Asia. China as a sea power 1127–1369: A preliminary survey of the maritime expansion and naval exploits of the Chinese people during the Southern Song and Yuan periods By Lo Jung-Pang. Ed. and commentary by Bruce A. Elleman Singapore: NUS Press; Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012. Pp. xx + 378. Maps, Bibliography, Index.

Abstract

China as a sea power 1127-1369: A preliminary survey of the maritime expansion and naval exploits of the Chinese people during the Southern Song and Yuan periods By LO JUNG-PANG. Ed. and commentary by BRUCE A. ELLEMAN Singapore: NUS Press; Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012. Pp. xx + 378. Maps, Bibliography, Index, doi: 10.1017/S0022463414000666 Anyone who has studied China's maritime history owes a lot to the late professor of Chinese history at UC Davis Lo Jung-Pang (1912-81) and it is truly a blessing that this manuscript, which was completed in 1957, has been published. Every page breathes Lo's characteristic passion for China's maritime legacy. We should also be grateful to Bruce A. Elleman for his efforts in bringing this manuscript to the attention of the public. Its publication is also timely, given China's contemporary maritime policies aimed at re-establishing itself as an Asian and global maritime power (see Thomas M. Kane, Chinese grand strategy and maritime power, 2002; Yves-Heng Lim, China's naval power: An offensive realist approach, 2014). Lo painstakingly describes the historical ascendancy of China as a commercial and naval maritime power. He particularly focuses on the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, a period of roughly 500 years during which China's maritime activities experienced an unsurpassed boom. In the initial chapters Lo charts the ancient foundations on which later maritime exploits were built. He does not consider China's maritime activity as a static and isolated phenomenon, but carefully examines the range of factors which played a decisive role in its development and which foreshadowed the unprecedented boom in sea power during the Song dynasty. Useful tables display such aspects as the rise in the number of cities and demographic transformations within China, and help chart shifts in mentalities. In part 2 the author analyses the intertwined phenomena of the boom in commerce and the build-up of the navy during the Song dynasty, and examines developments in shipbuilding as well as firepower technology. Part 3 deals with the rise of China as an expansionist commercial and naval power under Mongol rule. The author also highlights naval expeditions which have largely remained unexamined. By bringing together the most relevant sources, Lo reconstructs, sometimes on a daily basis, the stories of the main battles that were fought by the multiethnic Yuan navies in wars against Japan, Vietnam and Java. …