China's seaborne trade in the early modern period consisted of three sectors - government trade, tribute trade and private trade. The first two were particularly active in the early 15th century, whereas private sea trade, both legal and illegal, was more dominant in later periods. The articles in the first part of this book mainly feature the early 15th century. They discuss structural issues and also deal with Cheng Ho's voyages into the Indian Ocean and the later accounts of this. The next part surveys the period dominated by private trade, with comparisons between the Chinese and the Portuguese trading systems. Part Three discusses views of the "other", in this case Chinese views of maritime Asia. This involves detailed investigations of ethnographic accounts and aims to show that much work hitherto taken at face value by historians, should be reinvestigated in the light of sinocentric ideas and traditional Chinese rhetoric.

笔名葡萄鬼，德国慕尼黑大学东亚研究所所长

a German citizen—attended schools in Portugal and Germany and received his university education in Heidelberg, Beijing, Shenyang and Guelph (Canada). He attained various scholarships and the following degrees: M.A. (Economics), Dr. phil. (Sinology), habilitation degree (Sinology). He was a Heisenberg scholar, then professor, first at the University of Heidelberg, thereafter in Mainz / Germersheim. Since 1994 he holds a chair of Chinese Studies in Munich. Meanwhile he has been teaching in Marburg, Paris, Lisbon and Macau. His list of publications comprises books and articles in German, English and Portuguese (see under www.lmu.sinologie.de), mainly on maritime China and Southeast Asia, on Macau, and on traditional and colloquial Chinese literature.