Preface
Author's Preface
Series Editor's Preface
Translator's Preface

introduction

Chapter 1: The Tribute System is Challenged
Chapter 2: Zhilong Zhilong (Nicholas Yi-Kwan) before 1627
Chapter 3: The Mercenaries' Survival Game, 1628–1631
Chapter 4: The Establishment of the Anhae Trading Association, 1630–1633
Chapter 5: The Imperial Family and the Storms of South China, 1632–1633
Chapter 6: The Perilous Journey to the Western Sea, 1631–1636
Chapter 7: The Perils of Politics and the Politics of Peril, 1636–1640
Chapter 8: Finding Silver in a Changing World, 1640–1646
Chapter 9: The Open Coast of the Qing Dynasty, 1646–1650
Chapter 10: Fujian Exceptionalism Transformed into a Political Project, 1650–1654
Chapter 11: The Passion of the Merchant Prince, 1654–1657
Chapter 12: From Defeat to Victory, 1658–1662
Chapter 13: All Things Acknowledged by Kings, 1663–1667
Chapter 14: The Vanishing Monopoly, 1669–1683

conclusion

annotation
supplement
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About the Translator

The Western world's expansion into the seas was not just about conquering unknown lands, but also about opening up trade routes and spreading wealth.
This rapid expansion of Western maritime power had a tectonic effect on world history, including maritime history, and from the 16th century onwards, the traditional Chinese world order developed an asymmetrical structure that responded to the Western challenge.
As a result, China, the central power in East Asia, did not attach much importance to the value of the ocean.
This is the general view of the flow of modern world history among Western powers.

The author seeks to break away from the existing perspective of "Western sortie and East Asian response," an imperialist paradigm, and to offer a new perspective and seek a new understanding of the geopolitical landscape that unfolded around East Asian waters.
Through this, we focus on comprehensively understanding the East Asian waters that have existed for 400 years.
This book, which references records left behind by the Dutch East India Company and those remaining in China, Japan, and other countries, is characterized by ensuring diversity of materials while also allowing readers to understand the positions of each country at the time.

This book focuses on the history of the Asian seas between the 16th and 17th centuries, focusing on Zheng Chenggong, his father and son, and the Dutch East India Company.
This book provides information on the trade routes and products between Japanese merchants, Southeastern Chinese merchants, and the Dutch East India Company.
And you can learn about not only Taiwan's history during the Dutch colonial period, but also the history of Japanese merchants and samurai who advanced into Southeast Asia.
Sometimes called pirates, they picture merchants transporting their goods in wooden, not iron, boats through rough waves and typhoons.
And when looking at the shrines and houses of Chinese merchants and Japanese settlements that remain in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam today and want to learn about the turbulent history of the 16th and 17th centuries, I believe that this book, "Maritime Mercenaries - War, Trade, and Piracy in the 17th Century China Seas," will be of great help.