Quanzhou: The Rise and Fall of China’s Maritime Trade Center (II)

In part 2 of our deep dive into the history of Quanzhou, we’ll talk about the infamous official Pu Shougeng and explore the controversial role he played in shaping the history of Quanzhou as a maritime trade center.

Transcript

Quanzhou: The Rise and Fall of China’s Maritime Trade Center (II)

In part 2 of our deep dive into the history of Quanzhou, we’ll talk about the infamous official Pu Shougeng and explore the controversial role he played in shaping the history of Quanzhou as a maritime trade center.

As we mentioned in our last podcast, during the Northern Song Dynasty, which lasted from 960 to 1127, the eminent official Cai Xiang led the construction of Luoyang Bridge, sparking a bridge-building craze in the surrounding areas of Quanzhou that lasted for three centuries. In the Song and Yuan periods, Quanzhou residents contributed funds to build at least 175 bridges, fundamentally transforming the mountainous and rugged transportation landscape of Fujian. This played a crucial role in Quanzhou becoming the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road and a key hub for China's maritime trade center.

Apart from Cai Xiang, another individual had an even greater and more profound impact on Quanzhou. He personally transformed Quanzhou into a maritime trade center. However, he also, later on, jeopardized Quanzhou’s continued development path, thus altering the trajectory of Chinese historical development. In the Ming and Qing periods following the Song and Yuan dynasties, China abandoned its position as a maritime trading power, opting for a path of “closed-door isolation.”

His name was Pu Shougeng, a descendant of Arab sea merchants who lived for generations in China.

Pu Shougeng’s ancestors engaged in maritime trade during the late Tang Dynasty. They migrated from Vietnam to Guangzhou in Guangdong Province and swiftly became the wealthiest family among the so-called Hai Liao, or the sea people, in Guangzhou. The term Hailiao, also known as Bo Liao, was a derogatory reference by Chinese people in the Tang and Song periods to label foreigners involved in maritime trade.

After the Huang Chao uprising, a major rebellion that weakened the Tang Dynasty in the 9th century, the Hu merchants in Guangzhou were largely slaughtered, leading to a decline in overseas trade. A branch of the Pu family, following trade fleets, relocated to Quanzhou in Fujian. Some descendants remained in Guangzhou, maintaining their prominent status as a wealthy and influential family until the late Qing Dynasty, which lasted from 1644 to 1911. The Guangzhou Museum in Yuexiu Park still preserves the Pu Family Genealogy Stele.

The branch that moved to Quanzhou flourished as the Southern Song Dynasty, reliant on overseas trade for economic prosperity, turned Quanzhou into a national maritime trade center. The port’s scale rivaled only that of Alexandria in Egypt at the time.

In the later Southern Song period, Pu Shougeng took over his father’s overseas trade business, primarily dealing in bulk spices. The Pu family business rapidly expanded, prospering and reaching its peak.

According to the History of the Song Dynasty, “Pu Shougeng served as the superintendent of the Quanzhou Maritime Office, monopolizing the profits from foreign ships for 30 years.” Among the 22 ancient sites listed as World Heritage in Quanzhou today, one is the Maritime Office, a government office in the Song and Yuan periods overseeing international trade. Although not large in size and with relatively low official ranks, the profits within were quite substantial.

Similar to the late Qing Dynasty when foreign nationals controlled the Qing Customs, in the Southern Song period, the superintendent of the Maritime Office had to manage merchant fleets from various countries and engage with foreign sea merchants. Having a foreigner familiar with the conditions of different countries as the head of the Maritime Office was advantageous. The position of superintendent at the Southern Song Maritime Office rotated every three years, and Pu Shougeng held the position only once. However, this was enough for his family’s fleet to become dominant among the sea merchants of various countries in Quanzhou for the next 30 years.

In contrast to the small Maritime Office site, Pu Shougeng’s family residence was massive. In the southern part of Quanzhou’s Licheng District today, the area from Tianhou Temple to Guandi Temple is said to have been the estate of Pu Shougeng’s family. Several bus stations in the area, such as Huayuantou and Qipanyuan, are named after the gardens and chessboard of Pu Shougeng’s family from that time.

To entertain government officials and foreign merchants, distinctive features were necessary for hosting dignitaries. Pu Shougeng’s entertainment included inviting guests to play chess at home. A large chessboard was painted in the house, featuring 32 pieces, each represented by a beautiful woman. These female chess pieces had their own loft for residence and followed commands to change positions on the chessboard as per the host and guests’ instructions.

Despite the lucrative profits from maritime trade, high risks, such as piracy, still existed. To ensure the safety of their fleet, the Pu family maintained their own navy. This armed force significantly contributed to the Southern Song’s efforts to eliminate sea bandits. Pu Shougeng’s wealth and status soared, eventually leading him to become the pacification commissioner in charge of coastal defense in Fujian, not only in Quanzhou but also overseeing military and political power along the entire Fujian coast.

Pu Shougeng seamlessly combined official and business roles, accumulating immense wealth through extensive maritime trade. His notable influence and substantial fortune made him almost unquestionably the “richest person in the world” at that time. The Southern Song court, recognizing the immense potential of overseas trade, relocated royal family members to Quanzhou. While the business operations were conducted by figures like Pu Shougeng and other foreign merchants, the royal descendants enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle in Quanzhou, which was then one of the most prosperous and luxurious cities in the world.

Among the 22 heritage sites in Quanzhou, there is the Nanwai Zongzhengsi, a site which was the government office responsible for managing the affairs of royal descendants. When the Northern Song Dynasty fell, the imperial relatives and families were plundered by the Jin Dynasty. Those fortunate enough to escape, over 300 remaining royal descendants, were resettled in Quanzhou after the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty. By the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, their numbers had multiplied to over 3,000.

As the Song and Yuan dynasties overlapped, the prosperous Quanzhou and Pu Shougeng, who was wealthy enough to rival a nation, became the focal points of contention and recruitment between the Song and Yuan sides. Before the Yuan army launched a major attack on the Southern Song, emissaries were sent to persuade Pu to surrender, promising him higher official positions and generous rewards. Initially unmoved, Pu Shougeng did not yield.

As the unstoppable Mongol army advanced, in 1276, the Yuan forces captured Lin’an, leading to the downfall of the Southern Song. Lu Xiufu and Zhang Shijie, along with two young princes and over a hundred thousand loyal troops to the Southern Song, fled southward. Zhang Shijie, considered a loyal minister and one of the “Three Heroes of the Late Song” along with Wen Tianxiang and Lu Xiufu, bore some responsibility for the ultimate demise of the Southern Song.

After arriving in Fujian with two young princes and tens of thousands of troops, Zhang Shijie chose Quanzhou as the first landing point, intending to use the world’s largest port as the new capital to attempt the restoration of the Southern Song. However, Pu Shougeng held dominance over Quanzhou. Zhang Shijie neither trusted this foreign merchant nor intended to seek refuge with him. Instead, he demanded that Pu contribute his wealth and military forces for the service of the fledgling court and the army.

At this time, Pu Shougeng, who is already in his seventies, had been deeply involved in the city of Quanzhou for over 30 years. The scale of his maritime trade was unmatched. In order to preserve the port of Quanzhou from destruction in the war, the Yuan army sought to win over Pu Shougeng. Amid the deadlock of various forces, Zhang Shijie, seeing Pu’s refusal to open the gates of Quanzhou to welcome the Southern Song court, forcibly requisitioned over 2,000 commercial ships from the Pu family, carrying over a hundred thousand troops out to sea.

Those ships represented the accumulated assets of the Pu family over several generations, all taken by Zhang Shijie to the sea. He also led the troops to attack Quanzhou. Enraged, Pu completely threw in with the Yuan army, which led to the massacre of over 3,000 descendants of the Southern Song royal family in Quanzhou. Pu thus became the bitter enemy of the Southern Song court.

In the year 1279, the Song and Yuan armies engaged in a decisive battle in the sea near Yashan, Guangdong Province. Although Zhang Shijie still had a considerable force, he was weary of wandering at sea. He consolidated over 1,000 ships into a unified entity and engaged in a maritime trench warfare against the Yuan army. At this time, Wen Tianxiang, a famed poet and politician in the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty, had already been defeated and captured, and watched the battle from the flagship of the Yuan army commander. 

Originally, Yuan army commander Zhang Hongfan intended for Wen Tianxiang to write a letter persuading Zhang Shijie to surrender. Wen Tianxiang refused, instead penning the poem Crossing the Ocean Alone, with the famous lines “Life and death have been inevitable since ancient times; I will preserve my unwavering spirit to illuminate history,” which have become an enduring masterpiece.

The result of the Battle of Yashan was a major defeat for the Song army. Prime Minister Lu Xiufu, carrying the eight-year-old emperor on his back, jumped into the sea, and over a hundred thousand troops followed suit in a collective sacrifice. Although Zhang Shijie managed to break through the encirclement, he saw no hope of restoring the Song Dynasty. After burying the body of Empress Yang, he drowned himself. The Battle of Yashan marked the first complete conquest of China by nomadic pastoralist ethnic groups, leading to the saying: “After Yashan, there is no China,” suggesting a rupture in Chinese civilization.

During the Yuan Dynasty, which lasted from 1279 to 1368, the government, similar to the later Ming Dynasty’s Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Seas, organized several missions to demonstrate its peaceful trade system to countries in Southeast Asia. As Pu Shougeng was elderly, his son and trusted aides led these expeditions on his behalf, contributing significantly to the further development of Yuan’s overseas trade.

In the Battle of Yashan, the warships lost by the Song army were part of Pu Shougeng’s assets. After surrendering to the Yuan, Pu not only retained the status of Quanzhou as the greatest port in the world but also rose to become the chief official of the Fujian Province, overseeing the total market shipping in Fujian and Guangdong. He once again took control of Quanzhou and its entire commercial trade.

Pu Shougeng continued to rule Quanzhou and supervise overseas trade for over 10 years during the Yuan Dynasty. He lived to the age of 86 and, under his administration, Quanzhou reached its zenith, becoming the center of maritime trade in China during the Song-Yuan period. The Pu family thrived for nearly a century due to their monopoly on maritime trade. Despite Pu being considered a villain and enemy of the Southern Song, his contributions to the prosperity of Quanzhou cannot be denied.

However, the prosperity didn’t last long. Several generations later, the descendants of the Pu family continued to control Quanzhou’s foreign trade. Faced with immense profits, conflicts arose again with the Yuan court. In the late Yuan Dynasty, the militarized descendants of the Pu family rebelled against the Yuan, only to be annihilated by the Yuan army. As a result, the Pu family completely lost its former status.

After Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty and considered himself the inheritor of the Song Dynasty, he sought revenge for the Southern Song court. He ordered the unearthing and desecration of Pu Shougeng’s remains. Male descendants of the Pu family were enslaved, and females were forced into prostitution. Pu’s descendants were barred from participating in the imperial exams and achieving official positions in the Ming Dynasty.

As for Quanzhou, while overseas trade brought tremendous profits to the government, the foreign control of maritime trade in various dynasties often caused troubles, even catastrophic events like the Southern Song’s downfall. To eliminate potential threats, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the prohibition of maritime trade in Quanzhou, relocating the foreign trade center to Mingzhou, today’s Ningbo, hoping for a more tranquil maritime environment.

However, it didn’t take long for Zhu Yuanzhang to lift the maritime trade ban, but with restrictions like “sailing with only one sail.” From then on, Chinese civilization began to drift away from the sea and maritime trade, missing out on the subsequent Age of Discovery and gradually falling into the abyss of “closed-door policy.”

All of this is closely related to the lessons from the past of the Pu Shougeng family. Since then, the once glorious Quanzhou, known as the “world’s largest port” in ancient times, has disappeared from the scene, fading into obscurity. It wasn’t until the 21st century, through the mechanism of becoming a world cultural heritage site recognized by UNESCO, that people once again witnessed the splendor that Quanzhou had once possessed.

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Song Yimin, translator Du Guodong, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.