洋贸易

温州自唐代作为浙东重要的海洋贸易口岸以来,在对外贸易中发挥着重要作用。明前期,政府并未沿袭宋、元在温州设置市舶司,但温州在明前期的朝贡贸易中依然占据着极为重要的地位。明中后期,尤其是嘉靖以后,随着朝贡贸易的衰落和私商势力的崛起,温州海上走私贸易盛极一时。

Wenzhou Ocean Trade in the Ming Dynasty

Since it was regarded as the most important trade port in eastern Zhejiang in the Tang Dynasty, Wenzhou has played an important role in foreign trade. In the early Ming Dynasty, although the government did not set up the ship company as it did in the Song and Yuan Dynasty, Wenzhou held a very important position in the tributary trade in the early Ming Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, especially after the Jiajing period, with the fall of tributary trade and the rise of private merchant force, the maritime smuggling trade began to flourish in Wenzhou.