Chinese Shipbuilding amid Historical Changes: An Overview

Abstract

Abstract The most significant advance in recent years in the study of Chinese technology is the realization of China’s own achievements in producing and improving technology in a global context. Not only did the realization allow us to move away from the Western-centric narrative that pitted Chinese technology against Western science, but it also brought us to discover the Chinese people’s own identity in technological development. Because of this advance, we are now able to focus our attention on subjects such as technology’s meaning to the average person rather than the perception Chinese intellectuals had of Western science. As a contribution to that effort, this article will provide a synopsis of the history of Chinese shipbuilding from the country’s early civilization to the end of the eighteenth century. I will survey the development of Chinese shipbuilding technology as it reacted to opportunity and challenge over an historical stretch of time. I will suggest that the history of Chinese shipbuilding was marked not only by the Chinese shipbuilders’ ability to take advantage of every opportunity provided by the changes to enhance technology but also by their tenacity in the face of government restrictions on maritime activities. The combination of the two defines the history of Chinese shipbuilding.