邁入世界：十六至十七世紀初期葡、西、荷人筆下的福州描繪

Entering the World: Fuzhou in Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch Narratives in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

過去研究中國城市史，通常是根據當時人們所描繪的城市風貌來重建城市的模樣。然而，這樣的勾勒是否全面，今日的人們是否能藉此瞭解當時城市的全貌，並由此進一步掌握城市的運作模式，實則不無疑問。尤其是自十五世紀起，當中國的城市開始與海洋產生愈來愈密切的聯繫時，更是如此。因此，本文運用同時期不同文化背景的「局外人」所記錄的外部觀點，並以中國及琉球的史料為輔證，嘗試建構更為全面的城市印象。本研究發現，福州不僅自十六世紀後半期起，便經常出現在西方人的紀錄中，並且是西方人嘗試與明帝國進行官方接觸的主要城市。另一方面，福州確也如實地扮演著一座帝國處理海洋事務的核心城市。除此之外，本研究進一步根據西方人自十六世紀後半至十七世紀為止的紀錄，指出福州在全球商品網絡中的地位，及其處於比較性視野下的位置。 Previous studies of Chinese urban history have usually relied on contemporary descriptions of the urban landscape to reconstruct the historic conditions of cities. However, there are certainly questions about the extent to which this approach is complete, whether we can rely on these narratives to provide a comprehensive portrait, and whether this can give us a better grasp of the operation of the city. This is particularly true from the fifteenth century on, as Chinese cities began to become increasingly tightly connected to maritime activities. For these reasons, this study attempts to reconstruct a more comprehensive urban portrayal by drawing primarily on the records of European sojourners in Fuzhou during the 16th and 17th centuries to underscore the key features of such an “outsider” perspective. Records compiled by the Chinese and Okinawan will also be consulted to supplement my reconstruction of this particular aspect of Fuzhou’s history. This article finds that from the second half of the sixteenth century onward, Fuzhou not only appeared often in Western records, but also became an important city through which Westerners sought to engage the Ming mandarin. Moreover, Fuzhou played a central role as an urban center through which the Ming Empire administered its maritime affairs. Furthermore, this research draws on Western records from the late sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries to demonstrate from a comparative perspective, what role Fuzhou played in the global trading network.

Previous studies of Chinese urban history have usually relied on contemporary descriptions of the urban landscape to reconstruct the historic conditions of cities. However, there are certainly questions about the extent to which this approach is complete, whether we can rely on these narratives to provide a comprehensive portrait, and whether this can give us a better grasp of the operation of the city. This is particularly true from the fifteenth century on, as Chinese cities began to become increasingly tightly connected to maritime activities. For these reasons, this study attempts to reconstruct a more comprehensive urban portrayal by drawing primarily on the records of European sojourners in Fuzhou during the 16th and 17th centuries to underscore the key features of such an “outsider” perspective. Records compiled by the Chinese and Okinawan will also be consulted to supplement my reconstruction of this particular aspect of Fuzhou’s history. This article finds that from the second half of the sixteenth century onward, Fuzhou not only appeared often in Western records, but also became an important city through which Westerners sought to engage the Ming mandarin. Moreover, Fuzhou played a central role as an urban center through which the Ming Empire administered its maritime affairs. Furthermore, this research draws on Western records from the late sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries to demonstrate from a comparative perspective, what role Fuzhou played in the global trading network.