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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND PORTUGAL IN THE EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY : SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE YUE SHAN CONG TAN

Drawing on Yue Shan Cong Tan, compiled by Li Wen Feng shortly after Portuguese contact with China, Fukuda reassesses the nature of Sino-Portuguese diplomacy in the early 16th century. The study foregrounds Yue Shan Cong Tan as a pivotal but scattered Chinese source whose quotations appear in Guangdo...

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Published in:Review of Culture
Main Author: Kanuzori Fukuda
Format: Articles
Published: Instituto Cultural de Macau January 2002
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Articles
Online Access:https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40001/2657
Summary:Drawing on Yue Shan Cong Tan, compiled by Li Wen Feng shortly after Portuguese contact with China, Fukuda reassesses the nature of Sino-Portuguese diplomacy in the early 16th century. The study foregrounds Yue Shan Cong Tan as a pivotal but scattered Chinese source whose quotations appear in Guangdong Tongzhi, Shu Yu Zhou Zi Lu and Tianxia Jun Guo Libing Shu, and which records episodes around cannon technology, initial voyages during the Jiajing era, and the haidao-led expulsion in 1518. The author lays out three focal issues: the timing and manner of cannon arrival; the onset of Portuguese activity at the start of the Jiajing reign; and Wang Xuan’s expulsion episode. Methodologically, Fukuda cross-checks the Yue Shan Cong Tan with Ming sources (Ming Shi Lu, Yang Ming Xiansheng Quanshu, Fujian Tongzhi, Xianyou Xianzhi) and other literary-historical compilations, identifying interpretive agents (Heru, Yang San, Dai Ming) and the role of interpreters in San Cai Tu Hui. The paper further argues that the Portuguese-Chinese exchanges in 1523–1557 increasingly depended on personnel from the Estado da Índia and on Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, explaining a continuity of contact despite shifting political obstacles, as reflected in Albuquerque’s letters. The conclusions underscore the value and limits of Yue Shan Cong Tan for reconstructing early Sino-Portuguese diplomacy, and suggest a nuanced chronology in which cannon knowledge and diplomatic contact intersect with broader dynastic and fiscal constraints.
ISSN:1682-1106

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