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Sino-Portuguese Trafficking of Children during the Ming Dynasty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2023

James Fujitani Open the ORCID record for James Fujitani [Opens in a new window]
James Fujitani*
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China
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Email: james.fujitani@nottingham.edu.cn
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Abstract

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Portuguese purchased large numbers of people in China as slaves. Many of those people were children. This article considers where those children came from and why they were sold to the Portuguese. During the late Ming period, as social inequality intensified, poor farmers increasingly had to sell themselves and their offspring to rich landowners as bonded labourers. However, some farmers chose to break the law and sell to foreigners instead. Other farmers became bandits, and kidnapped other people's children to sell into bondage. Both of these criminal trends provided the Portuguese with young slaves.

Keywords

child traffickingslaverypeasantsPortugalMing dynasty
Type
Article
Information
Itinerario , Volume 47 , Special Issue 3: Regimes of Bondage: The Encounter between Early Modern European and Asian Slaveries , December 2023 , pp. 311 - 322
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Research Institute for History, Leiden University

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References

1 For example, de Sousa, Lúcio, The Portuguese Slave Trade in Early Modern Japan (Leiden: Brill, 2019)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 See, for example, Van Deusen, Nancy E., Global Indios: The Indigenous Struggle for Justice in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2015)Google Scholar.

3 For example, Patrícia Souza de Faria, “Cruzando fronteiras: conversão e mobilidades culturais de escravos no império asiático português (séculos XVI e XVII )” [Crossing frontiers: Conversion and cultural mobilities of slaves in the Portuguese Asian empire (16th and 17th centuries)], PERIODICIDADE Anual (2016).

4 The classic study is Niu Jianqiang 牛建強, “Ming dai nu pu yu she hui 明代奴僕與社會” [Bonded servants and society during the Ming era],《史學月刊》[Monthly journal of historical studies], April 2002. Other studies will be cited over the course of this article.

5 On the rise of the private estates in the Tang dynasty, see Lewis, Mark Edward, China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009), 123–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 On the rise of the sharecropping system during this period, see Zhang Ming 张明, “Tang zhong ye dao Song dai zu tian qi yue si xiang yan jiu 唐中叶至宋代租佃契约思想研究” [Research on the mentality behind tenant sharecropper contracts from the mid-Tang to the Song era],《天府新论》 [New articles from Sichuan] 3 (2015), 88–94.

7 On the growth of commercial agriculture during the Song dynasty, see Gao Liying 高立迎, “Shi xi Song dai nong cun jing ji de shang pin hua 试析宋代农村经济的商品化” [Preliminary analysis of the commercialisation of the rural village economy in the Song era], 《山西农业大学学报: 社会科学版》[Academic journal of the Shanxi Agricultural University] 7:2 (2008), 151–5.

8 On the commercialisation of the Ming economy, see Wang Yuquan 王毓铨, ed., Zhong guo jing ji tong shi. Ming dai jing ji juan 《中国经济通史. 明代经济卷》[General economic history of China: The Ming-era economy] (Beijing: Jing ji ri bao chu ban she, 2000).

9 For example, on the commercialisation of the farmlands of Fujian, see Xu Hong 徐泓, “Ming dai Fu jian she hui feng qi de bian qian 明代福建社會風氣的變遷” [The transformation of the societal ethos of Fujian during the Ming era], 《東吳歷史學報》[Soochow journal of history] 15 (June 2006), 145–71.

10 Liu Yongcheng 劉永成, Zhong guo zu dian zhi du shi 《中國租佃制度》[The Chinese system of tenant sharecroppers] (Taipei: Wen jin chu ban she, 1997), 171–3.

11 Liu Kexiang 刘克祥, Zhong guo yong dian zhi du yan jiu 《中国永佃制度研究》 [Research on the Chinese system of tenant sharecroppers with permanent land rights] (Beijing: She hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she, 2017), 20–9.

12 On this practice, known as 投靠 (toukao), see Nishimura Kazuyo 西村かずよ, 「Mindai no doboku 明代の奴僕」[Bonded servants in the Ming era], 『東洋史研究』[Journal of oriental researches] 38:1 (1979), 24–50.

13 See Bian Li 卞利, “Ming Qing tu di zu tian guan xi yu zu tian qi yue yan jiu 明清土地租佃关系与租佃契约研究” [Research on the relationship between land and tenant sharecroppers and on the tenant contracts in the Ming and Qing eras],《原生态民族文化学刊》[Journal of ethnic culture] 7:4 (2015), 17–31.

14 Ying zong shi lu《英宗實錄》[Veritable records of Emperor Yingzong] (Taipei: Zhong yang yan jiu yuan, 1962), 卷167, 正統十三年六月甲申 (30 July 1448). The reporter in this passage is the regional inspector (按察使, anchashi) of Zhejiang province, named Xuan Ni 軒輗. All translations are the author's unless otherwise indicated.

15 All major business transactions needed to be formalised in a contract. The contract was signed by both parties and certified by the local government. Peasants, who were illiterate, generally signed with their handprint. The only collection of contracts which has been published are from Anhui province. This article uses two editions of those contracts: Ming Qing Hui zhou she hui jing ji zi liao cong bian《明清徽州社會經濟資料叢編》[Collection of sources on the society and economy of Huizhou in the Ming and Qing eras] (Beijing: Zhong guo she hui ke xue chu ban she, 1988); and Zhang Chuanxi 张传玺 et al., eds., Zhong guo li dai qi yue hui bian kao shi《中国历代契约会编考释》[Research on and compilation of Chinese historical contracts] (Beijing: Beijing da xue chu ban she, 1995).

16 See the contract “She xian Wang Wenjin mai zhi hun shu 歙縣王文錦賣侄婚書” [Familial contract of Wang Wenjin, of She County, selling his nephew] in Ming qing Hui zhou, 555–6. See also the contract “Hu Yinshi mai nan hun shu 胡音十賣男婚書” [Familial contract of Hu Yinshi selling his son] in ibid., 551. I have only given the price of male children, because the Huizhou collection does not contain any Ming-era sales contracts for women.

17 Contract “Hu Yinshi,” 551.

18 On a legal level, the transaction was considered to be offering a child for adoption to a landlord. This was a legal fiction, due to the fact that private citizens were technically not allowed to own slaves. See Hao Feng 蒿峰, “Ming dai de yi nan mai mai yu gu gong ren 明代的义男买卖与雇工人” [The selling of adopted sons and contract labourers in the Ming era],《山东大学学报》[Journal of Shandong University] (1988), 107-109.

19 Koyama Masaaki 小山正明, Minshin shakai keizai-shi kenkyu 『明清社会経済史研究』[Research on Ming and Qing social and economic history] (Tokyo: Tokyo University, 1992), 348–56.

20 On bonded peasants (佃僕, dianpu), see Nishimura Kazuyo 西村かずよ,「Minshin jidai no doboku wo megutte 明淸時代の奴僕をめぐって」[On the bonded servants of the Ming and Qing eras], 『東洋史研究』[Journal of oriental researches] 36:4 (1978), 127–8.

21 Koyama, Minshin, 389–95.

22 On the indecent class (賤民, jianmin) of bonded labourers, see Niu, “Ming dai,” 4.

23 On such complaints by increasing numbers of bonded labourers, see Niu, “Ming dai,” 4.

24 Liu Yongcheng, Zhong guo, 174.

25 He Liangjun 何良俊, Si you zhai cong shuo《四友齋叢說》[Collection of writings from the Four Friends Library], 卷 13 史 9, https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=400035.

26 On the accelerating migration of farmers, see Liu Kexiang, Zhong guo, 11–12.

27 Koyama, Minshin, 318–26.

28 For a case where the absconding slaves were rediscovered, see Claude Chevaleyre, “Acting as Master and Bondservant: Considerations on Status, Identities and the Nature of ‘Bond-Servitude’ in Late Ming China,” in Labour, Coercion, and Economic Growth in Eurasia, 17th–20th Centuries (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 265–9.

29 Shi zong shi lu《世宗實錄》[Veritable records of Emperor Shizong] (Taipei: Zhong Yang Yan Jiu Yuan, 1962), 卷 1, 正德十六年四月二十二日 (27 May 1521).

30 Cristóvão Vieira, Cartas dos cativos de Cantão: Cristóvão Vieira e Vasco Calvo (1524?) [Letters from the captives of Canton], ed. Rui Loureiro (Macau: Instituto Cultural de Macau, 1992), 44.

31 On the increasing rural uprisings, see Liu Kexiang, Zhong guo, 20–53.

32 This point has been developed in regards to the great rural “slave” revolts at the end of the Ming dynasty. See Mori Masao 森正夫, Nuhen to kōso : Min-matsu Shin-sho o chūshin to suru, Kachū, Kanan no chiiki shakai ni okeru minshū no teikō undō 『奴変と抗租：明末清初を中心とする、華中・華南の地域社会における民衆の抵抗運動』 [Slave revolts and protests against rent: The resistance movements of the masses in Kachu and Kanan regional society, with focus on the late Ming and early Qing periods] (Nagoya: Nagoya University, 1981), 75–110.

33 In regards to the illegality of selling to foreigners, see Gaspar da Cruz, Tratado em que se contam muito por extenso as cousas da China [Treatise in which matters of China are recounted at great length] (Macau: Museu Marítimo de Macau, 1996), 92.

34 Xian zong shi lu《憲宗實錄》[Veritable records of Emperor Xianzong] (Taipei: Zhong yang yan jiu yuan, 1962), 卷 29, 成化二年夏四月甲辰 (17 May 1466).

35 Ibid., 卷 217, 成化十七年秋七月丁酉 (19 August 1481). This translation is from Geoff Wade, trans., Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: An Open Access Resource (Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore), http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/reign/cheng-hua/year-17-month-7-day-24.

36 Wang Wenbing 汪文炳, “Wai zhi 外志” [Description of foreign countries], Xiang shan xian zhi《香山縣志》[Gazetteer of Xiangshan county], 1923.

37 Francisco Rodrigues, “Comentários do Padre Francisco Rodrigues da Companhia de Jesus sobre os casos versados na Índia e suas partes . . .” [Commentaries of Father Francisco Rodrigues of the Company of Jesus on cases examined in India and its regions], in Manuscritos da livraria [Manuscripts from the library], Codex 805, PT/TT/MSLIV/0805, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, digitised page 119, https://digitarq.arquivos.pt/details?id=4248690.

38 Danjo Hiroshi檀上寛, 「Mingdai kaikin gainen no seiritsu to sono haikei 明代海禁概念の成立とその背景」 [The establishment and context of the Ming-era notion of the Maritime Ban], 『東洋史研究』 [Journal of oriental researches] 63:3 (2004), 421–55.

39 On the administration that the Ming set up around Portuguese Macau, see Tang Kaijian 汤开建, “Ming dai zai Ao men she li de you guan zhi guan kao zheng 明代在澳门设立的有关职官考证” [Research about the establishment of officials at Macau in the Ming era], 《明代澳门史论稿》 [Collection of articles on Ming-era Macau] (Harbin: Heilongjiang Jiaoyu, 2012), 275–310.

40 See, for example, the language in the contract “She xian Wang Wenjin,” 555–6: “[Wang] asked middlemen to negotiate with Li Sun (his nephew), such that the nephew willingly allows the middlemen to speak with the landlord.”

41 Peter Mundy, The Travels of Peter Mundy (London: Hakluyt Society, 1919), 263.

42 Ibid.

43 See Mori, Nuhen, 80 and 96.

44 Mundy, Travels, 263.

45 On contract labourers, see Hao, “Ming dai,” 107–13.

46 Rodrigues, Comentários, 118.

47 On this legend, see Jin Guoping and Wu Zhiliang, “A (des)canibalização dos Portugueses” [The (de)cannibalisation of the Portuguese], Revista de Cultura: International edition 16 (October 2005), 94–104.

48 Mundy, Travels, 263.

49 Nieuhof, Johan, An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperor of China, trans. Ogilet, John (London: John Macock, 1669), 214Google Scholar.

50 Mocquet, Jean, Voyages en Afrique, Asie, Indes orientales et occidentales faits par Jean Mocquet [Voyages to Africa, Asia, the East and West Indies, made by Jean Mocquet] (Paris: Migneret, 1830)Google Scholar, 284, https://books.google.com/books?id=GU14H50kbsAC&dq .

51 João de Escobar, Comentários, in Em busca das origens de Macau: Antologia documental [In search of the origins of Macau: A documentary anthology] (Lisbon: Grupo de Trabalho do Ministério da Educação, 1996), 146.

52 Li Wenfeng 李文風, Yue shan cong tan《月山叢談》 [Compilation of writings from Yue shan]. The complete work is no longer extant. The passage quoted is an excerpt from Gu Yanwu 顧炎武, Tian xia jun guo li bing shu 《天下郡國利病書》[Book on the strengths and weaknesses of the countries of the world] (Shanghai: Shanghai ke xue ji shu wen xian chu ban she, 2002), 第 2812 册.

53 Mocquet, Voyages, 284.

54 Cruz, Tratado, 92.

55 Escobar, Comentários, 146.

56 de Barros, João, Da Ásia [About Asia] (Lisbon: Regia Officina Typografica, 1787), III.6.ii, 16–18Google Scholar.

57 See, for example, “Dian gu nan zi shu shi 典僱男子書式” [Format for a standard contract for hiring boys], in Zhang, Zhong guo, 1068.

58 Sun-sin, Yi, Imjin changch'o: Admiral Yi Sun-sin's Memorials to Court, trans. Tae-hung, Ha, ed. Chong-young, Lee (Seoul: Yonsei, 1981), 35Google Scholar.

59 Ye Quan 葉權, Xian bo bian《賢博編》[Collection of wisdom and erudition] (Beijing: Zhong hua shu ju, 1987).

60 As an example, let us note the language in the template contract for bonded boys: “Dian gu,” 1068: “Henceforth, if there should occur anything unforeseen, may it all be considered Heaven-given destiny, and may nobody say otherwise.”